Native American Affairs and Regulatory Fairness Program in the United States

Native American Affairs

The Office of Native American Affairs was established to assist and encourage the creation, development, and expansion of Native
American-owned small businesses by developing and implementing initiatives
designed to address those dif?culties encountered by Native Americans
as they start, develop, and expand small businesses. In addition, in an effort to address the unique conditions encountered by reservation-based
entrepreneurs, the Office is developing a Web-based resource entitled the “Tribal
Self Assessment Tool.” It is intended to allow tribal nations to assess their vision
and goals relative to their governance structure, culture, capabilities, and
resources. The tool is free and will be available on the Internet.

For further information, contact the Office of Native American Affairs. Phone, 202–205–7364.

Regulatory Fairness Program

Congress established the National Ombudsman and 10 Regulatory Fairness Boards
in 1996 as part of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act
(SBREFA). The National Ombudsman’s primary mission is to assist small
businesses when they experience excessive or unfair federal regulatory
enforcement actions, such as repetitive audits or investigations, excessive ?nes,
penalties, threats, retaliation or other unfair enforcement action by a Federal
agency. The National Ombudsman receives comments from small-business
concerns and acts as a liaison between them and Federal agencies. Comments
received from small businesses are forwarded to Federal agencies for review
and Federal agencies are requested to consider the fairness of their enforcement
action. A copy of the agency’s response is sent to the small business owner by
the Office of the National Ombudsman.

In some cases, ?nes have been lowered or eliminated and decisions changed in
favor of the small-business owner. Each of the Regulatory Fairness Boards
(RegFair) has ?ve volunteer members who are owners, operators, or of?cers
of small-business concerns that are appointed by the SBA Administrator for
3-year terms. Each RegFair Board meets at least annually with the Ombudsman
on matters of concern to small businesses relating to the enforcement
or compliance activities of Federal agencies; reports to the Ombudsman
on substantiated instances of excessive enforcement; and, prior to publication,
SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 453 provides comment on the annual report
to Congress.

For further information, contact the Office of the National Ombudsman. Phone, 202–205–2417 or 888–734–3247. Internet, http://www.sba.gov/ombudsman.