Vigilance Needed To Reduce Regulatory Burdens
Aug 11th, 2008 | By Dawn Rivers Baker | Category: RegulationsThe House Small Business Committee was busy just before the August recess, holding hearings on issues such as access to health insurance and the need for additional economic stimulus measures for small businesses. Another item that came under review during a subcommittee hearing late last month was the perpetual issue of regulatory burdens imposed on small firms.
The focus of the hearing was the statutory requirement that federal agencies occasionally pull out all those old, moldy regulations and assess whether they might be obsolete, outdated or generally useless, and to take remedial action if they are. Of particular interest was the home-office deduction, which was an Advocacy r3 initiative reform nominee last year. (That one, by the way, will need a legislative fix rather than a regulatory one.) Panelists urged members of the subcommittee to maintain or increase their oversight, as federal regulators continue to resist complying with this requirement. Which, considering their own enforcement activities against small businesses, is a bit ironic, isn’t it?
