The Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration is seeking nominations of federal rules in need of review and reform. The "Top 10" rules nominated by small business owners, trade associations, and others will be transmitted to appropriate federal agencies for review and reform.
"Complying with all federal regulations now costs our economy $1.1 trillion per year; that's more per household than the cost of healthcare," said Thomas M. Sullivan, Chief Counsel for Advocacy. "Advocacy's Regulatory Review and Reform initiative can help lighten that load by streamlining and updating outdated and ineffective regulations. We are calling for rules needing reform, and we are asking for constructive suggestions about how to improve them."
Nominate regulations needing review and reform by visiting the Office of Advocacy r3 website at www.sba.gov/advo/r3, sending an email to advocacy@sba.gov, or calling Keith Holman at (202) 205-6936.
The Office of Advocacy's new small business Regulatory Review and Reform (r3) initiative addresses many of the issues raised in a recent GAO report, Reexamining Regulations: Opportunities Exist to Improve Effectiveness and Transparency of Retrospective Reviews. The report spotlighted implementation of section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), which mandates that agencies periodically examine their existing regulations to measure changing impacts 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 comment, and inadequate communication of the results to stakeholders.
The r3 initiative directly addresses these issues. The initiative 1) offers agencies guidance and training on how to implement section 610 of the RFA, 2) solicits recommendations from the small business community on rules that should be reviewed, and 3) provides public updates on the status and results of agency retrospective reviews.
To nominate regulations for review and reform, visit the Office of Advocacy r3 webpage at www.sba.gov/advo/r3.
Washington - September 28, 2007
Release Number: 07-30 ADVO
Contact: John McDowell, (202) 205-6941,
john.mcdowell@sba.gov
Information courtesy of the Small Business Administration.
