Advocacy is the voice for small businesses in the executive branch. We make sure agencies consider how their regulations affect small entities, which include small businesses, non-profits, and governmental jurisdictions.

We work with federal agencies throughout the regulatory-writing process, ensuring that, at every step, regulators consider the perspective of small businesses. Advocacy pushes for flexibility where one-size-fits-all regulations will not work.

Advocacy also reviews regulations that have driven up prices in industries including housing, healthcare, and energy. Despite our name, the Office of Advocacy does NOT handle SBA-related requests. If you have problems with lending, disaster relief, or wish to report fraud, please see the SBA website.

What is a regulation?

Advocacy’s team of attorneys tracks regulations that are likely to be harmful to small businesses. When an opportunity arises to work with an agency, our staff issues a regulatory alert to notify small businesses and solicit comments.

In addition, the most important issues Advocacy tracks are on our Small Businesses’ Most Wanted Reform page. In order to determine which regulations go on this page, we need your input!

Advocacy attorneys set up routine listening sessions where small businesses can speak directly with staff members from federal agencies who write rules. These roundtables, hosted virtually, are an opportunity for small businesses to ask questions and share their concerns directly with agencies and Advocacy staff.

Write a Comment Letter

You can participate in the rulemaking process by writing a comment letter directly to federal agencies. Don’t be intimidated: Advocacy’s Small Business Guide to Comment Letter Writing helps make the process easy. Agencies consider quality comments, and a good letter can help shape regulations that impact your business.

You can meet directly with federal regulators and tell them your story. These meetings, called 12866 meetings, give you an uninterrupted thirty minutes to talk with representatives of the federal government about how a rule might impact your business.

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