Regulatory relief comes from strange places

Posted on | October 30, 2007 | Comments Off

Now here’s a policy initiative I can get behind as a friend of microbusinesses.

Legislation introduced in the House and soon to be introduced in the Senate would require government bureaucrats to write their forms, instructions and other documents in plain English that most normal people can understand.

Senior citizens, veterans and taxpayers should be able to understand public documents, [Senator Daniel Akaka, D-HI] said. “Filling out government forms should not be like solving a complex crossword puzzle.”

Add microbusiness owners to that list. In fact, just pondering the implications for microbusiness owners who waste so much precious time on the administrative hassle of regulatory compliance and attendant forms and other assorted yuckiness makes my heart go pitter-patter.

And, given the potential cost savings in things like fewer phone calls from confused citizens and less time spent dealing with incorrectly completed paperwork, you wouldn’t think anybody would have any complaints about this, would you?

Ah, but you know how Washington is:

[P]revious efforts to improve regulation writing have only partially succeeded, because many regulations deal with politically sensitive issues and sometimes are shaped by high-stakes lobbying in Congress and at the White House. Backers may not want them to be too clear. (Emphasis mine.)

It is telling, isn’t it, that some members of Congress should balk at the idea that citizens might actually be able to understand some of the things produced in writing by the federal government?

So, if you’re tired of writing letters to your Representative and/or Senators about the war in Iraq or the state of [insert issue of choice here], then why not drop them a line to express your support for H.R. 3548, the Plain Language in Government Communications Act of 2007. Tell him or her that it is an important piece of legislation to help relieve the paperwork and regulatory burden faced by small businesses.

That should get their attention.

[tags]small business, regulatory relief, paperwork burden, microbusinesses, Bruce Braley[/tags]


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Category: Politics


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