President Obama Announces “New” Regulatory Strategy, SBE Council’s Kerrigan Responds

President Obama released a new regulatory strategy today, which hopefully will lead to less regulation on small business owners and more accountability in the regulatory agencies said a national small business advocate. According to Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBE Council) President & CEO Karen Kerrigan, an effective strategy would immediately take steps to reform or scale back both existing and proposed regulations.

“The new and improved regulatory approach outlined by President Obama in his Executive Order and Presidential Memorandums will certainly recognize the staggering cost burdens inherent in the new health care law, for example, and other initiatives underway at EPA and the Department of Labor,” said Kerrigan. “That being the case, we await a new attitude across the entire federal government in listening to small business concerns and offering alternatives or exemptions,” she added.

SBE Council’s Kerrigan sees an opportunity for the White House and Congress to work together on reducing regulation and advancing reforms to modernize and alter the regulatory process. For example, the House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform is embarking on an initiative to identify both existing and proposed regulations that are an impediment to job creation, small business growth and economic recovery. Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) also plans to study various reform ideas to accomplish what the President hopes to do through his Executive Order and twin Memorandums.

“If the President and his team are genuine in what they want to accomplish for small business, and we believe that to be the case, then he and Chairman Issa are on the same page,” said Kerrigan.

President Obama’s new regulatory strategy includes several things, including a commitment to enforce existing law with regard to the obligations that government department and agencies have to small business when new regulations and proposed; more transparency, access and reporting from Federal enforcement agencies as they relate to investigations and compliance; and, a “to do” list for regulatory agencies focusing on how they will go about streamlining the regulatory process, identifying outmoded or duplicative regulations, improving the effectiveness of regulations, and lessening burden, among other directives.

“The President expressed a commitment to small business owners in announcing his new regulatory strategy. He must execute on this promise,” said Kerrigan. “Entrepreneurs remain on edge about the costs of new laws and other regulations coming down the pike. They are expecting more costs and red tape from Washington. Given that set of expectations, they will not add jobs or aggressively invest in the growth of their businesses,” she concluded.