Nydia M. Velazquez: “The Regulatory Flexibility Act has reduced regulatory costs by $130 billion since 1998. However, it could do better. The…”

“The Regulatory Flexibility Act has reduced regulatory costs by $130 billion since 1998. However, it could do better. The amendment I am offering will improve this process. However, unlike the underlying bill, my amendment is actually aligned with the original statute, which was created to protect the unique needs of small businesses in the regulatory process, not to stop regulations. My amendment is also much more cost effective to the taxpayers, as the underlying bill creates a massive and unnecessary government bureaucracy. It should be noted that my amendment is based on bipartisan legislation from a previous Congress, which the committee reported by a recorded vote of 26-0. The amendment makes improvements to the most significant deficiencies facing the Regulatory Flexibility Act without the overly broad changes contained in the underlying bill. This includes making sure that agencies live up to their obligations to retrospectively review the burdens of existing rules on small businesses. The GAO has reported on numerous occasions that agency compliance with this requirement was poor. My amendment holds the agencies more accountable by requiring them to report the results of their reviews to Congress annually. My amendment also takes steps to make analyses more detailed so that agencies cannot ignore the RFA and simply certify that a rule has no significant economic impact on small businesses.…”