03/01/2007
CONTACT: Stephanie Cathcart, (202) 314-2056, or Jordan Vendetti, (202) 314-2041
WASHINGTON, D.C.--The National Federation of Independent Business, the nation's leading small-business advocacy group, today testified before the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials as part of a hearing on the Environmental Protection Agency's budget.
During today's hearing, NFIB's Regulatory Affairs Manager Andrew Langer urged Congress to make America's small-business owners a priority as they modify the EPA's budget and look to reform compliance assistance methods. Small-business owners are often disproportionately burdened by government regulations, facing increased costs and decreased productivity in order to comply. Langer reminded lawmakers that the EPA's compliance process and reporting methods should not be one-size-fits-all.
Key issues Langer highlighted in today's hearing include:
Paperwork Reduction: Government overregulation, and the onerous paperwork that accompanies it, continues to be a top concern for small businesses. According to a recent study by NFIB's Research Foundation, small businesses say the best way to help alleviate the burden of costly and time-consuming regulatory paperwork is simplicity - simplicity in instructions, simplicity in requirements, and an overall reduction in the size of the paperwork and the time necessary to complete forms. NFIB offered these facts about the paperwork burden:
- The estimated average per hour cost of paperwork and record-keeping for small businesses is $48.72, according to NFIB's Research Foundation.
- The ICB report denotes an increase of the paperwork burden faced by all Americans of 441 million hours, to 8.2 billion hours total, representing an overall increase of 5.5 percent.
- The cost of the increase in paperwork alone amounts to nearly $21.5 billion annually. The total cost of paperwork is nearly $400 billion.
Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) Reporting: NFIB has been actively involved in the efforts to make changes to the TRI reporting process for several years. Langer again endorsed the reforms finalized by the EPA in December 2006, which greatly simplifies the compliance process for small firms. Under the previous rules, a neighborhood auto-repair shop was required to fill out the same set of forms as a huge oil refinery. These changes will provide meaningful relief to America's small businesses while still reporting relevant information to the community. The NFIB estimates that 99.9 percent of all toxic releases would still be reported at the same level of detail as present.
Compliance Assistance: Langer urged the EPA to place a strong emphasis on compliance assistance in the future. "It is a well-established notion that regulatory agencies get a greater ‘bang for the buck' when they promote compliance assistance over enforcement. Compliance assistance programs are far more cost-effective than investigations and prosecutions. In terms of informing people of their responsibilities and walking them through how they can fulfill their obligations, it is compliance assistance, and not enforcement, that will get us closer to the ultimate goal of 100 percent compliance with 100 percent of regulations, 100 percent of the time,” said Langer.
Andrew Langer stressed throughout today's testimony the importance of Congress and the EPA working together to recognize and support the role technology should play in regulatory compliance. The NFIB continues to advocate for the creation of a system where a small-business owner can simply enter in core information about his/her business in order to learn each regulation that applies to that business and receive instructions on how best to comply. An ideal system would also provide an online outlet for small businesses to fill out and submit forms to the appropriate agencies.
For a copy of NFIB's testimony or to speak with Andrew Langer, please contact Stephanie Cathcart or Jordan Vendetti at (202) 554-9000.
