NFIB sends letter supporting Small Business Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act
What it means: NFIB supports legislation requiring federal agencies to consider how regulations impact small businesses.
Our take: “The current regulatory environment is not sustainable for small businesses, but this legislation is a good first step in lessening those burdens on Main Street. The Small Business Regulatory Flexibility Improvement Act will ensure government regulators are fully accounting for the economic impact of regulations.” – Josh McLeod, NFIB Director of Federal Government Relations.
Take Action: Tell your elected representatives that regulatory compliance costs small businesses time and money, ultimately limiting small business expansion.
NFIB sent members of Congress a letter of support for H.R. 358, the Small Business Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act (SBRFIA). The legislation ensures that federal agencies fully consider the impact of regulations on small businesses.
Specifically, the SBRFIA focuses on eliminating the loopholes in the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA). The SBRFIA will:
- Expand the small business advocacy review panel process.
- Strengthen the requirements for agencies to review regulations.
- Give the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy increased input into agency compliance with the RFA
NFIB issued a White Paper on the RFA about the importance of the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), the lack of compliance by administrative agencies, and what Congress can do to reinvigorate the RFA. Agencies continue to ignore the RFA by proposing and implementing regulations without fully considering the effects on small business. The RFA was meant to address the increasing number of one-size-fits-all regulations that disproportionately impact small businesses.
NFIB’s Senior Attorney Rob Smith testified in May before the U.S. House Committee on Small Business explaining the many negative impacts government regulations impose on small businesses. Urge Congress to support the SBRFIA to ensure small businesses are considered in any proposed regulations. “This will help provide a smarter rulemaking process for small businesses, and NFIB urges Congress to pass this important legislation,” said McLeod.
