Regulatory Flexibility Act: Implementation of the Small Business Advocacy Review Panel Requirements
Highlights
GAO discussed the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act's (SBREFA) advocacy review panel provisions, focusing on: (1) whether the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) had applied the advocacy review panel requirements to all applicable rules that they proposed in the first year of the panel requirements; (2) whether the EPA and OSHA panels, the regulatory agencies themselves, and the Small Business Administration's (SBA) Chief Counsel for Advocacy followed the statute's procedural requirements; (3) identify any changes that EPA and OSHA made to the draft rules as a result of the panels' recommendations; and (4) identify any suggestions that agency officials and small entity representatives had regarding how the advocacy review panel process could be improved.