• NASE Supports Health Coverage For School-Age Children
  Compliance
• SBA Initiative Tries To Cut Red Tape For Small Biz
• SBA Balks At Proposed Census Budget Cuts

NASE Supports Health Coverage For School-Age Children

Health coverage can be hard to come by for micro-business owners and their families. That’s why the NASE is supporting the eighth annual Back-to-School Campaign, which seeks to inform parents that their children may be eligible for state-provided health care coverage. "The Covering Kids & Families Back-to-School Campaign is a stepstool to help parents struggling to provide children with coverage without forgoing other needs," said Kristie Darien, executive director for the NASE legislative office. "We encourage all of our members to get involved with the events of the next month or so in their communities." The Covering Kids & Families coalition focuses on three strategies: Conduct and coordinate outreach programs. Simplify enrollment and renewal processes. Coordinate existing health care coverage programs. For more information on the NASE's position on health care, visit http://advocacy.nase.org/. Visit http://coveringkidsandfamilies.org/ for more information, updates, and a calendar of events in your area during the month of August.

SBA Initiative Tries To Cut Red Tape For Small Biz In an effort to clean up burdensome government regulation, the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Office of Advocacy is promoting a new initiative to help reduce the bureaucratic load on small businesses. This initiative, named the Regulatory Review and Reform (R3) program, comes as a response to a recent report released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that examines how agencies are implementing section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA); this section mandates that agencies periodically examine their exiting regulations to measure changing impacts on small business. The report details the need for clearer standards, increased public participation, and better communication with small business owners. The R3 initiative will attempt to address these issues by offering agencies guidance and training on how to implement section 610 of the RFA. It will also provide public updates on the status and results of agency retrospective reviews and solicit recommendations from the small business community on rules that should be reviewed “Micro-businesses are especially burdened by overzealous regulation,” explained Kristie Darien, executive director for the NASE legislative office. “We hope that the R3 program will prove to be a helpful method by which small business owners can offer feedback on the red tape they wade through everyday.” The Office of Advocacy estimates that the cost of complying with federal rules and regulations is $1.1 trillion per year. For more information on the R3 program, visit http://www.sba.gov/advo/r3/. To read the entire GAO report, go to http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d07791.pdf.   SBA Balks At Proposed Census Budget Cuts   The Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy recently sent a letter to Congress about the danger of cutting the Census budget. The SBA says the unintended consequences of a proposed funding cut to the Census budget would jeopardize the Survey of Business Owners and Self-Employed Persons (SBO), which Advocacy uses to report on small business ownership by gender, ethnicity, and members of the armed services. The letter also stated that this loss of data provides information on the economic and demographic characteristics of the nation’s businesses and business owners. The loss of this data will hamper policymakers and researchers’ understanding of the many contributions and challenges of U.S. small businesses. With the information from the SBO survey, the Office of Advocacy can tailor research to specific issues of importance for small business. To view a copy of the letter, please go to http://www.sba.gov/advo/. Share your experiences as a micro-business owner! Sound off on key legislative issues and get some free publicity for your business in the process by becoming a media contact. Visit www.NASE.org/mediarelations/contactsheet.asp to fill out an informational sheet on the background of your business. Then, send it back to us at the contact information listed on the sheet. If getting involved in the legislative process suits you better, go to the Advocacy page and “Tell Your Story” (http://advocacy.nase.org/issues/issues.asp). You have the option of allowing the NASE to share your micro-business story with your Members of Congress. By allowing the NASE to tell your story to legislators, you can play a vital role in illustrating the real life consequences and affects of issues they debate on a daily basis.