H.R. 7198, Dealing with the Regulatory Process

December 5, 2024 | H.R. 7198

Under a slew of existing laws, the rulemaking process generally requires notice, public comments, studies and cost-benefit analyses. It already takes into special account the effects any proposed rule might have on small businesses and other small entities. Under the existing Regulatory Flexibility Act, an agency must either certify that a proposed rule will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities, or conduct both an initial and a final regulatory flexibility analysis, along with periodic reviews of its impact on an ongoing basis. In other words, the law is already very rigorous and comprehensive in minimizing impacts of rulemakings on small businesses. 

But after a lifesaving workplace safety rule clears all these existing hurdles, after all the public comment, the studies, the expert analyses, the reviews and so on, H.R. 7198 would invest in one person—the chief counsel of a Small Business Administration (SBA) office—the authority to roll back the rule whenever trade associations representing giant corporations file a petition challenging an agency’s certification that a regulatory flexibility analysis was not required.

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