Is small business being regulated to death?
Local, state and federal requirements- it all adds up.
Many entrepreneurs and small business owners accept regulatory compliance issues as hurdles they must clear so that they can get down to business- which is really all they ever wanted to do in the first place.
But how much regulation is too much?
Take a look at this recent Fact of the Week from Raymond J. Keating the Chief Economist for the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council.
It shows data on spending by Federal Regulatory Agencies from 1960 vs. the estimate for 2006.
A 1176% increase spending by Federal Regulatory Agencies on Economic Regulation of General Business over the last 46 years?
I bet that buys a lot of red tape.
What about at the local level?
In The Entrepreneurial Mind, Jeffrey Cornwall points out that there is hope, at least in Alaska. Thanks to House Bill 33, Alaskan small businesses now have a voice in the state’s regulatory process. That should go a long way towards creating a friendlier small business environment.
How long do you think it will take for that kind of thinking to migrate south?
- Disney’s directors win big in Delaware Court of Chancery- Opinion available online
- Non-Profit Review
I doubt we will be able to do anything about the extraordinary amount of money that the Federal Government wastes on any number of ‘programs’ in the near future. But involving small businesses in regulatory decision making is another story. I heard something about proposed legislation called the Regulatory Flexibility Reform Act of 2005. Any relation to this new bill in Alaska?