While the movement for regulatory flexibility for small business is picking up steam across the country, some states are actually increasing regulations impacting small businesses according to Fortune.
Provide an extra six weeks of job-protected family leave. A written accident-prevention plan for even the teeniest business. The most lavish unemployment-compensation benefits in the country. If you run a small business in Washington State, those are just some of the mandates you face-well beyond what the federal government or other states require. “It’s like the frog in the pan. The state government turns the heat up a little each year,” says John Heaton, president of Pay Plus Benefits in Kennewick, which administers payroll and benefit functions for other small companies. “I think small businesses are beginning to feel burned.”
Studies clearer show that more regulations will lead to less entrepreneurial activity. It seems that we may be taking one step forward with regulatory flexibility, but two steps back with this barrage of new regulations in states across the country. Given the number of small businesses operating in multiple states, this complexity will only make doing business more difficult and may discourage expansion in many cases.