By Steve Adams, Regional Advocate, Office of Advocacy, US Small Business Administration
At a price tag of over $1 trillion annually, federal regulations now cost more per household than healthcare. And, small business owners bear the brunt of government mandates as they pay 45% more per employee than big businesses do. Now there is a way to try to lighten that load.
The Regulatory Review and Reform (r3) initiative run by the Office of Advocacy of the US Small Business Administration (SBA) encourages federal agencies to reduce the burden of existing regulations on small business.
A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report documented the need for more public participation and transparency in federal agencies’ review of existing regulations. The report spotlighted agencies’ compliance with section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), which mandates that agencies periodically examine their existing regulations and consider ways to minimize the burden on small business.
The GAO found that agency implementation of section 610 review often suffers from a lack of clear standards, insufficient public participation, and inadequate communication of the results to stakeholders.
The Office of Advocacy’s r3 initiative addresses these issues by offering agencies training on implementation of section 610 of the RFA, soliciting recommendations from the small business community on rules to review, and providing public updates on the status of agency reviews.
We encourage small business owners to nominate federal regulations needing review and reform by reaching us through the r3 web site at http://www.sba.gov/advo/r3.
At over $1.1 trillion per year, the cumulative burden of complying with federal regulations has reached a critical point. The Office of Advocacy is committed to doing something about it. With your help and r3 nominations, we will.
Steve Adams is the New England Regional Advocate for the Office of Advocacy of the US Small Business Administration. He is the direct link between small business owners, state and local government agencies, state legislators, small business associations, and SBA’s Office of Advocacy. Contact Steve Adams at (617) 565-8418 or [email protected].
