Overregulation hurts small businesses, congressman says

Regulators need to be held in check, according to Rep. Brad Finstad, R-Minn.

That’s why the congressman recently introduced the Prove It Act, which aims to protect small businesses from government overreach and overregulation.

“I’m a farmer and a small-business owner,” Finstad told Land Line Now. “I’ve seen firsthand and heard numerous stories of the negative effects of government overreach when it comes to overly protected regulations and the rulemaking process.”

The Prove It Act, or HR7198, would require federal agencies to analyze the impact of their regulatory action on small businesses.

“What does the rule say? How do we comply with this rule? How do we meet this regulation? What we’ve found is that it’s costing Americans billions of dollars each year,” Finstad said. “Since 2009, it’s estimated that it’s over $730 billion and over 480 million hours in paperwork time added to our small businesses.”

Although the Prove It Act would apply to all industries, it definitely resonates with small-business truckers, who make up 96% of motor carriers in the United States. The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association supports the Prove It Act.

“The owner-operator or farmer or small independent business owner who is the most adversely affected in this regulatory climate,” Finstad said. “Because they don’t have the HR department. They don’t have the regulatory department. They don’t have the lawyers. They don’t have the staff to help them navigate the rules and regulations.”

The amount of regulations can be overwhelming to a small-business trucker.

“It’s always changing,” said Finstad, who holds a commercial driver’s license. “Just when you think you’ve caught up to the new climate of the new regulations and rules to comply with, there’s another harebrained idea coming at us tomorrow. It’s just so hard to keep up, especially if you’re that small independent.”

The full text of the Prove It Act can be found here.

Speed limiters

One example of overregulation, according to Finstad, is the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s proposal to mandate speed limiters on most commercial motor vehicles.

“This is another harebrained idea that comes from folks who have never been in a semi,” he said. “To restrict speed and to have government intrusion right into our business office creates an unsafe environment.”

That’s why Finstad recently became a co-sponsor of the DRIVE Act, which would prevent FMCSA from moving forward with any rulemaking to require speed limiters on heavy-duty trucks.

Thousands of truck drivers already have let the agency know that they oppose mandatory speed limiters. However, FMCSA still is projected to unveil a formal proposal in May. It is worth noting that Congress didn’t pass any law to require speed limiters and that the agency is attempting to pass the regulation on its own.

“I’m one of the few members in Congress who has a Class A CDL, so it brings a little street cred to that conversation,” Finstad said. “When the bureaucrats tell me how things should or shouldn’t work, I can ask them if they’ve been behind the wheel. ‘Have you ever had to drive a truck with a 53-foot trailer? Have you ever had to haul a thousand bushels of corn to market?’ If the answer is no, you better start talking to the people who do it.”

With the addition of Rep. David Rouzer, R-N.C., on Wednesday, Feb. 28, the House version of the DRIVE Act has 37 co-sponsors.

OOIDA is encouraging its approximately 150,000 members to ask their lawmakers to support the DRIVE Act.

Truck drivers can contact their lawmakers through OOIDA’s Fighting For Truckers website. LL