Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980

The Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 (referred to here as the Act), Public Law No. 96–354, was signed by President Carter on September 19, 1980. The Act had a major impact on the rule-making activities of government agencies as it attempted to minimize any disproportionate effect of federal regulations on small entities. This Act was part of a stream of legislation and executive acts, beginning in the 1970s, that sought to increase the flexibility and effectiveness of federal regulation. A number of new regulatory tools were implemented, sometimes across regulatory issue areas. The Act reflected a newly proposed regulatory design often referred to as “tiering,” in which the burdens of regulation were adjusted for the size of the complying organization, so that the burdens faced ...