Advocacy’s greatest hits

Posted on | February 26, 2008 | Comments Off

Regular readers of The MicroEnterprise Journal know me for a big fan of the unjustly obscure SBA Office of Advocacy.

In case you didn’t know, Advocacy does two important things. They fund and publish research on small businesses, their contributions to the economy, and the challenges and obstacles that get in their way. And, even more importantly, they serve as watchdog and advocate for small businesses in the incapable-of-overstating-the-importance-of matter of burdensome regulations.

Those are two tasks that are inclined to make me one of their biggest fans.

For starters, I am even more of a research junkie than I am a political junkie.

Besides that, if federal and state regulations are onerous for small businesses in general, they are even worse for microbusinesses. Somebody needs to be going to bat for them within the federal government, and that is what Advocacy exists for.

All of which reduces to the fact that I write about them more often than the average news media outlet. Just call me a fangirl.

So, the purpose of all this blathering is to let you know that there are some fairly significant Advocacy-related stuff looming on the horizon.

First and foremost, on Thursday, Advocacy will be holding a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington to announce the top ten greatest hits — that is, regulations nominated by small business owners, advocates and lobbying organizations for review and (we hope) reform under the agency’s r3 initiative.

I’m probably not going to make it to that press conference, so I’m going to do the next best thing and publish a Microbusiness News Briefs Podcast Special: an interview with SBA Office of Advocacy Chief Counsel Tom Sullivan.

For the record, Tom is absolutely my favorite person in the entire Bush Administration — which may not come as a complete surprise to you. During the interview, we discuss Advocacy’s RFA enforcement work (including this initiative), the Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act (H.R. 2345), and that small business research I mentioned, and more.

Don’t forget to tune in for that half-hour interview on Thursday, February 28th right here at The Journal Blog.

(The interview will also be available that day at the Microbusiness News Briefs Podcast web site.)

On March 12th, they will be holding their second annual national regulatory fairness hearing at 10 a.m. in the the Environmental Protection Agency’s East Building in Washington, D.C. Per the SBA press release I got:

Each year a series of public regulatory fairness hearings are held around the country. These hearings are usually chaired by the National Ombudsman and regional board members and attended by officials from various federal regulatory agencies. During the hearings, small business owners have an opportunity to testify in person, presenting their concerns about unfair practices or burdensome policies imposed on them by federal agencies, without fear of retaliatory action. Business owners also have the option of submitting their comments in writing to the National Ombudsman.

The upcoming national hearing will follow a similar format. During a typical regional hearing, comments from business owners are forwarded to the appropriate federal agency for their review. The National Ombudsman asks the federal agency to respond within a specified time period. In many instances, the federal agency has reduced or waived particular penalties and/or compliance actions. At a minimum, the agencies direct a high-level review of the enforcement action to ensure fairness. Comments from the national hearing will also be included in the National Ombudsman’s annual report to Congress, which rates federal agencies on responsiveness to small business concerns.

This stuff really doesn’t get the attention it deserves in the small business press (such as it is), which is one important reason why not enough small business owners know about it.

We’ll have to see what we can do about that.

[tags]regulations, research, SBA Office of Advocacy, Tom Sullivan, r3 initiative, regulatory fairness hearings[/tags]