Office of Advocacy’s Anniversary Symposium 2016

The Office of Advocacy is holding its Anniversary Symposium on June 22, 2016 to mark a number of important milestones for small business. The year 2016 marks the 40th anniversary of the creation of the Office of Advocacy, the 35th anniversary of the signing of the Regulatory Flexibility Act, the 20th anniversary of the Small Business Enforcement Fairness Act and the 15th anniversary of President George W. Bush’s signing of Executive Order 13272.

To celebrate these significant anniversaries Advocacy will host an all-day event that brings together congressional leaders, small business trade associations, Advocacy’s regional advocates from across the country, federal agency regulatory staff, think tanks, universities, attorneys, economists, White House staff, policy makers, and small business stakeholders. This historic celebration will include numerous panels on: regulatory progress for small business, ways in which to properly assess the costs of regulations on small business, discussions of historical changes to Advocacy and the laws it oversees, ways to improve agency regulatory compliance, and potential changes to these laws which would be best for small business.

This event will also highlight various congressional leaders’ perspectives on all of these topics and look for new ways to assist the Office of Advocacy to complete its important mission in the next 40 years and beyond.

 

Agenda

8:30 a.m.         Registration       

9:00 a.m.         Welcome

The Honorable Darryl L. DePriest, Chief Counsel, Office of Advocacy, U.S. Small Business Administration

9:10 a.m.         Keynote Speaker

The Honorable David Vitter, Chairman, Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee

9:30 a.m.         Introduction to Panel I

The Honorable Steve Chabot, Chairman, House Small Business Committee

Panel I – Congressional Perspective: Views from the Hill on the Importance of Small Business

This panel will focus on the legislative opinions of the role of small business in the regulatory process. Specifically the discussion will center on the Regulatory Flexibility Act: its purpose, how it applies to federal agencies, and the various ways in which it could be changed or improved.

Moderator: Todd McCracken, President, National Small Business Association

Panelists:

Eric Bursch, Minority Staff Director, Senate Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management Subcommittee, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee

Susan Eckerly, Director of Regulatory Review, Senate Budget Committee

Ami Sanchez, General Counsel, Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee

Viktoria Z. Seale, Counsel, House Small Business Committee

10:30 a.m.       Break

10:45 a.m.       Panel II – Leading the Charge: A Conversation with Former Chief Counsels

Former Chief Counsels spanning five administrations will discuss Advocacy’s foundations, and how the office’s work has evolved to address the impact of federal and state policies on small businesses and entrepreneurship.

Moderator: Michael Landweber, Senior Advisor, Office of Advocacy, U.S. Small Business Administration

Panelists:

Frank Swain, Chief Counsel, 1981-1989

Thomas Kerester, Chief Counsel, 1992-1993

Jere W. Glover, Chief Counsel, 1994-2001

Thomas M. Sullivan, Chief Counsel, 2002-2008

Winslow Sargeant, Chief Counsel, 2010-2015

11:45 p.m.       Break for Lunch

1:15 p.m.         Panel III – Accounting for Small Business: The Challenge of Measuring the Cost of Regulation

This panel will discuss ways to measure regulatory costs to small businesses.  The discussion will touch on regulatory costs to small businesses in individual regulations, as overall or aggregate regulatory costs, and in regulatory cost “lookbacks.”

Moderator: Christine Kymn, Chief Economist, Office of Advocacy, U.S. Small Business Administration

Panelists:

Alexei Alexandrov, Senior Economist, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Adam M. Finkel, Senior Fellow and Executive Director, Penn Program on Regulation, University of Pennsylvania Law School

Mary Fitzpatrick, Economist, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget

Jim Laity, Chief, Natural Resources and Environment Branch, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget

2:30 p.m.         Perspectives from the Ombudsman

The Honorable Earl L. Gay, U.S. Navy Rear Admiral (Retired), Ombudsman, U.S. Small Business Administration

2:45 p.m.         Break

3:00 p.m.         Panel IV – Reducing the Burdens: Making Better Policies for Small Business

The Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 (RFA) requires agencies to consider the impact of their proposed and final rules on small entities. The Small Business Regulatory Enforcement and Fairness Act of 1996 (SBREFA) strengthened this requirement by adding judicial review. Now, 36 years after the RFA gave agencies this duty, this panel asks “How has the RFA influenced agency decision-making?” Panelists will discuss examples of agency policy-making that have successfully incorporated small entity interests and others in which agencies could have better integrated the mission of the RFA into their decisions.

Moderator: David Rostker, Assistant Chief Counsel, Office of Advocacy, U.S. Small Business Administration

Panelists:

Jane Luxton, Member, Clark Hill PLC

Jonathan Moss, Assistant General Counsel for Regulation, U.S. Department of Transportation

Bill Wehrum, Partner, Hunton & Williams LLP

S. Jenell Trigg, Esq., CIPP/U.S. Member and Chair, IP and New Media & Technology Practice Group, Lerman Senter PLLC

4:30 p.m.         Closing – Looking Forward: The Next 40 Years

The Honorable Darryl L. DePriest, Chief Counsel, Office of Advocacy, U.S. Small Business Administration

 

The Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is an independent voice for small business within the federal government. For more information, visit www.sba.gov/advocacy, call (202) 205-6533 or get updates on Twitter (@AdvocacySBA) or Facebook at www.facebook.com/AdvocacySBA.

 All SBA programs and services are provided to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis.  If you need an accommodation, contact Emily Williams at emily.williams@sba.gov(link sends e-mail).