JUNEAU, Alaska, August 28, 2013—The representative group for Alaska’s small-business owners today praised Gov. Sean Parnell for taking action aimed at alleviating one of the two biggest barriers to job creation: Regulations.
With a stroke of his pen Monday, the governor signed Administrative Order 266, establishing new guidelines for state agencies to follow that will eventually reduce regulatory burdens on small-business owners and free them to do what they – and not big business, big labor, or big government – do by far the most of: Create jobs.
“Alaskans are better served when state regulations are limited in scope, clearly and plainly written, and consistent with the statutes they implement,” the governor said in his news release. “These new guidelines will ensure laws are implemented in the most reasonable and cost-effective manner for Alaskans.”
“We’re elated that Governor Parnell has made reducing, reforming, and refining regulations a priority and commend him for his decisive action,” said Al Tamagni, Alaska leadership council chairman for the National Federation of Independent Business and owner of Anchorage-based Pension Services International. “Along with taxes, excessive and duplicative regulations are the twin killers of job creation and economy expansion. Any elected official who makes reducing the burden of regulations is a true friend of Main Street entrepreneurs.”
Tamagni also called the action instructively timely given the weekend coming up. “There might not be many future Labor Days if regulations continue their elimination of employment opportunities, which small businesses are creating less and less of.”
While praising the governor for taking a serious matter seriously, Tamagni also noted that the biggest culprit in the regulatory tidal wave was the federal government. Federal regulations alone, he said, average 74 new rules a day, according to regulations.gov, which has posted more than 6,669 changes in the last three months alone. Throw in state and local regulations, and it’s not hard to see how impossible it’s becoming for small business to plan future hiring, already spending, as they do, upwards of $16.5 billion a year in compliance.
For more information about regulations, NFIB is leading a coalition called Small Business for Sensible Regulations, which is the leading voice in the alarm sounding across the nation.
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For more than 70 years, the National Federation of Independent Business has been the Voice of Small Business, taking the message from Main Street to the halls of Congress and all 50 state legislatures. NFIB annually surveys its members on state and federal issues vital to their survival as America’s economic engine and biggest creator of jobs. NFIB’s educational mission is to remind policymakers that small businesses are not smaller versions of bigger businesses; they have very different challenges and priorities.
National Federation of Independent Business/Alaska
P.O. Box 34761
Juneau, AK 99801
907-723-6667
www.nfib.com/alaska
