Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) introduced April 23 the Independent Office of Advocacy and Small Business Regulatory Reform Act of 2008 (S. 2902) which will give the Office of Advocacy a separate line item in the federal budget. The bill will also codify key elements of President Bush’s Executive Order 13272, “Proper Consideration of Small Entities in Agency Rulemaking,” which calls on agencies to address Advocacy’s concerns on proposed regulations.

The legislation stands to make two very key improvements to the Office of Advocacy: increased budgetary transparency and enhanced agency response to Advocacy’s regulatory concerns. Similar legislation has passed in previous sessions of Congress in both the House and Senate, but compromise language has never been approved.

The Office of Advocacy is the only federal agency dedicated to serving all small businesses, yet it has not been given the full functionality necessary to ensure a fair regulatory process. Considerable leeway is given to federal agencies and departments to interpret laws and enforce them, giving agency staff substantial control over the regulations that govern small businesses. S. 2902 will help guarantee that small-business concerns are appropriately addressed through the work of a strong and independent Office of Advocacy.

When the Office of Advocacy was started, there were an estimated 85 employees on staff. That number was stable until the early 1990s, and has since decreased to approximately 47 authorized slots. The Office of Advocacy’s budget has decreased as has the level of transparency for its budget—the Fiscal Year 2006 budget eliminated the remaining “research” line-item for the Office of Advocacy, removing any trace of Advocacy from the federal budget.

NSBA has been a key supporter of legislation to improve the Office of Advocacy, and applauds Sens. Snowe and Pryor on introducing this very important—and very doable—piece of legislation. S. 2902 will infuse a needed level of autonomy and transparency in budgeting, and will enable the Office of Advocacy to expand upon the kind of exemplary advocacy on behalf of small businesses for which it is known.