failing to support the very businesses they should be backing. and we'll learn what my guest is doing to strengthen the small business industry for nevada and across the nation. as 2015 came to a close, congressman hardy held a federal hearing in north las vegas exploring how new small businesses. the congressman who chairs the house small business subcommittee on investigations, oversight and regulations takes his investigation oversight authority seriously. he told the gathering that he discovered that last year alone more than 82,000 new pages of regulations were issued by the feds. the average annual rule addition, nearly 80,000 pages. and you business owners should care. these new rules apply to environmental protection, healthcare, workplace safety, financial lending and more. now, congressman, you told that north las vegas audience that this can mean gigantic >> absolutely. that was part of the hearing. and the reason for having the hearing, basically what i wanted to do is have a hearing, bring the staff out from d.c. and have them listen to some of the challenges that small businesses are having in my district and throughout the state. you know, there is businesses like overton power district. there was the credit union from pahranagat valley. there. >> sure. >> one of the nevada banks was there. i can't remember who the other that they had. and i wanted to present that to staff so they could hear the challenges. oh, it was the home builders association were there. and they were actually some that said that, you know, there was regulations there that they don't even know that they might be committing a crime of some kind. >> until they get a letter or a fine or what have you. >> until they get a letter or a fine. regulations that are actually and these costs when these regulations come through are handed down to the end consumer. and that's part of the challenge that we have. and so the rural banking communities -- >> i read that overall, small businesses are burdened with an estimated $88.5 billion with a "b" in compliance costs every year. >> actually i believe it's higher than that. there was a study done that i think it was $1.328 trillion -- >> oh, my. >> that it's costing us in regulations being handed down. but i'd have to get the exact number on that. but it's huge, some of the impacts that are happening to our economy. that's lost economy that we are not bringing back and it's part of the end game of getting things moving again and paying national debt. >> were some of these business owners that you met with in las vegas -- had they received notification of, you know, failure to comply about some rules that they didn't even know existed? the issues were about basically the rules that have come through dodd-frank. as you know, dodd-frank was put into place for basically the banks that had done fraud. these banks had nothing to do with it. and it comes down to these small banks and they can't afford to go out and hire six or seven people to comply with the rules that have been put in place. and it costs those individuals and these small community banks, which at the end of the day they have to add that back to the consumer. when you close banks in small rural communities, such as credit unions and small banks, that takes out the lifeblood of a community for small businesses. >> we're going to get to some sba news, also why your legislation to give the small business person easier go figuring out what rules they are responsible to comply with, that's an important bill i want to get to in the next segment. but you have said it many times and you did touch on it a moment ago here on the show that, you know, these onerous regulations, how they strangle explain more why. >> well, what it does is through the process of rule-making -- we'll give you one example that was brought up by the home builder association. now because of new interpretations through new regulations, they are finding out that on land that was sold to home builders, the blm retained those mineral rights. and now they are trying to charge home builders for just moving the dirt on the site. when you cut a site to fill a lower site, they want to charge you as a mineral use. and that impacts the cost of a home and ruins that small business. like i said, regulatory reforms that are out there on businesses never know what's going to hit them. >> yeah. you know, you mentioned part of this a moment ago. i did bring this, a quote from david jennings of the southern nevada home builders association. he said that he has seen many builders losing tens of breaking regulations they didn't even know applied to them. >> that's correct. that 82,000 pages, 82,035 to be exact last year between january and december, think about that. what were you doing on christmas eve? well, our regulators were pumping out regulations. i think it was 496 pages on christmas eve alone. >> merry christmas. >> and then new year's. what were you doing on new year's? i know what i was doing. but our regulators were still pumping out new pages on new year's eve 290 something pages pumped out this year. this administration is on track to almost 80,000 pages a year that he's come out with. and that's 350 pages a day that you'd have to read, keep up with that. now, i don't know about you. i can't read 350 pages a day and i don't know of many people that could if that was their full-time job. so you don't know what you don't know if you aren't able to read it. and so there needs to be a better avenue to make sure that businesses have that opportunity to see what the there's other things that need to happen that we're working on and have passed out of the house that haven't happened through the senate as of yet. >> look forward to getting to that later in the show. but first, you know, when we return, the small business administration, small business person's friend or foe? well, that's just ahead. >> and welcome back to "eye on washington" and our discussion of my guest's work to protect and strengthen the small business community in nevada and across the nation. he is my guest today, nevada u.s. congressman cresent hardy. a regulation's affect on your small business could range from a blip to job layoffs to closed doors. my guest says often times you don't even know new rules that impact you, rules that you nonetheless are responsible for complying with. guess what. and that's why he's a big fan of the small business regulatory flexibility improvements act. the legislation defines economic impact as any reasonable foreseeable indirect economic effect on small businesses resulting from a proposed or final rule. it expands the information that an agency is required to include in its regulatory flexibility analysis, a fancy washington way of saying it has to disclose any disproportionate economic impact on small businesses. agencies would have to consider alternatives that would minimize significant adverse impacts and maximize beneficial impacts on businesses. so, congressman, it sounds common sense and like something that the small business administration shouldn't need a law to do. so what led to this? >> well, i think what it leads to is people sometimes in washington don't necessarily look at the impact of what a regulation may do to a business. to have an assessment of what the cost may be both financially and maybe the regulatory side to make sure what it may cost a business to be in compliance. >> so basically the legislation you are pushing so hard for right now is kind of making the federal government really stop and think about the impacts its 80,000 plus rules and etc., etc. have on the small business guy, right? >> absolutely. >> or woman. >> you know if you took into impact and if people would ask business out there about certain things like maybe obamacare, the cost to business and cost to employment, that's huge. and that's not even the small business level. that's at every level. but you need to have people that are out there involved in businesses being part of this discussion whenever something is happening. it just can't be all about some epa rule. what does it cost? what's the impact to it? it doing good to the economy? also these need to be things that need to be evaluated at the same time. >> you know, i saw that this act originally was passed 35 years ago. but the feds have imposed so many loopholes over the years that this revamp was necessary, is that correct? >> yes. and plus the courts have got involved in interpretation of law, sometimes gets misconstrued. this is bringing it back in and reining in those issues that we want to make sure what's really happening and what the intent of the law is, where the agency can actually do what it needs to do. you know, the advocacy of the department is supposed to look at these rules and give assessments what the impact is. but when administrations aren't even responding to the advocacy department for small businesses, this helps them get that authority to maybe force their hand to make sure that they pay attention to what they are saying is going to be cause and effect. what have been hearing from your small business owners, your constituents who own small businesses that really got you involved in this legislation? >> well, i have been in a small business myself. and i have watched over the years the costs of certain compliance to certain rules, that sometimes may have some benefit, but are they the maximum benefit? and so when you have to put those in place, somebody is going to pay for that. it always goes down to the end consumer. if i'm losing money, i'm going to go out of business, so i have got to pass it on to somebody. and it ends up going you pay -- if i'm on a state highway project or if i'm on a housing project, a treatment facility project, all those which we have done in the past, it costs somebody. and so that's what the impact is to small business or anybody else. >> when you were at that north las vegas meeting, the small business owners -- there or any of your communities that mentioned obamacare. is it obamacare? what type of rules and regulations of late are causing the biggest hassles, whether it's understanding them or economic costs, etc.? what's causing the -- >> i think the biggest challenge for most people is the economic cost and the cost it costs to implement such rules. these 80,000 pages cover a wide gamut of different businesses. they are not just one single business. so you may be -- >> but it's not one certain issue that is bothering, it's just everything. >> it's across the rule. >> so many rules. >> everybody has a different issue, depending whether they are an insurance provider. >> i see. >> whether they are a bank, whether they are a shoe salesman or, you know, clothing salesman, everything has some kind of impact out there on regulations. and it ends up going out to that in turn pass that down, also. >> what's the support on the hill right now for this bill? >> you know, there's great support from the republican side. i think there's some challenges. there are individuals that will support this bill and have. it was a bipartisan bill when it went through the house. it hasn't gone through the senate yet, this regulatory -- >> those who were against it, why? >> i couldn't answer that question. >> you don't know. >> it's part of the concern that i have about the mindset of individuals. we all don't think the same. we all have different ideals. >> okay. sounds good. and when we return, it is your "eye on washington" updates segment. let's find out the status of two pro small business bills that my guest told us about last year and some good news that's just ahead. >> and welcome back to "eye on washington," our discussion of one nevada leader's work to level the playing field for small business owners. we have been visiting with him, he is nevada u.s. congressman cresent hardy. well, last year the congressman was here telling our statewide tv and radio audience about two other major small business boosting bills he was authoring or backing here on the hill. let's find out now where things stand. first up, his small business contractor's clarification act. it's legislation to make it easier for small business owners to compete for military focused government contracts. it solidifies the non-manufacturer's rule so that service contracts do not business requirements as manufactured goods contracts. the other one we will re-look at is the veterans entrepreneurship act. this bill waives up-front fees for veterans applying for express loans through the small business administration and raises the program's lending authority from $18.57 billion to $23.5 billion. sorry, congressman. first let's talk about that latter bill. when you were here talking about it last year, you shared that your colleague jeanne shaheen called this the most in demand loan program. >> we're talking about the sba. >> yes. >> what it does is for small businesses, it's an opportunity for them to get moneys -- >> the veterans entrepreneurship. >> the veterans entrepreneur is there for them to obtain operations, for building up their mechanical needs or whether it's just to start a new business. the average i think is a little over $300,000 for most loans. >> right. >> they can get up to $5 million. but what this does is provides an opportunity for those who have served. you know, they have been out there. they have got all this technical expertise that they have learned while they were in the field, so to speak. >> sure. >> it helps them come back home, obtain these loans. and actually without paying the fees. that puts extra money back into their business when they try to move forward. and it helps them help grow the economy and also -- >> gives them a leg up. >> yeah. >> and zero fees as you said. >> zero fees, yes. it helps them get back into society and help be productive like they have done when they were in the service. >> sure. where did this go in 2015? and what are you reintroducing this year? >> basically it will be -- i think it went through the house. house, but i don't remember if it made it through the senate or not. i couldn't tell you at this point. i don't know if it's actually that part made law. the clarification act, we had that in ndaa and it was approved and is law now, so -- >> the clarification act, the contract clarification act, what makes it harder now for small business owners to have a shot at those lucrative contracts? >> what was happening in the past was the interpretation by judges was that they didn't separate the difference between manufacturing and service. so we'll say that you're a concrete placer. you've got a job on an air force base building a slab for an f-35 we'll say. the way it was being interpreted, you also had to manufacture the same concrete that you were placing. if you were placing the steel, you had to manufacture the steel that you were placing. no small business can do that. for major business to do so. so it separates those two as an understanding there is a difference between manufacturing and service contracts. >> well, i know you have said that it's mostly about clarity on federal government contract rules. so the so-called noncurrent non-manufacturer's rule and again the confusion over goods and services. >> and that's the point. >> explain that. >> just in our district 4 itself, you know, nellis is a major, major player there for small businesses and for federal dollars. these are federal contracts where this clarification has been convoluted. now, $240 million worth of contracts will be submitted in nellis over the next two years. that provides that opportunity -- to make sure we're clear, between service and manufacturing. when somebody provides chairs to a place, do they also have to make the chair? so it's that opportunity to make sure that small business can still be involved and maybe not be the manufacturer of the source also. >> it seems like in our last segment, too, a lot of your work here on these bills is really about clarifying kind of muddled muddy rules. >> hence the regulatory process. that's the problem we have with federal government. the one size fits all handed down from the federal government distorts and challenges the small business, you know. a small business doesn't have the ability to hire all this extra legal staff. and i have said before the small business creates about 64% of the jobs in our nation. those are good quality jobs that wouldn't otherwise -- and most small businesses want to grow up to be a big business someday. and that's fine. that's what this helps us do. strengthen those small businesses which strengthens jobs and the economy, provides that opportunity for people to be the provider rather than >> quickly since we're out of time this segment, what's the support for these bills? >> these will go through i think with bipartisan support with no problem. >> okay. thanks. and when we return, it is mailbag time. and get ready, rose, we picked your letter to the it's coming up next. segment of "eye on washington." it is our mailbag segment. it's when we read a letter you have sent to the mailbag page of joyce communications website. we read it right here on the air. and, congressman, we have a letter to you from rose. and she writes, dear congressman hardy, recent media has suggested the sba businesses. see them take on for nevada businesses in particular? >> the main thing that has been happening -- and i think it's a good thing -- is we have expanded the amount of dollars that comes through the sba for those small business loans. i'd like to make sure that it's easier to get that, as long as people are qualified to obtain those funds, and that we have a better process of making sure that these are individuals who can help strengthen our economy and help produce jobs in nevada. >> so you're going to help out rose and meet her need of this letter. >> do the best we can. >> that sounds really good. that does wrap it up for today's "eye on washington." i hope you'll join us next time as we discuss more important federal matters and their impact on you in nevada. you can visit joycecommunications.com or our facebook page for more news from the hill that impacts you. you can watch any shows you have missed on our youtube page. that is it for today's "eye on washington." thanks for joining us today. i'm marilee joyce in washington. today. >> who can you rely on to always be there when you need immediate help? 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