U.S. Rep. Roger Williams (R-TX), chairman of the House Committee on Small Business, recently wrote to four federal agencies, noting his concerns regarding regulatory overreach.
Williams recently forwarded letters to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Department of Energy (DOE) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), targeting numerous regulations and their potentially adverse impacts on small businesses.
“Far too often, the federal government fails to consider the impacts that its regulatory agenda has on small businesses,” Williams said. “The latest round of rules is just another example of the interests of small businesses being disregarded in the rulemaking process. Whether it be saddling our country’s optometrists with redundant requirements; restricting access to credit in local communities by kneecapping small credit firms; hamstringing the construction of energy transformers amid historically high energy costs, or orchestrating an unprecedented overreach into how ranchers can use their land, all these new rules add more red tape and costs to our country’s innovators.”
Williams said the Biden administration must keep the concerns of small businesses at the forefront and indicated he is committed to standing up for Main Street America and against over-regulating America’s job creators.
In his letter to FTC Chair Lina M. Khan, Williams inquired about the recent change to the Ophthalmic Practice Rules (Eyeglass Rule) requiring optometrists and ophthalmologists to provide patients with a signed copy and acknowledgement of their eyeglass prescription and, concurrently, requiring that the acknowledgements be kept by the practice for at least three years.
“The Committee fears that this rule will have a disproportionate impact on small businesses by adding redundant requirements to already understaffed practices,” Williams wrote. “It appears that the Federal Trade Commission may not have properly considered small entities during this rulemaking process.”