Report: Small companies save $20 billion in regulatory costs

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Small businesses were spared $20 billion in regulatory costs in the past three years, says a new report to Congress by the Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration. |ret||ret||tab|

The report is titled "20 Years of the Regulatory Flexibility Act: Rulemaking in a Dynamic Economy." |ret||ret||tab|

The report documents savings resulting from changes in proposed regulations made by federal agencies, in response to comments from small businesses and the Office of Advocacy, to comply with the Regulatory Flexibility Act.|ret||ret||tab|

The RFA has served for the past 20 years as a curb against agencies' implementing policy objectives in ways that put a disproportionate compliance burden on small businesses and other small entities. |ret||ret||tab|

The Office of Advocacy monitors agency compliance with the law. |ret||ret||tab|

Amendments to the RFA in 1996 strengthened its enforcement by subjecting agencies' compliance to judicial review and by reaffirming and clarifying the chief counsel for advocacy's authority to file friend-of-the-court briefs.|ret||ret||tab|

"Although compliance with the RFA remains somewhat uneven, improved agency compliance is very clearly under way," said Chief Counsel for Advocacy Jere W. Glover in an SBA news release.|ret||ret||tab|

"The act has become measurably and significantly effective in achieving the law's objectives, namely, more equitable regulations. Agencies are leaming to do more in-depth and quality regulatory impact analyses and are seeking more guidance on how to comply with the RFA," Glover added.|ret||ret||tab|

In the report, the Office of Advocacy recognized four winners agencies that have done a notable job of complying with the law in fiscal year 2000. |ret||ret||tab|

They are the Office of Science and Technology in the Environmental Protection Agency, the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition in the Department of Health and Human Services, the Treasury Department's Office of Benefits Tax Counsel and the Securities and Exchange Commission. |ret||ret||tab|

Also listed are two honorable mentions agencies that have made progress worth noting and four agencies in particular need of improvement.|ret||ret||tab|

The report is available on the Internet at |bold_on|www.sba.gov/advo/laws/flex/00reg/lx.html.[[In-content Ad]]