Department of Labor Holds Meeting on Regulatory Reform

On October 2, 2017, SGIA attended a Department of Labor regulatory reform meeting titled “Cut the Red Tape Summit: Eliminating Excessive Regulation to Create Jobs and Growth.” The meeting was held as part of the White House’s regulatory reform efforts following Executive Orders 13771 and 13777. Nicholas C. Geale, Acting Solicitor of Labor and Acting Chief of Staff for the Department of Labor, and Nathan Mehrens, the Acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for Policy, presented on the current efforts in the DOL to enact regulatory reform within the department. A regulatory taskforce composed of a number of agency heads has been created as mandate under the Executive Orders. This task force will primarily be looking at regulations that inhibit job creation and those that interfere with other regulatory initiatives for modification or removal. Attendees were given the opportunity to ask questions and comment on regulations that they find particularly burdensome. Some key areas of concern were occupational licensing, 401k audits, and chemical standards. Finally, Bruce Lundegren, Assistant Chief Counsel at SBA, provided an update on SBA’s efforts for regulatory reform. The Agency has hosted several regional roundtables to help identify specific regulatory barriers to small business growth, and will continue these roundtables in other areas around the country. The findings from these roundtables as well as a link to suggested regulations that should be reformed can be found on their website (sba.gov/advocacy). Sign up to receive the most up-to-date regulatory and legislative information about specialty imaging.