House helps small businesses speak out on agency regulations

The House Small Business Committee is attempting to give small-business owners more of a voice in relevant federal regulations.

Committee Chairman Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) on Jan. 31 announced the launch of Small Biz Reg Watch, a new website to help small firms participate in developing regulations.

The site highlights proposed regulations that could affect small companies, which often have fewer resources to keep up with the increasing regulatory load than large companies do. The site then steers business owners to the appropriate pages on Regulations.gov to comment on the agency regulations in question.

At launch, rules from the Environmental Protection Agency, Internal Revenue Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Small Business Administration were called to small businesses' attention.

"Not all regulations are bad," Graves said, "but many can be unnecessarily burdensome, and it is important that small companies express their concerns before a rule is finalized."

Small Biz Reg Watch is complements the committee's other interactive Web-based tool, Small Biz Open Mic, which allows business owners to comment directly to the committee about matters of concern.