Letter — House Committee on Small Business to Department of Labor and OSHA re RFA Follow-Up (Mar. 13, 2024)

Summary

A letter dated March 13, 2024, from the House Committee on Small Business to Acting Secretary Julie A. Su of the Department of Labor and Assistant Secretary Douglas L. Parker of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The letter requests further information about the Department's and OSHA's decision making and practices relating to the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA). It states that the Committee has sent a total of eleven letters and that both the Department and OSHA have failed to produce any requested communications. The Committee requests complete responses to its document requests no later than March 27, 2024, covering communications relating to the RFA and "impact analyses" for named proposed and final rules. The signature block names Roger Williams, Chairman.

Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used

Full text

                                               March 13, 2024

The Honorable Julie A. Su                          The Honorable Douglas L. Parker
Acting Secretary                                   Assistant Secretary of Labor
U.S. Department of Labor                           Occupational Safety and Health Administration
200 Constitution Ave. NW                           201 12th St. S. Suite 401
Washington, DC 20210                               Arlington, VA 22202

Dear Acting Secretary Su and Assistant Secretary Parker:

        The House Committee on Small Business (the Committee) writes to request further
information about the Department of Labor (the Department) and the Occupational Safety and
Health Administration’s (OSHA) decision making and practices relating to the Regulatory
Flexibility Act (RFA). The Committee has sent a total of eleven letters requesting
communications and other information about the economic impact analyses for certain rules.
While the Department and OSHA have responded to some of the Committee’s requests in
narrative form, to date, both the Department and OSHA have failed to produce any requested
communications.

       As you are well aware, the RFA requires agencies to identify and take steps to mitigate
any possible significant economic impact on small entities, including the consideration of less
impactful alternatives to the rule.1 Although the Department has claimed to recognize “the
important role small businesses play in our economy,” the Biden Administration’s regulatory
agenda has had a significant impact on a substantial number of small entities.2 In fact, the
Department has pushed 111 million paperwork hours and $5.5 billion in costs onto American
businesses since President Biden took office.3

       On February 22, 2023, the Committee launched this investigation with letters to the
Department and OSHA requesting communications and information regarding compliance with
the RFA.4 Since then, the Committee has sent an additional nine letters to the Department and
OSHA requesting communications and information for specific rules. The Department and

1
  See 5 U.S.C. §§ 602-612.
2
  Letter from Liz Watson, Assistant Sec’y, U.S. Dep’t of Labor, to Roger Williams, Chairman, H. Comm. On Small
Bus. (Mar. 10. 2023).
3
  Explore the Data, Regulation Rodeo, AM. ACTION FORUM (last visited Feb. 13, 2024),
https://regrodeo.com/?year%5B0%5D=&year%5B1%5D=2024&year%5B2%5D=2023&year%5B3%5D=2022&ye
ar%5B4%5D=2021&agency%5B0%5D=Labor.
4
  See Letter from Roger Williams, Chairman, H. Comm. on Small Bus., to Martin J. Walsh, Secretary, U.S. Dep’t of
Labor (Feb. 22, 2023); Letter from Roger Williams, Chairman, H. Comm. on Small. Bus., to Douglas Parker,
Director, Occupational Safety and Health Admin. (Feb. 22, 2023).
The Honorable Julie A. Su and the Honorable Douglas L. Parker
March 13, 2024
Page 2 of 3

OSHA have failed to produce a single communication in response to any of these letters. In so
doing, the Department and OSHA have failed to provide any valid reason for withholding these
documents. The lack of transparency and willingness to be forthright with the Committee is
unacceptable.

        America’s small businesses deserve to have their voices heard and considered. In
furtherance of the Committee’s investigation into the Department and OSHA’s decisions in
complying with the RFA, the Committee is requesting complete responses to the document
requests below, which incorporate and narrow its outstanding documents requests, no later than
March 27, 2024.

   1. All communications, including but not limited to emails, between and among Department
      personnel relating to the RFA, impact analyses, compliance burdens, and the
      determination of whether there will be a “significant impact on a substantial number of
      businesses” for the following proposed rules and time periods:
          a. Lowering Miner’s Exposure to Crystalline Silica and Improving Respiratory
             Protection from July 1, 2022, to July 13, 2023.
          b. Worker Walkaround Representative Designation Process from August 1, 2022,
             through August 30, 2023.
          c. Retirement Security Rule: Definition of an Investment Advice Fiduciary from
             November 1, 2022, through November 3, 2023.

   2. All communications, including but not limited to emails, between and among Department
      personnel relating to the RFA, impact analyses, compliance burdens, and the
      determination of whether there will be a “significant impact on a substantial number of
      businesses” for the following final rules:
          a. Updating the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts Regulations from March 1, 2021,
             through August 23, 2023.
          b. Employee or Independent Contractor Classification Under the Fair Labor
             Standards Act from October 1, 2021, through January 10, 2024.

   3. All communications, including but not limited to emails, between and among OSHA
      personnel relating to the RFA, impact analyses, compliance burdens, and the
      determination of whether there will be a “significant impact on a substantial number of
      businesses” for the following final rule and time period:
          a. Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses from March 30, 2021,
             through January 1, 2024.

       To schedule the delivery of your response or ask any related follow-up questions, please
contact the Committee on Small Business Majority Staff at (202) 225-5821. The Committee on
Small Business has broad authority to investigate “problems of all types of small business” under
House Rule X. Thank you in advance for your cooperation with this inquiry.
The Honorable Julie A. Su and the Honorable Douglas L. Parker
March 13, 2024
Page 3 of 3


                                     In God We Trust,




                                   Roger Williams
                                       Chairman
                               Committee on Small Business




cc:    The Honorable Nydia M. Velazquez, Ranking Member
       Committee on Small Business


File and source

File

2024-03-13_HouseSBC-Majority-to-dol-and-osha_letter-to-dol-and-osha-re-rfa-follow-up.pdf

Size

208,702 bytes

SHA-256

4a7817d226351f423bdd9036078e01bcb2f81a8a04f73bae97e9f78949b9d178

Our copy

2024-03-13_HouseSBC-Majority-to-dol-and-osha_letter-to-dol-and-osha-re-rfa-follow-up.pdf

Original

smallbusiness.house.gov