NSBA Lauds New Regulatory Reform Bill

March 9, 2010

The National Small Business Association endorsed last week the Job Impact Analysis Act of 2010 (S. 3024). Introduced by Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), the ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), S. 3024 would achieve a number of longtime NSBA objectives.

First, the bill requires federal agencies to consider both the direct and the indirect impact of proposed regulations on small businesses. NSBA has long advocated that the failure to include the potential indirect effects of proposed rules represented the largest loophole in the federal regulatory framework.

Second, the measure would strengthen the Office of Advocacy at the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) by fulfilling a long-term NSBA priority and granting it a separate line item in the federal budget. NSBA has argued for years that the omission of a separate line item for the Office of Advocacy leaves it dependent on the good graces of the SBA administrator and vulnerable to potential political pressure and punishment. In the absence of a separate line item, an SBA Administrator could reduce Advocacy's budget and enact hiring and spending freezes. Successful enactment of a line-item budget would provide Advocacy with the freedom to actively seek regulatory fairness and ensure small-business concerns are taken into sufficient consideration during the federal rulemaking process.

Finally, S. 3024 would require the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to conduct an analysis, estimating the potential job loss or gain attributable to every bill or joint resolution reported to the full Senate projected to exceed $5 billion in costs.

NSBA enthusiastically endorses S. 3024 and thanks Sens. Snowe and Pryor for their bipartisan leadership.