Rulemaking Requirements
Concerning Small Entities
DOT "Rulemaking
Requirements"
DOT has posted on this website
a document that provides a brief summary of the
"Rulemaking Requirements"
affecting the rulemaking process in DOT. Small entities interested in
learning more about these requirements may want to review the document, which
also contains links to the various legal requirements (e.g., statutes and
executive orders). Small entities may want to pay particular attention
to the following requirements summarized in this document.
The Regulatory Flexibility
Act
Among other things, this
statute requires that (with exceptions) agencies prepare a regulatory
flexibility analysis for proposed and final rules, if the agency cannot certify
that the rule will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial
number of small entities (SEIOSNOSE). At
DOT, we analyze the costs and benefits for all of our rulemakings to ensure that
potential impacts of draft rules on small entities will be properly considered,
and, where possible, we try to alleviate any disproportionate regulatory burden
on small entities.
This statute also requires
that we regularly
review existing rules with a
SEIOSNOSE to determine whether we can lessen or eliminate their burdens on small
entities. DOT has a regular plan for the review of these rules. Our
plan and its results are published in the fall issue of our semi-annual
Regulatory Agenda and is
also available on this website.
The Small Business Regulatory
Enforcement Fairness Act
Among other things, this statute
requires educational outreach efforts to help small employers understand and
better comply with our regulatory programs, we have continuing outreach efforts
to improve our communication with small entities; educate our employees to be
more sensitive to small entity concerns; provide training and other
educational opportunities, such as training materials and modules that
interested entities can reproduce and use, providing guidance on individual rules.
The Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2002
This statute
institutes a process to make paperwork reduction an ongoing effort and
introduces measures to make it easier for small businesses to comply with the
law. Among other things, it
- Requires the Office of
Management and Budget to publish an annual list of compliance assistance
resources available to small businesses in the Federal Register and on the
Internet.
-
Requires each federal agency to establish one
point of contact to act as a liaison for small businesses” with respect to
information collections and the control of paperwork. DOT’s point of
contact is the Chief Information Officer (CIO), 202-366-9201.
- Requires each agency to make
efforts to further reduce paperwork requirements for businesses with fewer
than 25 employees.
- Required agencies to report
on their enforcement actions against small businesses and penalty reductions
in such actions to Congress and the Small Business and Agricultural Regulatory
Ombudsman so that they can monitor the regulatory burden reduction efforts of
the Agencies.
Where feasible, DOT has
eliminated unnecessary paperwork and simplified requirements to lessen the
impact on small entities by consolidating multiple reports, licenses, and other
documentation. We allow electronic maintenance, submission, or disclosure of
information, when practicable, as a substitute for paper and for the use and
acceptance of electronic signatures, when practicable.
Executive Order 13272, "Proper Consideration of Small Entities in Agency
Rulemaking"
DOT carefully implements the
requirements in Executive Order 13272 that federal agencies take "appropriate
account of the potential impact" of their rulemakings on small entities.
The purpose of the Executive Order is to ensure that regulatory agencies and the
SBA Office of Advocacy work closely together as early as possible in the
regulatory drafting process to address disproportionate impacts on small
entities and appropriately reduce their regulatory burden. DOT works
closely with the Office of Advocacy, taking advantage of its expertise and
training. We also welcome general and rulemaking specific comments from
small entities.
Presidential Memorandum of March 4, 1995 (Regulatory Reinvention Initiative)
This memorandum, among other
things, required that agencies substantially expand their use of negotiated
rulemaking. DOT has been a leader in using negotiated rulemaking and welcomes
suggestions for additional rulemakings where it would be helpful to use this
process.
The memorandum also directs
agencies to focus regulatory programs on results, not process. DOT has revised its job
standards for regulatory enforcement positions to evaluate employees based on
their facilitating compliance rather than by numbers of enforcement cases. It also has a policy
“to provide for the reduction, and under appropriate circumstances for the
waiver, of civil penalties for violations of a statutory or regulatory
requirement by a small entity. Under appropriate circumstances (e.g, where not
prohibited by statute), an agency may consider ability to pay in determining
penalty assessments on small entities.
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