Press Release

Estimating the Effect of Small Business Panel Reform

Congress will soon consider a proposed reform to increase the number of Small Business Advocacy Review (SBAR) panels as part of the Small Business Administration Reauthorization. AAF’s Director of Regulatory Policy Dan Bosch estimates the effect of small business panel reform and concludes that increasing the number of panels should reduce compliance costs for small businesses without unduly straining the capacity of federal agencies.

His central points:

  • SBAR panels have proven effective at reducing regulatory compliance costs for small businesses, but only three federal agencies are required to use them;
  • Legislation to expand the SBAR process to other agencies that often issue rules affecting small businesses will be considered later this month; past attempts have been derailed due to concerns that too many panels would strain the affected agencies; and
  • This analysis estimates that the proposed reform would yield as many as 27 new panels, which would provide meaningful review of a selection of rules; it does not anticipate it would overwhelm the agencies involved.

Read the analysis. 

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