Small businesses are disproportionately impacted by federal regulations. Therefore, reforming the regulatory process is one of NFIB’s top legislative priorities. Federal agencies need to do a better job of analyzing the effect of their rules on small businesses and allow more opportunity for small business input.
The regulatory relief legislation in the 116th Congress:
- NFIB opposes H.R. 2474, the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act of 2019. This legislation contains a list of policy ideas that have been rejected in the courts and opposed by Congress for decades. The PRO Act of 2019 would dramatically upend long-standing employment law in favor of labor unions at the expense of small businesses and their employees.
- Beneficial Ownership: NFIB opposed the draft Corporate Transparency Act of 2019. The draft legislation imposes burdensome, costly, and intrusive requirements to file yet more reports with the government, this time on beneficial ownership. Read more on beneficial ownership.
- NFIB supports Title IX of the Chairman’s Mark of the Small Business Administration (SBA) Reauthorization and Improvement Act of 2019. Title IX focuses on regulatory reform and includes multiple bipartisan provisions requiring agencies to consider the impact regulations have on small businesses.
- NFIB supports S. 1120, the Small Business Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act. This legislation puts into place strong protections to ensure that federal agencies fully consider the impact of proposed regulations on small businesses.
The regulatory reform legislation that NFIB supported in the 115th Congress included:
- NFIB Key Voted in support of H.R. 5, the Regulatory Accountability Act of 2017. This legislation includes two key titles, Title III and Title I, which establish strong protections to help ensure that federal agencies fully consider the impact of proposed regulations on small businesses and modernizes the more than 70-year-old Administrative Procedure Act.
- H.R. 978, the Regulatory Improvement Act of 2017, which which creates an independent Federal Regulatory Improvement Commission to review potentially outdated federal regulations and provide actionable legislative proposals to Congress.
- The Regulatory Improvement Act of 2017, which creates an independent Federal Regulatory Improvement Commission to review potentially outdated federal regulations and provide actionable legislative proposals to Congress.
- The Regulatory Accountability Act of 2017, which modernizes the more than 70-year-old Administrative Procedure Act and improves how federal agencies write the regulations that most significantly affect the U.S. economy.
- S. 69, the Regulatory Responsibility for our Economy Act of 2017, which codifies and strengthens common sense regulatory reforms already in place via executive order aimed to ensure that costly federal regulations are thoroughly scrutinized and regularly reviewed.
- S. 288, the Regulatory Predictability for Business Growth Act of 2017, which guarantees all revised interpretative rules undergo the notice and comment process that is a mainstay of administrative procedure.
- S. 584, the Small Business Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act of 2017. This legislation puts into place strong protections to ensure that federal agencies fully consider the impact of proposed regulations on small businesses.
- H.R. 33, the Small Business Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act of 2017. This legislation puts into place strong protections to ensure that federal agencies fully consider the impact of proposed regulations on small businesses.
- H.R. 10, the Financial CHOICE Act. This legislation provides important structural changes to ensure access to capital for small businesses in the form of community banks.
- H.R. 3282, the ELD Extension Act of 2017. This legislation provides much-needed time for small businesses subject to the Department of Transportation’s Hours of Service regulations to work with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to properly resolve issues associated with FMCSA’s Electronic Logging Device (ELD) mandate.
- H.R. 3441, the Save Local Business Act. This legislation provides certainty for small businesses concerning the joint employer standard.
- S.1558, the Advocacy Empowerment Act of 2017. This legislation provides a greater voice for small businesses in the rulemaking process.
- S.1559, the Hearing Small Business Act of 2017. This legislation requires additional agencies to undertake the small business advocacy review panel process before finalizing new rules.
The regulatory reform legislation that NFIB supported in the 114th Congress included:
- NFIB Key Voted H.R. 527, the Small Business Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act of 2015, which would put into place strong protections to help ensure that federal agencies fully consider the impact of proposed regulations on small businesses.
- NFIB Key Voted H.R. 185, the Regulatory Accountability Act of 2015, which would modernize the nearly 69-year old Administrative Procedure Act and improve how federal agencies write the regulations that most significantly affect the U.S. economy.
- NFIB Key Voted H.R. 1732, the Regulatory Integrity Protection Act of 2015. This legislation would provide relief for small businesses by sending the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers back to the drawing board on its problematic Waters of the United States rule.
- S. 1140, the Federal Water Quality Protection Act. This legislation would provide relief for small businesses by sending the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers back to the drawing board on its problematic Waters of the United States rule.
- S. 2006, the Regulatory Accountability Act of 2015, which would modernize the nearly 69-year old Administrative Procedure Act and would improve how federal agencies write the regulations that most significantly affect the U.S. economy.
- S. 168, the Regulatory Responsibility for our Economy Act of 2015, which would codify and strengthen common sense regulatory reforms already in place via executive order aimed to ensure that costly federal regulations are thoroughly scrutinized and regularly reviewed.
- H.R. 1932, OSHA Excessive Fines Relief Act, which would give small businesses the ability to correct minor violations before expensive fines are levied by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
- H.R. 3328, the Small Business Regulatory Sunset Act. This legislation would put into place strong protections to fix the broken regulatory review process and would provide small businesses relief from burdensome regulations.
- S. 1487, the Regulatory Predictability for Business Growth Act of 2015. This legislation would ensure that all revised interpretative rules undergo the notice and comment process that is a mainstay of administrative procedure.
- S. 1607, the Independent Agency Regulatory Analysis Act of 2015. This legislation would provide significant reforms to the rulemaking process for independent agencies that would improve the regulations these agencies promulgate.
- S. 1536, the Small Business Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act of 2015. This legislation would put into place strong protections to help ensure that federal agencies fully consider the impact of proposed regulations on small businesses.
- S. 708, the Regulatory Improvement Act of 2015. This important legislation would create an independent Federal Regulatory Improvement Commission to review potentially outdated federal regulations and provide actionable legislative proposals to Congress.
- H.J. Res. 87, the Persuader CRA, which is a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval in response to the controversial persuader rule issued by the U.S. Department of Labor. This legislation would provide relief for small businesses by nullifying this burdensome regulation.
- The Prove it Act of 2016, which would strengthen and improve the certification process within the Regulatory Flexibility Act.
- NFIB Letter of Support – Appropriations Priority Letter to Appropriations Leadership
- NFIB Letter of Support – Appropriations Priority Letter to Leadership
- NFIB Letter of Support – Prove it Act of 2016
- Download NFIB's Letter in Support of the Regulatory Responsibility for our Economy Act of 2015.
- Download NFIB's Key Vote Letter in Support of H.R. 185, the Regulatory Accountability Act of 2015.
- Download NFIB's letter in support of S. 708, the Regulatory Improvement Act of 2015.
