Prove It Act aims to protect small businesses from overregulation

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association has expressed support for the Prove It Act, a bill aimed at protecting small businesses from burdensome regulations.

Earlier this month, Reps. Brad Finstad, R-Minn.; Yadira Caraveo, D-Colo.; and Nathaniel Moran, R-Texas, introduced HR7198. The Prove It Act would force federal agencies to consider how regulations would affect small businesses.

Although the bill applies to all industries, it is especially significant to trucking, as the majority of trucks are operated by small motor carriers.

“Not only are small businesses the backbone of America’s economy; they’re the backbone of America’s supply chain,” OOIDA President Todd Spencer said. “Over 70% of American freight is transported exclusively by truck, and 96% of trucking is made up of small business carriers. OOIDA and the 150,000 small-business truckers we represent support the bipartisan Prove It Act to keep government overreach and burdensome overregulation off of the backs of the men and women behind the wheel who keep our economy moving. We thank Reps. Finstad, Caraveo and Moran for their leadership in Congress on this commonsense legislation.”

Specifically, the Prove It Act requires federal agencies to analyze the impact of their regulatory action and limit these impacts for small entities by:

• Creating a way for small businesses to raise concerns when regulators do not consider both the direct and indirect costs their regulations place on them
• Allowing small businesses to ask their chief advocate in government to review agencies’ work and make the government prove they are fully compliant with already-existing laws
• Stipulating that if regulators fail to comply with this review process, small businesses will be exempt from the agency’s regulations altogether
• Ensuring small businesses can easily access preexisting guidance documents online and create a way for small businesses to directly raise questions or concerns with their regulators

“As a small-business owner, I know firsthand that southern Minnesota’s family-owned businesses need less government regulation from Washington bureaucrats, not more,” Rep. Finstad said in a news release. “The Prove It Act makes sure our small businesses aren’t saddled with unnecessary and overburdensome regulatory mandates, which is why I am proud to introduce this important, bipartisan legislation with my colleagues.”

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

In addition to OOIDA, supporters of the bill are the Job Creators Network, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Federation of Independent Business and the Independent Community Bankers Association.

Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wisc., became a co-sponsor on Feb. 14. LL