Regulatory Reform

Position: SUPPORT – SPECIFICALLY WITH REGARD TO NLRB
Status: LEGISLATION INTRODUCED

Summary

Each year, federal agencies issue approximately 4,000 new regulations at an annual cost of nearly $1.1 trillion, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. This amount is roughly equivalent to allU.S.individual and corporate income taxes paid annually and represents a huge hidden tax on the American public.

The National Restaurant Association reports it costs business owners with fewer than 20 employees about $10,585 a year per employee to comply with federal regulations. While regulatory agencies issued 3,573 final rules in 2010, Congress passed and the president signed only 217 bills into law. The distribution of lawmaking power is being increasingly delegated to unelected bureaucrats at administrative agencies. Congress must address this so as to minimize the burdensome impact on small business owners.

History
Over the last several years, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has been actively attempting to circumvent the legislative process by regulating the workplace. In 2011, they attempted to block Boeing from adding a new assembly plant inSouth Carolina, a right-to-work state as opposed to the heavily unionized state ofWashington.

Other unprecedented proposals include mandating posters emphasizing union organizing rights be posted in places of employment, initializing “quickie elections” for employee unionization and the re-evaluation of key labor rulings which recognize employer rights.

These recent actions are unprecedented and illustrate an overreaching by regulatory agencies to manage and influence the private sector with union activities.

Position

The NFA supports efforts to reduce federal regulations, particularly those that hamper job growth. Specifically, the NFA is concerned the NLRB has overstepped its bounds in introducing numerous proposals to regulate unionization of the workplace.