Regulations SBA Administrator, Maria Contreras-Sweet, has appointed South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Frank Knapp as Chair of the Region IV Regulatory Fairness Board of the U.S. Small Business Administration. The Regulatory Fairness Board is an uncompensated body that has a representative from each state that…
Debunking the “job-killing regulations” myth
Job-killing regulations. How many times have we heard this rhetoric from big businesses opposing new regulations while pretending that they are concerned about small businesses? Yet polls of small business owners find that most understand the need for regulations. I outlined the results of one of these recent polls in…
When it comes to predicting the impact of EPA rules, we can’t trust the utility companies
Seven times either I or the SC Small Business Chamber has intervened in rate hearings for SCE&G and Duke Energy. Seven times the public was told that these power companies had to have every penny of their rate hike proposal or their world would come to an end. Seven times…
Recipe of obstruction
As the party conventions roll out this week and next, big business and its lobbying organizations like the Business Roundtable will be making big political donations and entertaining the influential in style. Their collective message, says Donald Cohen, will be about “the ‘burden’ and ‘uncertainty’ of government action to remove…
Tidal wave of lies
There are three main things holding the small businesses back in North Carolina, says Gregg Thompson the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) in that state. “One is regulations, one is health care and one is taxes.” Mr. Thompson’s comments were part of a nine-state “Stop the Tidal Wave” anti-regulations…
Oppose the Regulatory Freeze Act—NOW!
Tomorrow the U.S. House is scheduled to vote on H.R. 4078, the Regulatory Freeze Act. The legislation would stop the federal government from promulgating any new regulations until the unemployment rate is 6% or below. If this bill should ever become law, which it won’t, the coal and oil companies,…
National Poll Shows Bipartisan Support For Stronger Protections From Toxic Chemicals
WASHINGTON, DC (July 19, 2012) – A nationwide poll and four separate, statewide polls found similar strong support for bolstering protections against toxic chemicals. By overwhelming bipartisan margins, Americans support strengthening the 35-year-old Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), according to new polls released today by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC),…
Anti-regulation folks have chance to be specific or shut up
Efforts to blame regulations for the economy have been raging for quite a while in Congress and on the campaign trails. Clearly the rhetoric of “job-killing regulations” has been used by partisans to score political points. And just as clearly small businesses, as seen in most polling, have said regulations…
Congressional field hearing yields real small business issues
South Carolina Congressman Mick Mulvaney held a field hearing in Rock Hill, SC, yesterday titled “Caught Up in Red Tape: The Impact of Federal Regulations on Small Businesses and Contractors”. Mr. Mulvaney is the Chairman of the Small Business Subcommittee on Contracting and Workforce. I wasn’t able to attend the…
Small business survey
A revealing survey of small business owners was released yesterday by U.S. Bank. The survey was conducted in only 36 states with the over 3200 sample including sole proprietors through businesses with fewer than 100 employees. Unfortunately the survey also included 3% of businesses with over 100 employees, not my…