A new bill restructuring the way small business regulations are considered was introduced in the Senate on May 7, 2019. The Prove It Act (PIA), introduced by U.S. Senators Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), would allow the Small Business Administration (SBA) to require agencies to reconsider findings claiming new regulations would not affect small businesses. The bill would amend the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), a 1980 law that requires federal agencies to consider the effects of potential regulations on small businesses, nonprofits, and local governments.

 

Under the existing RFA, an agency can avoid publishing detailed analyses of the potential effects of a regulation if the agency head certifies that the regulation will not impose significant economic costs on a substantial number of small entities. The PIA would allow the SBA to challenge potential regulations before they go into effect by asking agencies to reconsider their conclusions about the effects of new regulations on small businesses.  The PIA would also require agencies to conduct a full analysis of proposed rules if the agency determines that an initial certification was incorrect.

 

According to Senator Ernst, the bill would give the “small business community the opportunity to send agencies back to the drawing board to ‘prove’ that what they’re proposing won’t hurt small businesses.” Under the PIA, SBA requests for agency reconsiderations would be published in the Federal Register, but the agency would still decide whether the original agency conclusions were correct and supported by facts.

 

You can read more about the RFA and SBA and here:

 

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