The U.S. House of Representatives Small Business Committee held a hearing on April 14 entitled Regulation Nation: The Hidden Small Business Tax, which examined the cost of new federal regulations to entrepreneurs in the small business community. During the hearing, members of the Committee heard from several small business owners who cited high compliance costs and expensive new mandates as a major impediment to expanding their businesses. 

ABC sent a letter to Chairman Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio) and Ranking Member Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D- N.Y.) thanking them for holding the hearing and working to pass H.R. 527, the “Small Business Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act of 2015” last year. The bill would ensure that all federal agencies assess the impact of new regulations on small businesses and consider alternatives to reduce burdens before they act.

In the letter, ABC explained, “For the last seven years, the White House has encouraged federal regulatory agencies to assert their power through rulemaking. These agencies operate relatively unchecked and unsupervised, especially during the early stages of the regulatory process. Many rulemakings are accompanied by poor or incomplete economic cost-benefit forecasting and other data analysis that could have helped to create practical and sustainable rules and regulations.”

For more on last week’s hearing, visit the committee’s website.