Office of Advocacy boasts new, friendlier Web tool

State legislators, small-business owners and activists in the fight for economic development now have a new Web tool in their arsenal.

Launched Dec. 4, the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy's Web page on its initiative for state regulatory policy offers information on current state laws, proposed legislation, statistics, information and much more.

Located at www.sba.gov/advo/laws/law modeleg.html, the new Web page is the latest step in Advocacy's promotion of small-business friendly regulatory policy at the state level, according to an SBA news release.

In December 2002, Advocacy presented draft model regulatory flexibility legislation to the American Legislative Exchange Council for consideration by state legislators. ALEC endorsed the model legislation earlier this year.

Since then, many states have taken steps to encourage small-business friendly regulations. North Dakota and Colorado both enacted new legislation and Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney signed an Executive Order giving small businesses a voice in his state's regulatory process.

The legislation, modeled after the federal Regulatory Flexibility Act, would require state agencies to consider their impact on small business before imposing regulatory mandates. By listening to small businesses, state agencies can ensure that small business resources that would have been spent on over-burdensome new regulations are instead available for hiring new employees and making new investments. At the same time, agencies still meet their regulatory goals such as higher environmental quality, greater travel safety, better workplace conditions and increased family financial security.

Currently, states offer a patchwork of laws that protect small-business owners and their employees from excessive regulatory mandates.

Some states offer protections similar to the RFA that mirror the role of the Office of Advocacy. Other states offer little or no protection from the one-size-fits-all regulatory mentality.

A Missouri small-business regulatory fairness board proposed by Sen. Anita Yeckel was vetoed by Gov. Bob Holden, but Yeckel announced Dec. 9 she has prefiled an identical bill, SB 781, for consideration in 2004.

Additional information on small-business friendly regulation for states, is available on the new Web page.