Dear Commissioner Davenport and Members of the Safety and Health Codes Board,

The health and safety of our state's workforce should continue to be the top priority for state legislators and businesses.  The business community supports clear and consistent workplace health protection protocols; however, I remain concerned that the impact of the current ETS provisions have on businesses and I encourage you to not make them permanent.

However, if the Board does decide to move forward with a permanent standard, I recommend that several components of the standard be tweaked to provide businesses with appropriate flexibility.  Most importantly, the ETS needs to not have conflict with state and federal regulations to reduce confusion and complexity for state businesses and employees.

In addition, the Board should strongly consider the financial impact these permanent standards will have on businesses that are already struggling due to the economic impacts from the pandemic.

Thank you for your consideration.