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In a fiscal environment dominated by staggering national debt and almost unprecedented deficits, the Obama administration’s recent announcement that it is undertaking a “retrospective review” of federal regulations (“Reviewing U.S. Rulebook: Easier Said Than Done?”) is music to the ears of business owners.
Small-business people have spent the last few years devoting all their available resources to keeping their businesses afloat and their employees employed. Faced with the difficult economic conditions coupled with the uncertainty surrounding issues such as tax policy and health care expenses, staying in business has become considerably more than a full-time job.
Add to those challenges burdensome regulations imposed by all levels of government, and it is scarcely surprising that businesses have become increasingly reluctant to add to their workforces.
Fortunately, there are several able and knowledgeable organizations throughout New Mexico that provide a voice to small business in the political arena.
One such group is the Northern New Mexico Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners. For almost two decades, the association’s public policy committee has researched the issues of the day, taken positions on them and communicated our stances to legislators. We do this prior to and during legislative sessions and at our annual “Speak Out,” to be held today. For this event, we invite legislators to listen to the concerns of business owners regarding laws and potential legislation under consideration.
This year the organization has chosen two broad topics as our foci: fiscal responsibility and regulatory reform.
In the arena of regulatory reform at the state level, we seek elimination of agency-driven regulation that is not based on law. We also urge that transparency, consistency, administrative simplification, impact statements and public input be required in rule-making, enforcement and adjudication processes.
On the federal level, we wish Cass Sunstein, who has been appointed by President Obama to conduct his regulatory review, the best of luck. We hope that when Sunstein says, “The question is how to get it right,” he means that he intends to unburden our economy from regulations that are, in the president’s words, “just plain dumb.”
Our hopes for this process, however, go much farther than that.
We are eager for a result that includes elimination of regulations that have outlived their original purpose, that have benefits that are far outweighed by the burdens they impose or that chill the innovative, imaginative spirit of the American entrepreneur.
Robin Dozier Otten is also the CEO of RDO Strategic Consultants, LLC, a public issues firm, and is currently serving in Mayor Richard J. Berry’s administration as director of the Department of Family and Community Services.
— This article appeared on page 15 of the Albuquerque Journal
