Home-based businesses are good for entrepreneurs and local economies

January 30, 2018

Kim O’Neil is the owner of KMB Medical Billing, a medical billing service that she runs from her home. She’s a mom of two who loves her community and loves running her own business, but being a home-based entrepreneur has definitely been a challenge for her, thanks to regulations that have put the survival of her business at risk.

Yesterday, the Goldwater Institute and the Arizona Free Enterprise Club hosted a press conference at which Kim shared her story. She said that trying to comply with the city of Chandler’s requirements for her business has been “one of the most stressful experiences of my life.” She explained: “I run a quiet, unobtrusive business. I help doctors and I help their patients. I provide good, flexible jobs to women who need them. We are good, friendly, and helpful neighbors.” And so she doesn’t understand why Chandler did not want her business in the community.

Yesterday’s press conference, held at the Goldwater Institute, brought together government and local business to talk about the benefits home-based businesses bring to local economies. Left to right: Arizona home-based business owner Kim O’Neil, Arizona Rep. Jeff Weninger, Arizona Free Enterprise Club President and Executive Director Scot Mussi, and Goldwater Institute Executive Vice President Christina Sandefur.

Fortunately, the Arizona Legislature has started to take action to protect the right of business owners like Kim to run their home-based businesses. Earlier this month, Arizona Representative Jeff Weninger introduced the Arizona Home-Based Business Fairness Act, which promotes a commonsense approach to home-based businesses, recognizing the good they do for local economies throughout the state. Rep. Weninger said that even though local leaders hope that Arizona will be the tech capital of the West, “we can’t have a patchwork of rules that would have prevented Apple from starting here in this state.” Arizona Free Enterprise Club President and Executive Director Scot Mussi agreed with this approach, saying we must “let startup entrepreneurs thrive in our state.” Such a bill, explained Goldwater Executive Vice President Christina Sandefur, would let Arizona cities focus on keeping communities safe rather than punishing people who happen to run a business from their home instead of from an office.

Arizona home-based business owner Kim O’Neil shares how her home-based medical billing business faced crackdowns from the city of Chandler, while Arizona Rep. Jeff Weninger listens in.

Today, the Arizona House Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on the bill, HB2333, to discuss how it can ease burdensome regulations on home-based businesses and the entrepreneurs who run them. For more information on the bill and how it can help Arizona home-based business owners, check out this fact sheet.