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| Regulatory Flexibility or Regulatory Loopholes? |
| Legislation passed in North Dakota and has been introduced in ten other states requiring that prior to adopting any proposed regulation or rule, each state agency must prepare a small business economic impact statement and a regulatory flexibility analysis of how the rule could be altered to benefit small business. First promoted by the Bush Administration's Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) at the December 2002 American Legislative Exchange Council's (ALEC) meeting, the model bill also requires each agency to review all existing rules within four years to determine each rule's impact on small business. Requiring economic impact statements on each and every rule or regulation enacted would put up additional roadblocks to enacting strong policies to protect and preserve the environment. The legislation would have the effect of making agencies justify and defend every rule and regulation, causing delay and having a chilling effect on the rule making process. According to Leon G. Billings, former Maryland legislator and chair emeritus of The National Caucus of Environmental Legislators,"This is just another example of an indirect attack on environmental and health and safety regulations by creating yet another basis for litigation." Furthermore, the resulting massive increase in agency work would impose significant new costs on state budgets that are currently already in crisis. In some versions of the bill the definition of "small business" is not small at all – under the model bill, businesses having up to 500 employees or having gross annual sales of six million dollars would be considered "small." Rather than protect real small businesses, this is an effort to undermine the rules and regulations that protect the public and the environment. Other states considering some version of the bill are Georgia, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, West Virginia and Wisconsin. For more information, please contact The National Caucus of Environmental Legislators at [email protected]. |
For
more information about SERC, or to use our services, contact our national
headquarters at:
State Environmental Resource Center
106 East Doty Street, Suite 200 § Madison, Wisconsin 53703
Phone: 608-252-9800 § Fax: 608-252-9828
Email: [email protected]
106 East Doty Street, Suite 200 § Madison, Wisconsin 53703
Phone: 608-252-9800 § Fax: 608-252-9828
Email: [email protected]
