Plus, for many service jobs, I’ve talked with small business owners and they’ve said the permitting and licensing process can be an obstacle.

Here’s something I heard that doesn’t necessarily apply to Springfield (because the owner works elsewhere), but it may: One business owner said he can’t afford to hire a person to help with his service because each person he hires must be individually licensed – and there’s a large fee for that license. If he takes all the time to train this person (it’s a skilled labor job), then has to pay the license fee, he is screwed when that employee quits. (It’s not a high paying job, so helper/employee loyalty generally doesn’t come into play.) The owner then has to re-hire, re-train, and then pay for *another* license for that new employee. And the cycle goes on….

A better thing, to help small businesses, would be to have a blanket license for, say, up to two or four employees – and have it be a general license, not tied to any specific employee. I know safety and liability is a concern, but if the employer/owner remains still legally responsibible for his employees work, I don’t see that as being as big a factor as some politicins – eager for fee moneys – may say it is.