Mike Levin: “one of the proposals we have before us, in S. 942, would establish an ombudsman in the Small Business Administration.…”

“one of the proposals we have before us, in S. 942, would establish an ombudsman in the Small Business Administration. That ombudsman would solicit information from small businesses on Federal regulatory enforcement practices and develop ratings of how well Federal agencies perform their enforcement duties. The ombudsman would have the ability to refer serious cases of abuse to an agency's inspector general. This provision seeks to make regulatory agencies more responsive to the concerns of small businesses by giving small businesses a means to respond to excessive regulatory enforcement practices. While I firmly believe that we need to fight for fundamental change in the culture of small business regulation, I question whether this proposal, although well-intentioned, is the best catalyst for affecting that change. I am concerned that the Small Business Committee did not fully consider other options that could provide a better mechanism for giving small businesses a stronger voice within agencies that regulate them. In particular, I think the committee should have taken more time to look at the pros and cons of placing an ombudsman in each regulatory agency, rather than relying on a lone ombudsman in the Small Business Administration to cover all agencies. I have been working for the past several months on a proposal that would create an office of ombudsman in each major regulatory agency.”