News from U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe
Ranking Member, Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
For Immediate Release: January 11 , 2007
Contact: Antonia Ferrier (202) 224-1304
Jake Ward (202) 224-8667

SNOWE INTRODUCES BILL TO REDUCE BURDEN OF FEDERAL COMPLIANCE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

Small Business Compliance Assistance Enhancement Act Clarifies Language of Federal Regulations

WASHINGTON D.C. - U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) has introduced legislation that would simplify small business regulations and reduce the burden of compliance for American small businesses.  The Small Business Compliance Assistance Enhancement Act of 2007 would clarify the Federal law that mandates agencies publish useful small business compliance assistance guides that explain, in plain language, the compliance requirements of complex Federal rules.  Senator Snowe was joined by Senators John Kerry (D-MA), Mike Enzi (R-WY), and Mary Landrieu (D-LA) in introducing the bill. 

“Overly complex federal regulations place an unfair burden on American Small businesses that are forced to waste time and money interpreting vaguely worded requirements to ensure they are in compliance,” Snowe said. “Establishing guidelines and standards for the production of assistance material by federal agencies will allow small businesses to focus their energy where it belongs, on meeting the needs of their customers.”

The Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy has determined that small firms are unfairly burdened by the costs associated with federal regulation compliance. According to the Office of Advocacy, businesses that employ fewer than twenty people spend $7,647 per employee in compliance costs (compared to the $5,282 spent per employee for businesses that employ more than 500 people). In addition, many small businesses lack the employees, expertise, and resources to efficiently navigate the myriad number of federal regulations.

The Small Business Compliance Assistance Enhancement Act of 2007 would:

• Clarify the deadline by which compliance guides shall be published. Current law does not indicate when small business compliance guides should be published. Under this legislation, agencies are required to publish compliance guides simultaneously with, or as soon as possible after, the final rule is published.

• Clarify how a guide shall be published. Current law states that agencies “shall publish” the guides, but does not indicate where or how they should be published. Agencies would be directed to, at a minimum, make their compliance guides available through their websites in an easily accessible way. In addition, agencies would be directed to forward their compliance guides to known industry contacts with small business members that will be affected by the regulation.

• Require that agencies provide an annual report to Congress regarding the agencies’ timely publication of compliance guides.

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