Need for heed

Entrepreneur, Dec, 2003 by Stephen Barlas

FEDERAL AGENCIES COULD DO A BETTER JOB OF CONSIDERING small-business needs during the rule-making process. That's the conclusion the SBA's Office of Advocacy reached one year after President Bush issued an executive order requiring agencies to write policies to measure the impact of proposed regulations on small business, notify the Office of Advocacy if draft rules have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities, and carefully consider the Office of Advocacy's comments about the proposed regulations. "Greater compliance across all agencies clearly needed," says Thomas M. Sullivan, chief counsel for the SBA's Office of Advocacy. "We expect to see more widespread compliance as we complete training of the agencies."

STEPHEN BARLAS is freelance business reporter who covers the Washington beat for 15 magazines.