June 5, 1997

Congress Must Remain Vigilant to Avoid Small-Business Regulatory Nightmares, Advises the National Association for the Self-Employed

Washington, D.C. -- The Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA) is a remarkable achievement for small business, but Congress still must remain vigilant to keep small businesses from being harmed by excessive regulations, according to the National Association for the Self-Employed.

In testimony today to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Small Business, NASE Senior Policy Advisor James Morrison described the regulatory environment that led to the passage of the 1980 Regulatory Flexibility Act (Reg Flex), the struggle to pass SBREFA (legislation that further enforces Reg Flex), and current attitudes towards regulation.

"Already, disputes over the new law have arisen with the IRS, EPA, OSHA, FAA, and others," Morrison said. "So the battle lines are drawn. At best we have gone from complete indifference to small business to a kind of grudging, wary, minimal interest. But even as part of a rote procedure, agency consideration of small business impacts will help.

"But Congress, particularly the Small Business Committees, must remain vigilant," Morrison continued. "Changing the agencies' culture will require work on fundamental rewards and sanctions inside the agencies, and therefore the cooperation of many other Committees of this Congress, as well as the White House."

A year after SBREFA's passage, Morrison described its benefits:

"In the long run, regulatory fairness is not simply a matter of justice for the nation's small businesses, as important as that is," Morrison concluded. "It was, and is, an issue with profound economic consequences for the nation as a whole. These small businesses are the engines of America's innovations, job creation and economic growth. They are also the economic expression of our basic American characteristics of individualism, optimism, and self-reliance. If you break the spirit of America's entrepreneurs, you break America."

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