Agency Accountability Act of 2001

The Agency Accountability Act of 2001 (S. 849) was designed to give small businesses a greater voice in the federal rulemaking process. It would have required federal agencies to notify the Small Business Administration and consult with small business representatives before proposing new regulations that could significantly impact them.

For everyday citizens, particularly small business owners, this bill aimed to ensure that the potential costs and economic burdens of new government rules were fully analyzed and shared with the public before being finalized. By requiring agencies to justify their decisions and allowing for legal challenges to those justifications, the bill sought to make the federal government more transparent and accountable for how its regulations affect local economies.