The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) offered its support to bipartisan measures to improve the rulemaking process and review outdated federal regulations that were to be marked up in late summer by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Small business owners consistently rate government requirements and red tape as one of the most important issues facing their business.

“Small business owners struggle to keep up with all of the existing and new regulations coming from federal, state and local governments,” said Amanda Austin, NFIB vice president of public policy. “They want to focus on growing their business, but instead find themselves filling out paperwork and worrying about fines. We appreciate that there are Republican, Democrat and Independent Senators working to make government think more carefully about the flood of rules.”

Nearly 90 percent of NFIB’s members employ fewer than 20 workers. According to a study by two Lafayette College professors, businesses of this size spend $2,641 more than bigger businesses spend to comply with federal regulations. Most small business owners cannot afford to employ a dedicated human resources or regulatory compliance specialist.

S. 708, the Regulatory Improvement Act, sponsored by Sen. Angus King (I-ME) would create an independent federal Regulatory Improvement Commission that would review potentially outdated regulations and make suggestions for revisions by Congress. S. 1607, the Independent Agency Regulatory Analysis Act, sponsored by Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) would subject independent agencies to some of the same regulatory requirements that executive agencies follow today. These bills are co-sponsored by Senators on both sides of the aisle.