Tom Sullivan, senior vice president for small business at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, told a Chamber Power Hour audience that small-business owners in the region remain more confident about local conditions than the national economy and urged owners to take advantage of recent federal tax changes.

Sullivan said the Chamber’s quarterly survey showed a split view of the national outlook: '38% of small business owners are positive about the national economy' while '44% are negative,' but locally 'small business owners...are more comfortable and more confident in how they're doing at a local level.' He added that '70% of small business owners are confident in the health of their own business.'

The U.S. Chamber official highlighted workforce pressures and tax provisions as immediate priorities. 'Seventeen percent of small business owners who cited that employee retention is their top concern — that's the highest level in the history of our survey,' Sullivan said. He urged business owners to consult advisers about provisions in the recent tax package, which he said includes a permanent 20% small-business deduction and expanded 100% expensing for research and development.

Sullivan also predicted widespread business use of artificial intelligence this year, calling 2026 'the year of small business artificial intelligence adoption' and noting that owners are experimenting with platforms such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude. While he welcomed innovation, he argued for a single federal regulatory framework to avoid a 'patchwork' of state rules that he said would harm businesses and called for guardrails that avoid creating easy grounds for litigation.

On immigration and labor supply, Sullivan confirmed that the H‑2B visa allocation for 2026 is roughly half the allotment of temporary nonagricultural visas that have been issued in the past 2-years.  He described the Chamber’s litigation over a recent immigration policy as 'lost at a district court level' and now under appeal and offered to connect local members to Patrick Shen, the Chamber’s immigration expert for more details. 

Sullivan framed red-tape reduction as central to boosting hiring and investment and said the Chamber is partnering with the Small Business Administration (SBA) on a hotline where owners can report duplicative or unnecessary regulations. He also said resolving a tariff issue at the Supreme Court level should ease certain supply-chain pressures, though 'ripples' are likely to remain.

The session closed with Sullivan urging small-business owners to review tax changes with advisers and to watch for federal guidance on AI and trade developments.