HB 978 -- Small Business

Sponsor:  Baker

This bill establishes the Small Business Regulatory Fairness
Board, which will work with agencies and small businesses on
issues concerning the impact of agency rules and regulations on
small businesses.  The bill outlines the membership of the board.
All members of the board, except for the chair of the minority
business advocacy committee, must be current or former small
business owners.

The board is specifically prohibited from interfering with,
modifying, preventing, or delaying an agency's enforcement
action; intervening in legal actions; and subpoenaing witnesses
to testify or produce documents at hearings held by the board.

The bill requires state agencies to determine whether proposed
rules affect small businesses prior to submitting or filing
proposed rules with the Secretary of State's office.  For
proposed rules that affect small businesses, the agency must
consider creative, innovative, or flexible methods of compliance
for small businesses and prepare a small business impact
statement which will be submitted with the proposed rules to the
Small Business Regulatory Fairness Board on the day the proposed
order of rulemaking is filed with the Secretary of State's
office.  The bill outlines the requirements of the impact
statement.  Rules that are required to have a small business
impact statement but do not are invalid and the Secretary of
State cannot publish the rule.

For any proposed rules that affect small business, the agency
will also submit a small business participation statement to the
board 30 days after a public hearing is held or at least 30 days
before the issuance of a final order of rulemaking if no public
hearing is held.  The bill outlines the requirements of the
statement.

The board is allowed to file a written petition with the agency
that has adopted rules, objecting to or requesting the adoption,
amendment, or repeal of all or part of any rule affecting small
business.  Any small business may ask the board to file a
petition for the adoption, amendment, or repeal of a rule; and
the board may hold a hearing or solicit testimony to assist in
making its determination of whether to file a petition.  Within
60 days of receipt of the petition, the agency will determine
whether the rule should be adopted, amended, or repealed based on
specific factors.

The bill requires the board to provide to the head of each agency
a list of any rules adopted by the agency that affect small
business and have generated complaints or concerns.  Forty-five
days after being notified by the board of these rules, the agency
is required to submit a written report to the board in response
to the complaints or concerns.  The bill requires the board to
submit an evaluation report to the Governor and the General
Assembly regarding these issues.

The bill outlines occasions when an agency will waive or reduce
any administrative penalty or fine for violation of any statute,
ordinance, or rule by a small business.

Small businesses claiming a material violation of the small
business impact statement requirement are allowed to bring a
declaratory judgment action without exhausting their
administrative remedies.

Missouri House of Representatives
92nd General Assembly, 2nd Regular Session
Last Updated September 23, 2004 at 11:14 am