Contact: Bill G. Smith, 608-255-6083
Madison (February 22, 2012) – The state’s leading advocate for small businesses today welcomed Governor Scott Walker’s executive order requiring state agencies to cooperate with the newly created Small Business Regulatory Review Board.
“It sends a very powerful message to the business community that the Administration is serious about creating a new regulatory culture in Wisconsin,” said NFIB State Director Bill G. Smith.
Walker announced the creation of the new Review Board in his State of the State Speech. Its purpose is to examine all state rules to determine whether they can be streamlined, modified or repealed altogether. His executive order today gives the regulatory bureaucracies no choice but to work with the Review Board.
“Regulatory burdens are among the biggest impediments to small businesses in Wisconsin,” said Smith. “Our members typically don’t have teams of lawyers, consultants and compliance officers to navigate the regulations, and the cost on small businesses is prohibitively high.”
According to the federal Small Business Administration, the cost of regulations on the typical small business (fewer than 20 employees) exceeds $10,500 per year, per employee. That, said Smith is an excessive burden that dampens labor demand and slows economic growth.
“Regulations have a real cost and a real consequence for the economy,” said Smith. “The Governor’s action today is going to be good for small businesses, which bear a disproportionate share of the cost of regulations. It’s also going to be good for the regulatory agencies, because it will help them to understand more directly how their decisions affect the economy.”
For more information about NFIB, please visit http://www.nfib.com/wisconsin.
