NFIB

NFIB v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
04/26/2001

April 26, 2001

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

Five years ago NFIB was successful in aggressively supporting the passage and enactment of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA). The Act ushered in a new era of government accountability for federal agencies regulating small business. The law guarantees that small employers have a seat at the table when agencies like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers the adoption of new regulatory mandates that would affect small business.

For over 20-years all government agencies, including EPA, have been required to carefully consider impact on small businesses before imposing new rules and regulations that can bury small-business owners. Compliance with this law was suspect until the passage of SBREFA, which allows for organizations like NFIB to challenge the government in court if they refuse to consider how their actions affect small business.

The Lead Reporting Rule was one of a plethora of midnight regulations hastily finalized in the waning hours of the Clinton administration. The rule requires thousands of businesses with over 10 employees to fill out Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) paperwork detailing their lead usage in excess of 100 pounds, dramatically lowering the threshold from 10,000 pounds. SBREFA requires that agencies consider lower cost alternatives from small employers, but EPA refused to convene a panel of small businesses and listen to their suggestions on how to lower regulatory costs. That's against the law. NFIB's lawsuit focuses on EPA's violation of SBREFA and the rights of small-business owners.

NFIB is represented by the Atlantic Legal Foundation (ALF), a non-profit public interest foundation in New York that advocates the principles of free enterprise and challenges burdensome or illegal government regulations.