Information about the vote from special interest groups and other information providers in our Report Cards:
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Small Business Paperwork Relief Act.
The U.S. Chamber strongly supported the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act, which would remove undue burdens from small businesses. In a victory for small businesses and workers, the House overwhelmingly approved the measure. H.R. 327 requires the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to annually post regulatory requirements, mandate that agencies appoint single points-of-contact to assist small businesses with paperwork requirements, and establish a federal task force to identify ways to ease reporting requirements. With the overabundance of regulatory mandates on small business continuing to skyrocket, the task of filling out the required paperwork has grown unmanageable. America's 23 million small businesses spent approximately 7 billion hours filling out federal paperwork in 1998, according to OMB. The cost associated with this paperwork burden is estimated at $229 billion - not counting state and local requirements. More than 90 percent of the U.S. Chamber's members are small businesses with fewer than 50 employees. That is why the U.S. Chamber leads the fight to streamline paperwork requirements and provide other regulatory relief for small businesses.