Small Businesses’ Most Wanted Reform
Advocacy has identified priority federal agency rules for rescission, withdrawal, or modification to reduce the regulatory burden on small businesses. This list is based on conversations with thousands of American small businesses in need of regulatory relief. If implemented, the associated deregulatory actions could save small businesses over $150 billion in compliance costs. Advocacy is actively engaging with the respective agencies on the small business impacts of each rule and advancing deregulatory changes for small businesses.
Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability; Accessibility of Web Information and Services of State and Local Government Entities
U.S. Department of Justice
The 2024 final rule requires small government entities to redesign their websites according to federal requirements.
Potential Small Business Cost Savings: $13.1 billion
Form 941 Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return
Internal Revenue Service
Small employers must fill out Form 941 quarterly to report federal income tax withheld, along with Social Security and Medicare taxes, to determine their payroll tax liability for the quarter. Annual reporting instead of quarterly would save every small business employer about $2,000 per year.
Potential Small Business Cost Savings: $90 billion
Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
The 2024 rule is not yet finalized but would require employers to create a plan to evaluate and control heat hazards in their workplace. OSHA would impose an often nonsensical one-size-fits-all standard whenever employees work in temperatures above 80 degrees.
Potential Small Business Cost Savings: $56.5 billion
Procedures for Chemical Risk Evaluation under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
The 2024 rule would expand the scope of risk evaluation and impose duplicative compliance burdens by including chemical exposure pathways otherwise covered by other federal statutes. It further increases compliance costs by making risk determinations with little regard for the conditions of use of the chemical.
Potential Small Business Cost Savings: $10 billion
Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales, and Computer Employees
U.S. Department of Labor
This 2024 rule is a reprise of the Obama administration’s “Overtime Rule.” Much like that rule, this one requires a staggering amount of paperwork from small employers in timekeeping for millions of salaried employees. It would likely reduce take-home pay for employees.
Potential Small Business Cost Savings: $9.5 billion
Employee or Independent Contractor Classification Under the Fair Labor Standards Act
U.S. Department of Labor
The 2024 rule would force millions of independent contractors — the smallest of small businesses — into employee status. Doing so would take away flexible work arrangements while saddling small businesses with new payroll costs, recordkeeping, and litigation risks.
Potential Small Business Cost Savings: $1.8 billion
Revised Definition of Waters of the United States
In revising this 2024 rule, the Trump administration will reduce EPA overreach and provide landowners with simple, clear guidelines as to which waters are subject to the more stringent regulatory requirements associated with “Waters of the United States.”
Potential Small Business Cost Savings: $1.1 billion
Certificates of Compliance
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
The final rule from early January 2025 creates a reporting system that is error-prone and poorly integrated with customs requirements.
Potential Small Business Cost Savings: $261.5 million
Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Minimum Staffing Standards for Long-Term Care Facilities and Medicaid Institutional Payment Transparency Reporting
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
At a time when innovation offers opportunities for facilities to reduce staffing and costs, the 2024 rule would mandate staff increases over time. Facilities unable to meet the new expenses would close, with many elderly residents left without care.
Potential Small Business Cost Savings: $12.4 billion
Diesel Emission Standards
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
EPA’s diesel emission standards raise the complexity of diesel engines, increasing costs of new engines and maintenance while decreasing engine life and fuel efficiency in the agricultural, construction, and transportation sectors. Small businesses could save $13,300 per year for each semi-truck owned.
Potential Small Business Cost Savings: $195 billion
Marine Sanctuaries and National Monument
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Marine sanctuaries and national monuments are areas of the ocean where fishermen are prevented from catching fish. These areas are being designated in a manner that does not properly consider small business fishing industry interests. In some instances, marine sanctuaries are being designated by public nomination and popular vote without any consideration of science or the fishing industry. When wide swaths of the nation’s waters are declared off-limits to fishing, it has significant impacts on small businesses not only in the fishing industry, but also those that are supported by the fishing industry. Advocacy has called on NOAA to discontinue public nominations for marine sanctuary designations and properly consider the input of small businesses when making these important decisions.
Potential Small Business Cost Savings: $9.7 billion
Onboard Fishing Observers and Monitors
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
NOAA regulations require fishermen to pay for independent “observers” on their fishing boats to gather “data necessary for the conservation and management” of fisheries. There is no federal law requiring fishermen to pay for the cost of the observers. Despite this, NOAA created a rule in 2020, passing this regulatory burden on to small business fishermen. Additionally, NOAA regulations sometimes require both on-board and shoreside monitors performing essentially the same functions. The costs of these monitors are $700 per day for vessels and $150,000 annually for shoreside processors, according to fishermen who have spoken to Advocacy. Advocacy has called on NOAA to either fund the costs of the observers or discontinue the program and examine whether there are technologies that can reduce or eliminate the need for observers. Additionally, NOAA must not require both onboard and shoreside monitors who perform the same functions.
Potential Small Business Cost Savings: $5.4 million