Will New House Website Bring Real Small Business Voices to Regulatory Debates?

The following post is from Randy Rabinowitz at The Fine Print, the Center for Effective Government blog.

Congratulations to Republicans on the House Small Business Committee for launching a new website that purportedly will alert small business owners to regulatory issues affecting them and make it easier for them to comment on pending rules. It would be a significant improvement to the regulatory process if small businesses actually weighed in themselves on the impacts of rules and also commented on the new markets that may be created for small business products and services as a result of standards and safeguards.

Too often, the only voices claiming to speak for small business in regulatory debates are inside-the-Beltway lobbyists for trade associations dominated or controlled by big corporate interests. It would be great if federal agencies received information directly from real small business owners, rather than repeatedly hearing the tired, anti-regulatory rhetoric of Big Business lobbyists who use the good name of small business to advance their agenda.