The House is expected to vote this week on two bills that contain significant reforms to the federal regulatory process to reduce burdens on job creators, particularly small businesses. Visit ARSAAction.org to urge your members of Congress to support these important regulatory reform efforts.

The Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act of 2011 (H.R. 527) is intended to strengthen the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), the law that requires federal agencies to consider the impact of regulations during the rulemaking process.

ARSA has long been an advocate for strengthening small business RFA protections. ARSA’s legal battle with the FAA over its 2006 drug and alcohol testing rule was premised on the FAA’s failure to follow RFA requirements. Additionally, ARSA Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, Craig Fabian, recommended improvements to the RFA at a House Small Business Committee hearing earlier this year.

H.R. 527 would:

• Mandate that federal agencies examine both direct and indirect economic impacts in their small business regulatory analysis.
• Strengthen the role of the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy, including permitting the Chief Counsel for Advocacy to make rules governing agency compliance with the RFA.
• Require agencies to periodically review all rules that have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
• Allow for prompt access to judicial review for small businesses suing for violation of the RFA.

The Regulatory Accountability Act of 2011 (H.R. 3010) attempts to restore the need for narrowly tailored regulations to impose the least public burden by:

• Increasing public participation in shaping the most costly regulations before they are proposed.
• Requiring that agencies must choose the least costly option unless they can demonstrate a need to protect public health, safety, or welfare.
• Giving interested parties the opportunity to hold agencies accountable for their compliance with the Information Quality Act.
• Providing for on-the-record administrative hearings for the most costly regulations to insure that agency data is well tested and reviewed.
• Restricting agencies’ use of interim final regulations where no comments are taken before a regulation takes effect and providing for expedited judicial review of whether that approach is justified.
• Providing for a more rigorous test in legal challenges for those regulations that would have the most impact.

ARSA strongly supports H.R. 3010 and H.R. 527. Please take a minute to urge your lawmakers to vote in favor of these important bills by visiting ARSAAction.org.

~~~ posted 11/30/11 ~~~

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