In addition, the SBA’s Office of Advocacy, created in 1976 to be an independent voice for small business “to promote policies to support the development, growth, and health of small business”, has become a political mouthpiece for big business interests under the guise of helping small business primarily through the Regulatory Flexibility Act. The Office of Advocacy has promoted regulatory policies that help the petroleum and chemical industries and opponents of clean water rules. The Office of Advocacy was severely criticized in 2014 by the Government Accountability Office for failing to have procedures to carry out its mission to be “a voice for small business within the federal government”. Too often, SBA Advocacy has only sought out small businesses that oppose new federal regulations while doing little to no outreach to those small businesses that support new federal regulations because of the benefits they would bring to small businesses.
Recommendations
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Dramatically increase resources for the SBA Office of the National Ombudsman for regulatory compliance assistance in order to provide assistance to small businesses struggling with regulations instead of penalizing them. In 2017, Senator Jeanne Shaheen and 11 other Senators introduced the Small Business Regulatory Relief Act (S1146) that would give the Office of the National Ombudsman the resource it needed to work on behalf of small businesses and find fair regulatory solutions. The bill would allow the ombudsman to coordinate with federal agencies and develop compliance guides and training webinars to help small businesses when new regulations are issued. In 2019, Senator Shaheen and Congressman Andy Kim introduced a new Small Business Regulatory Relief Act (S.1409, H.R.2673). This bill required the Small Business Administration (SBA) to coordinate with various regulatory agencies in developing best practices for providing assistance to small businesses. The best practices shall assist the agencies in conducting programs, education, and training to help small businesses meet regulatory requirements. The SBA must also work with each agency to develop outreach initiatives to increase businesses’ awareness of such assistance.
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Put the SBA Office of Advocacy actually under the authority of the SBA so that there is only one agency that is the voice and advocate for small business.
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Ensure SBA Advocacy brings a balanced and neutral approach to representing all small business interests in the regulatory process to capture the voice of small businesses that would be helped by a regulation as well as those that might be economically harmed.
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AMIBA, ASBC, GGCC, LACCC, LCCDC, LFA, NCBC, SBCC, SCHCC, SCSBCC, TLF, USGCC