Small Business Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act

Sponsor: Ben Cline (Republican-VA)January 15, 2025

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Introduced

In Committee

Passed One Chamber

Passed Both Chambers

Signed into Law

Ordered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute by the Yeas and Nays: 13 - 12.

New rules would require agencies to better study impacts on small businesses and waive some first-time fines.

This bill would make government agencies take a much closer look at how their proposed rules affect small businesses, tribal organizations, and non-profits. It would also create a new process for agencies to review existing rules and allow for waiving fines for certain first-time paperwork violations by small businesses. This aims to reduce the burden of federal regulations on these smaller entities.

What Would Change

Today, federal agencies have some flexibility in how they analyze the impact of rules on small entities, and the definition of "small entity" is narrower. Fines for paperwork violations are generally imposed. After this bill, agencies would have stricter requirements for analyzing both direct and indirect economic impacts on a broader range of small entities, including tribal organizations and certain non-profits. They would also have to waive fines for many first-time paperwork violations by small businesses.

Key Provisions

Requires federal agencies to analyze both direct and indirect economic effects of new rules on small businesses, including compliance costs and effects on revenue.
Expands the definition of "small entities" to include tribal organizations and certain non-profit enterprises.
Mandates that agencies consider both negative and positive economic impacts on small entities when creating new rules.
Gives the Small Business Administration's Chief Counsel for Advocacy more power to oversee how agencies follow these rules and to get input from small businesses.
Requires agencies to create and publish plans for regularly reviewing existing rules that affect small businesses, aiming to reduce negative impacts or increase positive ones.

View on Congress.gov

HR 421 · 119th Congress · January 15, 2025 · AI Summary by gemini-2.5-flash · 9/10

Lobbying Activity

3 filings mentioned this bill

Top Lobbying Clients

SPECIALTY EQUIPMENT MARKET ASSOCIATION

2 filings

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF HOME BUILDERS

1 filing

Top Lobbying Firms

1.SPECIALTY EQUIPMENT MARKET ASSOCIATION2 filings

2.NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF HOME BUILDERS1 filing

Amounts reflect total quarterly lobbying spend reported to the Senate, not bill-specific spending. Source: Senate LDA filings.