Kaplan's Small Business Regulatory Assistance Bill Passes NY State Senate

CARLE PLACE, NY (March 31, 2021) - The New York State Senate unanimously passed legislation today, S.28, introduced by Senator Anna M. Kaplan (D-Great Neck), that will help small businesses to stay compliant with regulations and allow small business owners to provide feedback to agencies about the potential impact of such regulations on their business.

According to the National Small Business Association, more than half of small businesses report spending over $2,000 annually dealing with state and local regulations, and 30% of small business owners spend 40 or more hours each year dealing with state and local regulations. The bill seeks to reduce the time and expense that New York's small business owners currently spend on regulatory compliance.

Senator Anna M. Kaplan said "small business owners have it hard enough, so when it comes to state regulations, we should do everything we can to help small business owners to know the rules and help them to stay in compliance. By requiring state agencies to put regulatory information in one place, and making it easy to navigate, we can help small business owners to get the resources they need without wasting time or money."

The bill, S.28, will require state agencies with a substantial regulatory impact on small businesses to establish and maintain a section on its website to be designated the "small business regulatory nexus" of the agency. The nexus shall include the following information (or direct links to such information):

• The rules of the agency, identifying the applicability of any such rules to specific categories of small businesses or local governments
• Any regulation guides posted by the agency
• All guidance documents posted on the agency website that apply to small businesses and local governments
• Each current proposed, revised or emergency rule for which an RFA (regulatory flexibility analysis) has been issued or is being prepared
• The most recent regulatory agenda published by the agency (if any), identifying rules under development or currently under review that relate to small businesses or local governments
• A plain language summary of the agency's adjudicatory proceedings applicable to small businesses or local governments, and any streamlined optional adjudicatory proceedings for small businesses adopted by the agency
• A description of any compliance assistance program offered by the agency to small businesses or local governments, and of any such programs that are known by the agency to be offered by other state, local or Federal agencies to categories of small businesses or local governments impacted by the regulations of the agency
• Any other information that the agency deems useful to small businesses or local government.