Small businesses across the nation have felt the bite of a fine or punitive action unfairly, and often mistakenly, enforced by a federal regulatory agency. Meanwhile, small businesses with government contracts sometimes face the daunting challenge of squaring off with a federal agency over payment disputes.
During the SBA’s Office of the National Ombudsman’s national hearing last August, a small business owner from Pennsylvania testified that the Environmental Protection Agency, following an inspection, issued a fine of $515,968 against the company for an alleged violation of the Clean Air Act. The Office of the National Ombudsman intervened, allowing the business owner and the EPA to reach a reasonable settlement without having to go to court.
The SBA’s Office of the National Ombudsman is an invaluable resource for small business owners. Regardless of the issue, be it an IRS tax lien or an Occupational Safety and Health Administration fine, our office is always available to make sure small business owners have a voice and an advocate when dealing with what can be an intimidating process.
Through our public hearings and roundtables that are held nationwide, small business owners have an opportunity to provide real-time input on regulatory enforcement fairness issues impacting their companies. The roundtables also provide a venue for business owners to learn more about the resources offered by the Office of the National Ombudsman. Representatives from the SBA’s local offices and the agency’s resource partners, including SBDCs and SCORE, also attend the roundtables, providing networking opportunities for small business owners.
On Wednesday, March 11, a Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Roundtable will be held at the SBA’s Seattle District Office at 9:30 a.m. (PDT) The small business roundtable is free and open to the public. Register in advance at Eventbrite.
Reasonable arrangements for persons with disabilities will be made when requested one week in advance. Contact John Kelly at john.kelly@sba.gov.
In addition to the regulatory fairness hearings and roundtables, the Office of the National Ombudsman offers other tools to help small business owners. They include:
- Annual scorecards that rate the small-business friendliness level of federal regulatory agencies. The agencies are graded—on a scale from A to F—on the time it takes to respond to complaints from small business owners. In turn, these ratings are reported annually to Congress. Our Congressional reports are available here.
- Individual case resolutions, where a business can fill out a form on the Office of the National Ombudsman’s website (www.sba.gov/ombudsman/comment) to explain their problem with a federal regulatory agency. The complaint is investigated by an Office of the National Ombudsman staffer, who will contact the respective federal agency to help the small business resolve the issue.
- Five-member Regulatory Fairness Boards in each of the SBA’s 10 regions, which function as a liaison to local small businesses as well as advisors to the National Ombudsman.
For more information about the SBA’s Office of the National Ombudsman, visit www.sba.gov/ombudsman.