WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Senator Susan today introduced legislation that would obligate federal agencies to consider the potential impacts to small businesses and job growth before imposing new rules and regulations. The “Clearing Unnecessary Regulatory Burdens,” or CURB Act, would require federal agencies to analyze the indirect costs of regulations, such as the impact on job creation, the cost of energy, and consumer prices. In addition, this legislation would obligate federal agencies to comply with public notice and comment requirements and prohibit them from circumventing these requirements by issuing unofficial rules as ‘‘guidance documents,” and would direct federal agencies to search their files to determine whether a small business is facing a paperwork violation for the first time, and to offer to waive the penalty for that violation if no harm has come of it.
“Small businesses are our job creators. In the last decade, America’s small businesses have created about 70 percent of all new jobs. We simply must target our efforts toward helping these businesses start-up, grow, and prosper,” said Senator Collins. “Far too often, Congress directs federal policies toward those businesses deemed too big to fail. Instead, we must redirect our efforts toward those small businesses that are too entrepreneurial to ignore, and we must ensure that federal regulations do not impose unnecessary burdens that hamper job creation. “