There already are laws in place to help cut red tape for small businesses, but there is nowhere for employers to turn when they feel burdened by government rules.
That’s why the state Senate Budget Committee advanced a bill Monday that would help create a better pathway to reducing the impact of onerous rules.
So said Sen. Steve Oroho (R-Sparta).
“The New Jersey Regulatory Flexibility Act has been in place for years, but it’s often ignored or forgotten,” he said. “As a result, red tape stays in place and small businesses have nowhere to turn when the government makes it nearly impossible for them to create good jobs.
“Employers deserve the opportunity to dispute onerous rules and regulations. By empowering entrepreneurs to challenge overbearing regulations, we can stop anti-business policies from constraining our local economy.”
The bill highlights a need for a competitive environment and acknowledges that regulations can be burdensome for a smaller business. In the proposed law, the definition of a small business will be changed to a business making less than $6 million in revenue and having fewer than 100 employees.
“Uniform regulatory and reporting requirements can impose unnecessary and disproportionately burdensome demands, including legal, accounting and consulting costs, upon small businesses with limited resources,” according to the bill.
“The failure to recognize differences in the scale and resources of regulated businesses can adversely affect competition in the marketplace, discourage innovation and restrict improvements in productivity. Unnecessary regulations create entry barriers in many industries and discourage potential entrepreneurs from introducing beneficial products and processes.”
New Jersey Business & Industry Association officials said they support the bill.
“Enhancing the Regulatory Flexibility Act will help minimize the impact of rules and regulations on small businesses, allowing entrepreneurs and small business owners to focus on running their businesses, generating economic activity and creating jobs,” Vice President of Government Affairs Andrew Musick said in a statement.
The bipartisan bill now moves to the full Senate for a vote at the next voting session, on Dec. 17.
Sen. Anthony Bucco (R-Randolph) said the legislation allows employers to have greater control.
Sen. Troy Singleton (D-Moorestown) added that regulations can be a hindrance to some businesses’ growth.
“Small businesses cannot and should not be regulated the same as larger corporations,” he said. “Their needs and resources are vastly different, and our current rules make it difficult for them to generate serious economic growth. This bill aims to reverse that.”
