Sponsor
Joni Ernst
Senator · R-IA
Senator · R-IA
The bill strengthens procedural rights, transparency, and review mechanisms for small businesses—potentially lowering regulatory burdens—at the cost of added agency workload, greater litigation risk, possible temporary regulatory gaps that can affect public health and safety, and pressure on existing agency budgets.
Small businesses gain stronger procedural protections: faster, formal ways to challenge agency certifications, mandatory publication of certifications, and explicit review of indirect compliance costs so rules that disproportionately harm small firms can be identified and remedied.
Increased transparency and public participation: agencies must publish certifications and centralize guidance materials (e.g., on regulations.gov) and provide public comment opportunities, making regulatory interpretations easier to find and allowing firms and the public to influence implementation.
Potential economic relief for small firms: more thorough consideration of indirect compliance costs and new opportunities to challenge or prompt reconsideration of costly rules could reduce compliance costs or lead to rescission/revision of burdensome rules.
Rules can lapse or be barred from applying to small entities, creating regulatory gaps that could leave public health, safety, or the environment less protected until agencies complete reviews.
Significant additional administrative and analytic burdens on agencies (posting materials, managing comments, short review deadlines) could slow rulemaking, divert agency resources, increase costs, and delay protections or regulatory clarity.
Expanded opportunities to challenge certifications and increased public comment processes are likely to spur more litigation and procedural appeals, driving up legal costs and further delaying implementation of rules.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Requires agencies to analyze indirect costs on small entities, publishes SBA certifications quickly, creates SBA review/enforcement of certifications, mandates guidance transparency, and enforces 10‑year reviews; no new funding.
Official title: Amend title 5, United States Code, to require greater transparency for Federal regulatory decisions that impact small businesses, and for other purposes.
Introduced February 10, 2025 by Joni Ernst · Last progress February 10, 2025
Requires federal agencies to analyze and disclose indirect costs of rules on small entities, increases transparency and challenge rights for the SBA Chief Counsel for Advocacy to contest agency certifications that a rule won’t significantly affect small businesses, and creates enforcement if agencies fail to complete 10‑year reviews (including temporary cessation of rules). Also forces agencies to publish guidance and accept public comment when a rule is likely to have significant economic effects on many small entities. No new funding is authorized to implement these changes.