RE: Recruiting Small Businesses for Rulemaking

[Tom Kelly <kelly.tom@epa.gov>]

Michael, because of the typical structure of our rules, we'd be unlikely to consult with local Chambers of Commerce except on an unusual occasion.  Under the RFA as amended by SBREFA, we concentrate our outreach on small businesses that are directly subject to the rule.  Most of our rules cover a particular industry, or segment of an industry, so our outreach tends to be targeted to firms practicing that particular function -- leather tanning, printing, metal finishing, whatever it happens to be.

Occasionally we write a rule with broad implications for a broad range of industrial activities, such as Federal Implementation Plans pursuant to National Ambient Air Quality Standards.  In a situation like that, we'd be more likely to deal with associations, such as the Chamber, that represent a broad cross-section of corporate interests.

I don't mean to concentrate solely on RFA/SBREFA, but, for obvious reasons, we pay special attention to our outreach obligations arising from those statutes.  During the rulemaking process, EPA programs perform economic analyses regarding the impact of the entire rule on the national economy (and not just on the small businesses/communities with compliance obligations).  Local Chambers are not doubt active in the public comment process that helps shape EPA's ultimate assessment of national costs and benefits.