Mark Hatfield: “one of the most common small business complaints my constituents bring to my attention is the issue of burdensome…”

“one of the most common small business complaints my constituents bring to my attention is the issue of burdensome government regulations. As we all recognize, small businesses rarely have the expertise or resources necessary to keep up to date with changing Federal requirements. Consequently, many small businesses are not in compliance with Federal regulations and face potential fines. Fines or costly compliance procedures can be devastating to small businesses which characteristically operate at a very narrow profit margin. All across this Nation conscientious small business owners are frustrated with Federal regulations simply because they cannot get concise and specific answers to their compliance questions. How can we realistically expect to increase environmental protection, work place safety or tax compliance, if these respective agency's regulations are so complex that professionals in these fields cannot determine the meanings and applications of these rules? While our regulatory reform efforts have done much to change the rulemaking process and the sheer volume of regulations, very little has been done to translate rules written by bureaucrats into easy to understand language that the owner of any small firm can implement. Mr. President, according to a 1995 study by the Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy, 94 percent of small businesses were unsure of what they needed to do to comply with Federal regulations.”