United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2002-03-06 monographic deposited born digital GA 1.13:GAO-02-491T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-491T P0b002ee1803829f3 f:d02491t DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-491T machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-491T GAO-02-491T Agency proceedings Federal regulations Regulatory agencies Small business assistance Statutory law Testimony A02850 The Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 (RFA) requires agencies to prepare an initial and a final regulatory flexibility analysis. The Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 (SBREFA) was enacted to strengthen the RFA's protections for small entities, and some of the act's requirements are built on "significant impact." GAO reviewed the implementation of the RFA and SBREFA several times during recent years, with topics ranging from specific provisions in each statute to the overall implementation of the RFA. Although both of these reform initiatives have clearly affected how federal agencies regulate, GAO believes that their full promise has not been realized, with questions regarding the RFA that remain unanswered. These questions lie at the heart of the RFA and SBREFA, and their answers can have a substantive effect on the amount of regulatory relief provided through those statutes. Because Congress did not answer these questions when the statutes were enacted, agencies have had to develop their own answers, and those answers differ. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-491T/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-491T.htm GAO-02-491T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-491T Testimony GAO-02-491T; Regulatory Flexibility Act: Clarification of Key Terms Still Needed; Agency proceedings Federal regulations Regulatory agencies Small business assistance Statutory law