POLICY IN THE MAKING
SBA Says Federal Agencies Need More Transparency And Public Participation
- Chief Counsel Thomas M. Sullivan, Office of Advocacy.The GAO report documents the success and failure of federal agencies' efforts to review existing regulations and spotlights agencies' implementation of section 610 of the Regulatory?Flexibility Act (RFA), which mandates that agencies periodically examine?their existing regulations to measure changing impacts on small business. The GAO finds that agency implementation of section 610 review often?suffers from a lack of clear standards, insufficient public participation?and comment, and inadequate communication of the results to stakeholders. The Office of Advocacy's new R3 Initiative directly addresses the?issues raised by the GAO. The initiative will: * Offer agencies guidance and training on how?to implement section 610 of the RFA. * Solicit recommendations from the?small business community on rules that should be reviewed. * Provide public updates on the status and results of agency retrospective reviews. "Today's GAO report makes clear that federal agencies need to do a better job of reviewing existing regulations," said Thomas M. Sullivan, Chief?Counsel for Advocacy. "At over $1.1 trillion per year, the cost of complying with the volumes of federal rules and regulations now exceeds the per family cost of healthcare. We owe it to small business to try to streamline, update, and reform those (federal)rules to minimize their cost."(Source: U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy)
SBA Says Federal Agencies Need More Transparency And Public Participation
WASHINGTON (Aug. 16, 2007) - The U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy's report, "Reexamining Regulations: Opportunities Exist to Improve Effectiveness and Transparency of Retrospective (R3 Initiative)," addresses many of the issues raised in a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that documents the need for more public participation and transparency in?federal agencies' review of their existing regulations.
"We owe it to small business to try to streamline, update, and reform those (federal) rules to minimize their cost."- Chief Counsel Thomas M. Sullivan, Office of Advocacy.The GAO report documents the success and failure of federal agencies' efforts to review existing regulations and spotlights agencies' implementation of section 610 of the Regulatory?Flexibility Act (RFA), which mandates that agencies periodically examine?their existing regulations to measure changing impacts on small business. The GAO finds that agency implementation of section 610 review often?suffers from a lack of clear standards, insufficient public participation?and comment, and inadequate communication of the results to stakeholders. The Office of Advocacy's new R3 Initiative directly addresses the?issues raised by the GAO. The initiative will: * Offer agencies guidance and training on how?to implement section 610 of the RFA. * Solicit recommendations from the?small business community on rules that should be reviewed. * Provide public updates on the status and results of agency retrospective reviews. "Today's GAO report makes clear that federal agencies need to do a better job of reviewing existing regulations," said Thomas M. Sullivan, Chief?Counsel for Advocacy. "At over $1.1 trillion per year, the cost of complying with the volumes of federal rules and regulations now exceeds the per family cost of healthcare. We owe it to small business to try to streamline, update, and reform those (federal)rules to minimize their cost."(Source: U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy)
