A bill to amend chapter 6 of title 5, United States Code (commonly known as the "Regulatory Flexibility Act"), to ensure complete analysis of potential impacts on small entities of rules, and for other purposes.
About This Bill
Committee
Latest Action · July 30, 2026
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
# Summary
The Small Business Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act significantly strengthens protections for small businesses in federal rulemaking. The bill expands the types of rules subject to small business impact analysis, requiring agencies to examine both direct and indirect economic effects, including compliance costs and revenue impacts. It adds new requirements for detailed analysis of alternatives that could minimize negative impacts or maximize beneficial ones on small entities, and expands coverage to include land management plan revisions and amendments, as well as tribal organizations and small nonprofits.
The legislation strengthens the role of the Small Business Administration's Chief Counsel for Advocacy by requiring agencies to notify the office before proposing major rules, establishing a formal review panel process that must be completed within 60 days, and giving the Chief Counsel new powers to intervene in agency decisions and issue compliance rules. Agencies must now conduct periodic reviews of existing rules within 10 years to determine whether they should be modified to better serve small businesses, and they must publish plain language summaries of their regulatory agendas within three business days. The bill also waives civil fines for small businesses' first-time paperwork violations and requires the Comptroller General to study whether the Small Counsel's office has adequate resources to implement these new duties.
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