Work has started in the State Senate on a proposal to keep state regulations from costing too much for small businesses. The proposal would force state agencies to assess the costs of new regulations on small business and to set forth rules that are the least costly and least injurious to small businesses. A state board would be able to review any regulation if the business complains about it. Senator Gary Nodler of Joplin says the proposed state law is similar to a federal program. He says the federal program recognizes that the costs of regulation do not fall evenly on small businesses and on big businesses. The federal program requiring agencies at that level to appraise costs of regulations has been in effect since 1996. More discussion of the idea will come later in the State Senate.
