Small Business Legislative Testimony

Testimony delivered to the House Committee on Economic Development & Small Business June 22, 1999 by BJ Wiberg Chairman Krebs and Members of the Committee: My name is BJ Wiberg, director of the Ohio Small Business Council (OSBC), a division of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce representing the interest of OhioÕs small business community. Earlier this year on Feb. 9, we presented testimony before this committee in support of HB 13, which, among other things, would help determine the impact that proposed rules, regulations or resolutions may have on: (a) The ability of a small business to become established and grow during the first three years of its operation, and (b) Ohio's ability to retain and attract businesses in its high-stakes jobs and revenue competition with other states. At that time we pointed out that Ohio's entrepreneurs and small business people deal with a sea of red tape which currently includes approximately 45,000 rules and regulations on Ohio's books, administered by some fifty different state agencies. According to calculations by our own state government, the cost of complying with these regulations and associated fees is now around $35,000 per year for the average Ohio small business. This makes Ohio the fifth most expensive state in terms of government costs imposed on small businesses according to the Small Business Survival Index 1998: Ranking The Environment For Entrepreneurship Across The Nation which was released last October. These are the reasons why, working together, we must develop effective initiatives to control and reduce the largely unnecessary, and probably unintended, regulatory burdens that government places on our small businesses. As we stated our support for HB 13, we also shared some of the concerns expressed by several members of this committee, particularly in regards to what means would be used to determine when a fiscal analysis should be conducted, who would make that determination, and what the cost impact would be to the state government due to the additional work required in conducting these analyses. We believe that the substitute bill presented to you last week by Rep. Mottley is a prudent and responsible response to these concerns. The creation of a one-year, dual-track pilot project, one for the General Assembly and the other for JCARR, involving the Ohio EPA and another state agency to be designated by the Governor, should provide important information that we expect will lead to a more long-term system of reducing the regulatory burden for our emerging and established small businesses. Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, I appreciate this opportunity to present our testimony today and urge your acceptance and recommendation of Sub.HB 13. This completes my testimony. I will be pleased to address any questions you may have.