Suggest to your state legislator that the General Assembly require itself to first review rules' impact on small business.

Rhode Island has become the latest state to require state agencies to consider how regulations would affect small businesses before issuing new rules.

Six other states have enacted similar laws in the past year, and the legislation is pending in 11 states.

The bills are based on model legislation proposed by the Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy. This office makes sure federal agencies take small business concerns into account before issuing regulations.

Tom Sullivan, SBA's chief counsel for advocacy, says giving small businesses a seat at the table when rules are made not only is fair, but also results in "better decisions."

"That means more jobs and growth," he says.

(Atlanta Business Chronicle and bizjournals.)

Let's suggest to our legislators that they get on board. Why, because I am part of a small business with four attorneys who are part of an eleven person staff? No, because small businesses are the backbone of America.
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Along the same line, wouldn't it be nice for Congress to have the General Accounting Office inform states about how much legislation being consider for passage in Washington will cost the states. Sometimes it's unfunded mandates; other times it's Congress cutting taxes on the national level that will result in them going up -- or the states doing without -- on the state level (as in the removal of the credit for state death taxes that will be noted in "the" post coming in a few days).

In days gone by when the Democratic Party was known as the tax and spend party, it might have been thought Congress would have resisted such legislation.

But with the GOP having won all honors as the borrow and spend party, the Democrats might want such legislation to at least let the states know upfront what it generally takes them several years to find out.