NFIB Legal Center Asks Supreme Court to Stand Up To Federal Agencies
www.NFIB.com
For Immediate Release
Kelly Hoffman 202-314-2054 or [email protected]
NFIB Legal Center Asks Supreme Court to Stand Up To Federal Agencies
WASHINGTON, D.C., October 17, 2014 — Karen Harned, Executive Director of NFIB’s Small Business Legal Center, made the following statement in response to NFIB’s amicus brief filing in Perez v. Mortgage Bankers Association. In this case the Supreme Court will have to decide whether or not a federal agency, in this case the U.S. Department of Labor, must engage in formal rulemaking procedures before it significantly changes an interpretative rule.
“We are deeply concerned about the legal and economic impact small businesses would face if the Court reverses the D.C. Circuit’s ruling. If the decision is overturned regulatory agencies would be able to avoid public participation via notice-and comment rule making by increasing “interpretive rules”. Small businesses would then face increasing costs and massive uncertainty since any agency would be able to flip-flop on its own interpretation of a regulation. It is important that federal agencies go through the regulatory process as required by law and not ‘reinterpret’ rules on the fly. We urge the Supreme Court to keep federal agencies in check and protect small businesses.”
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The NFIB Small Business Legal Center is a 501(c)(3) organization created to protect the rights of America’s small business owners by providing advisory material on legal issues and by ensuring that the voice of small business is heard in the nation’s courts. The National Federation of Independent Business is the nation’s leading small business association, with offices in Washington, D.C. and all 50 state capitals.
