COMMENTARY: Small business owners back sensible regulatory reform

By Charlie Owens According to the federal Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Small Business Advocacy, the typical small business must spend $10,500 per year, per employee, to comply with regulations imposed by Washington. It's a massive, hidden expense for businesses that destroys jobs, inflates prices and constricts the economy. What's more, the cost of regulatory compliance is substantially higher for small businesses because unlike their corporate cousins, they don't have teams of in-house lawyers, lobbyists and experts to help them navigate the rules. In the past several years, voters according to every opinion survey say they are most concerned about jobs and the economy. Indeed, despite a federal stimulus program that cost nearly $1 trillion, the unemployment rate remains above 7 percent and millions of Americans are still searching for work. But that hasn't stopped the federal government from producing more regulations. In fact, according to reports the administration posted more than 6,000 new regulations over a single 90-day period last year. Congress estimates that many of the new rules will have a major effect on the economy costing consumers, private businesses and taxpayers more than $100 million each. And with the President's proposed energy restrictions and health care law, there are thousands more regulations coming. It's common in Washington for bureaucrats to write regulations affecting businesses without ever consulting with them to determine how they will affect the economy. And small businesses are almost always frozen out of the process despite that they create more than half of all jobs in the United States. Clearly we need to reform the system. Legislation introduced recently in congress, H.R. 2542, would inject common sense into the process. The bill, which has bipartisan support, would require federal agencies to consider the impact of new rules on small business before they can take effect. Under the bill, federal agencies, including independent agencies, would have to solicit input from small-business owners to determine whether proposed regulations are overly broad, unnecessarily costly or just plain silly. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau already are obliged to consult with small business. And according to the U.S. Small Business Administration, this approach helped to save employers nearly $12 billion in fiscal 2011. The Regulatory Flexibility Improvement Act would extend that process to the rest of the regulatory state, changing fundamentally the relationship between small business and big government. It's a critical issue for small businesses in Michigan and elsewhere. A 2012 survey by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) found that 90 percent of small business owners in America support reforming the current regulatory system. It should be important as well to taxpayers and consumers who ultimately share the heavy burden of regulatory overreach. In January of 2011 President Obama said his Administration was "firmly committed to eliminating excessive and unjustified burdens on small businesses, and to ensuring that regulations are designed with careful consideration of their effects, including their cumulative effects, on small businesses." That's just what small business owners wanted to hear and it's time idea moved beyond words. No one argues the general need for some government oversight. Small business owners have the same interest as everyone else in a clean environment, healthy food and safe workplaces. But there of dozens of thousands of regulations already in force and very little proof that Washington can effectively manage itself, let alone the world's biggest and most complicated economy. Michigan small business owners can compete with anyone given a level playing field. For the most part, they are pleased with the progress that we've made at the state level. Now it's time for Washington to get serious about our competitiveness and adopt real regulatory reform. For additional information about regulatory reform, please visit www.sensibleregulations.org. ---------------- Charlie Owens is Michigan state director for the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB). Published: Fri, Jul 12, 2013