WASHINGTON, D.C. – Regulatory expert Jamie Belcore has joined the Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration. As a full-time regulatory attorney, she will monitor federal agency compliance with the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA). Belcore was formerly a Mercatus Regulatory Studies Fellow at the Office of Advocacy.

“I am pleased that Jamie Belcore is joining our office,” said Thomas M. Sullivan, Chief Counsel for Advocacy. “The Mercatus Fellowship brings to our office some of the brightest young legal minds in regulatory studies. When a Fellow joins our office full-time, the relationship between the academic and practitioner side of small business regulatory law is strengthened.”

The RFA and companion Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA) require that federal agencies analyze the impact of their proposed regulations on small entities and consider less burdensome alternatives. Advocacy’s regulatory attorneys monitor agency compliance with this mandate and bring the views and concerns of the small business community into the regulatory process.

Belcore, a California native, was most recently a legal fellow for the Regulatory Studies Program at the Mercatus Center. She is a graduate of George Washington University and earned her J.D. from the George Mason University School of Law, where she was a member of the Journal of Law Economics and Policy.

For over 25 years, the Mercatus Center at George Mason University has sought to bridge the gap between economic understanding and real-world decision making. Mercatus applies scholarly research to the problems facing policy makers. Bringing together a network of scholars and experts from around the globe, the Mercatus Center provides policy makers with the economic tools to make sense of today's most pressing issues.

The Office of Advocacy, the “small business watchdog” of the federal government, examines the role and status of small business in the economy and independently represents the views of small business to federal agencies, Congress, and the President. It is the source for small business statistics presented in user-friendly formats, and it funds research into small business issues.

For more information on the Office of Advocacy visit www.sba.gov/advo and for information on the Mercatus Center and Mercatus Regulatory Studies Fellowship program visit www.mercatus.org.