Last week, the House Small Business Committee unanimously approved H.R. 4458, the Small Business Regulatory Improvement Act of 2008 (SBRIA). Among other things, SBRIA would amend the Regulatory Flexibility Act to force agencies to perform yet more analysis of proposed regulations' impact, while continuing to allow industry lobbying groups to have access to agency proposals before they are released to the public.

The specters of "regulatory burden," "excessive paperwork requirements," and "bankrupting compliance costs" loomed over the mark-up hearing as Democrats and Republicans alike parroted the usual industry objections to regulation. (No one raised the opposition to the bill voiced by OMB Watch and a broad coalition of other groups expressed in a letter sent to all committee members.)

A press release from Chairwoman Nydia Velasquez (D-NY) touting the approval of the bill states, "Just this week, the Federal Register exceeded 70,000 pages for the year, making clear the threat that small businesses face in their path to success."

Huh? That's the Democrats' rationale for this legislation? Are the Federal Register pages literally blocking their path? Are owners and employees unable to traverse the hallways of their office because they are littered with old copies of the Federal Register? That certainly would be an impediment to success, but nothing that couldn't be solved with a well-organized office cleaning day.

Before moving to the House floor, the bill will also have to go through the House Judiciary Committee which has jurisdiction on the bill. (Because the bill would amend the part of the U.S. Code pertaining to administrative procedure, it is an administrative law issue and therefore falls under the jurisdiction of the Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law.)

No word yet on hearings from the Judiciary Committee. Stay tuned to Reg•Watch for more.

Resources on SBRIA:

OMB Watch fact sheet on the bill

The Regulatory Flexibility Act, annotated as it would read if amended by SBRIA

Thursday morning, the House Small Business Committee is scheduled to mark-up the Small Business Regulatory Improvement Act. The Act would amend the Regulatory Flexibility Act which requires agencies to perform a "regulatory flexibility analysis" on rules which are "likely to have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities." (The term small entities primarily refers to small business, but may also refer to non-profit organizations or small governmental jurisdictions.) The Regulatory Flexibility Act also requires agencies to review such rules at least every 10 years.

The bill being considered by the Small Business Committee would create additional analytical burdens for agencies. The bill would do this by changing the definition of "economic impact." Under the bill, the definition would so broad as to encompass almost any agency rule. Because of that, agencies would have to expend valuable resources hunting down and attempting to guess at a proposal's potential impact on small entities.

OMB Watch, along with environmental groups, unions, and other good government groups, has written committee chairwoman Nydia Velasquez outlining the groups' concerns. Download it here.

Reg•Watch Update: "House Panel Moves Regulatory Analysis Bill"