Capitol Corner

McCrory appointed to SBA's RegFair Board

On Aug. 1, Bruce McCrory, chief operating officer and general manager of NRCA member Kiker Corp., Mobile, Ala., was appointed to a Regulatory Fairness Board (known as RegFair Board) of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). McCrory's three-year appointment is for SBA's Region IV, which includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

McCrory decided to pursue the appointment several months ago because he was frustrated with his local Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) office. This led McCrory to contact NRCA's Washington, D.C., office, and in our discussions, I suggested he become a candidate for a seat on SBA's RegFair Board for Region IV. McCrory's credentials as a small-business man and volunteer in civic programs, as well as letters of recommendation from Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and Rep. Sonny Callahan (R-Ala.) were submitted to SBA in February. McCrory's nomination was approved by the White House, and SBA Administrator Hector Barreto officially notified McCrory about his appointment.

McCrory's first official act as a board member was to attend the Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Boards' Annual Meeting held in Crystal City, Va., Sept. 4-6. Hosted by SBA's National Ombudsman Michael Barrera, the meeting focused on the legislation that provided the creation of RegFair Boards and manner in which the boards function.

Congress established SBA's Office of the National Ombudsman and 10 RegFair Boards in 1996 as part of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act. The act was designed to ensure small businesses—as defined by SBA's standards—suffering from unfair regulatory enforcement by federal agencies, such as OSHA, have a means to register their complaints and seek assistance without fear of reprisals. Each board has five members who are small-business owners. The boards collect comments and complaints and relay them to the national ombudsman for appropriate action.

The national ombudsman works with federal agencies to eliminate destructive enforcement and compliance policies or practices. The ombudsman also submits a report to Congress each year about how federal agencies have treated small businesses.

Participation from small businesses is crucial to the process of curbing abusive enforcement by federal agencies. Each board holds scheduled hearings where small businesses can testify. However, it is not necessary to testify to file a complaint. Roofing contractors who have complaints concerning federal regulatory enforcement or compliance actions can contact the Office of the National Ombudsman or their region's RegFair Board to submit federal agency comment forms.

For more information or to obtain federal agency comment forms, call (888) REG-FAIR (733-3247); visit www.sba.gov/ombudsman; or e-mail ombudsman@sba.gov. The national ombudsman can help contractors if complaints directly are related to a federal agency, as well as if compliance or enforcement action has been taken or is imminent by a federal agency.

Immigration update

Earlier this year, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation with a provision called the 245i program, which would allow insufficiently documented immigrants to stay in the United States while filing required paperwork to gain legal status (see "House passes bill about illegal immigrants," May issue, page 3). The 245i program currently is not in effect, and it cannot be reinstated without being passed by Congress and signed by President Bush.

The House passed the 245i program as an amendment to the recently enacted Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act. But the Senate stripped the program from the legislation before final passage. Therefore, the program still has not passed Congress.

Although Bush and a bipartisan House majority support the 245i program, its prospects for passage in this Congress are dim. Congressional consideration of the new Department of Homeland Security has made restructuring the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service the main focus of the immigration debate and bumped the 245i program off the agenda for now. Also, Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.V.), the principal opponent of the 245i program in the Senate, has successfully kept the program from being discussed again.

Craig S. Brightup is NRCA's vice president of government relations.