Small Businesses Benefit from Lightened Compliance Burden in FY 2018

WASHINGTON, D.C.— The Office of Advocacy’s efforts at monitoring federal agency compliance with the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) resulted in changes to 18 specific rules that reduced the regulatory burden for small business These include $253.3 million in quantifiable small business regulatory compliance cost savings in FY 2018.

Since the earliest days of the Trump Administration, federal agencies have been reviewing the rules that contribute to private sector burdens. The Office of Advocacy, the voice of small business in the federal government, is using this opportunity to promote small businesses’ priorities in the deregulatory process. Advocacy’s efforts to bring small businesses and policymakers together include:

• 13 regulatory issue roundtables in Washington to provide a forum for small business concerns.
• 23 regional roundtables in 16 states, plus input from small businesses in many others.
• Visits to 67 small businesses in 15 states to gain a better understanding of the practical issues small businesses face with regulatory compliance.

In addition, Advocacy voiced small businesses’ regulatory concerns in 17 formal comment letters to agencies and in letters to the heads of agencies and regulatory reform officers.

Other deregulatory changes resulted in burden reductions which are not readily quantified. Acting Chief Counsel for Advocacy Major L. Clark said, “There have been numerous changes throughout the year in the direction of a lighter small business burden.” He continued, “The first success in improving government regulation is that small business concerns were considered, thanks to the RFA.”

The Office of Advocacy’s new publication, “Report on the Regulatory Flexibility Act, FY 2018,” recounts these efforts in detail. A summary of the research is also available. The report is available on Advocacy’s website at http://advocacy.sba.gov.