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Thursday, December 13, 2007

House Small Business to Consider Regulatory Analysis Bill

Thursday morning, the House Small Business Committee is scheduled to mark-up the Small Business Regulatory Improvement Act. The Act would amend the Regulatory Flexibility Act which requires agencies to perform a "regulatory flexibility analysis" on rules which are "likely to have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities." (The term small entities primarily refers to small business, but may also refer to non-profit organizations or small governmental jurisdictions.) The Regulatory Flexibility Act also requires agencies to review such rules at least every 10 years.

The bill being considered by the Small Business Committee would create additional analytical burdens for agencies. The bill would do this by changing the definition of "economic impact." Under the bill, the definition would so broad as to encompass almost any agency rule. Because of that, agencies would have to expend valuable resources hunting down and attempting to guess at a proposal's potential impact on small entities.

OMB Watch, along with environmental groups, unions, and other good government groups, has written committee chairwoman Nydia Velasquez outlining the groups' concerns. Download it here.

Reg•Watch Update: "House Panel Moves Regulatory Analysis Bill"