NEWSRELEASE
For Release: January 16, 2009
Contact: John McDowell, (202) 205-6941
SBA Number: 09-01 ADVO
Press Kit
Small Businesses Respond To Call For Nominations Of Regulations Needing Review And Reform
Second Year Of Advocacy’s r3 Initiative Draws Strong Response
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Small business owners and their representatives have nominated 38 existing regulatory requirements as candidates for review and reform. The nominations came in response to the second year of the Office of Advocacy’s long-term Regulatory Review and Reform (r3) initiative.
The nominations include recommendations to review and reform rules from the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Labor, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the Small Business Administration. Several of this year’s r3 nominators also submitted nominations in 2007.
“We are pleased with the small business community’s strong response to our second call for nominations of existing rules in need of review and reform,” said Shawne McGibbon, Acting Chief Counsel for Advocacy. “The nominations show that small business owners have thought seriously about the burdens they face and have considered ways to improve the situation.”
In 2009, Advocacy will add two nominations to the current Top 10 list, replacing two rules already reviewed or reformed by federal agencies. Advocacy will transmit the 2009 Top 10 list to agencies in the spring and will work to ensure that the listed rules are reviewed or reformed.
In order to track agency progress, the recommended reforms will be posted on Advocacy’s website and an update on the status of reforms will be published twice a year. Advocacy encourages small businesses and their representatives to follow the progress of the reforms and to comment to the agencies.
Two of the 2008 Top 10 rules were reviewed and reformed during the past year. In October, EPA reformed the definition of “solid waste,” encouraging recycling rather than disposal of certain spent materials. And in December, the FAA finalized its Special Flight Rules Area rule for the Washington, D.C. area. The final rule creates a smaller restricted airspace than was originally imposed, addressing many of the economic concerns raised by small businesses.
Find out more about the r3 initiative and agency progress in reviewing and reforming the Top 10 rules by visiting
www.sba.gov/advo/r3.###
The Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is an independent voice for small business within the federal government. The presidentially appointed Chief Counsel for Advocacy advances the views, concerns, interests of small business before Congress, the White House, federal agencies, federal courts, and state policy makers. For more information, visit
www.sba.gov/advo, or call (202) 205-6533.