MSCI Tells U.S. House Leadership To Consider Bill To Reduce Regulatory Burden On Small Businesses

On May 4, the Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI) joined the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and dozens of other business groups to send a letter to leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives asking that they move expeditiously to consider and approve H.R. 1163, the Prove It Act of 2025.

The legislation would strengthen the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) and bolster the voice of small business before the federal government. As the letter, available at this link, explained, the RFA was passed 46 years ago and was intended to address burden on small business by requiring that regulators tailor rules to meet government objectives while minimizing the burden on small businesses. Unfortunately, in practice, federal agencies often exploit loopholes in the law in order to hide costs imposed on Main Street businesses and to ignore their feedback.

The Prove It Act of 2025 would close those loopholes and bring more transparency to the true costs federal regulations impose on U.S. innovators, job creators, and community builders.

Specifically, the legislation would:

• Improve transparency in the regulatory process by requiring agencies to fully disclose and justify their analyses of small business impacts;
• Enhance opportunities for small businesses to provide input early in the rulemaking process so that agencies are able to design rules with greater flexibility and clearer compliance pathways; and
• Reinforce the core purpose of the RFA so that the law ensures that federal agencies must “prove” their assumptions and methodologies when they claim a rule will not significantly affect small businesses.