SB222 Summary

• Defines "small business" as an independently owned entity with fewer than 250 full-time employees or less than $25 million in gross annual sales.

• Requires state agencies to prepare and file a small business economic impact statement before adopting any rule that may adversely affect small businesses, including identification of affected businesses, compliance costs, job loss projections, and alternative regulatory methods.

• Requires agencies to prepare a small business regulatory flexibility analysis considering less stringent compliance requirements, extended deadlines, simplified reporting, performance standards, or exemptions for small businesses.

• Makes agency compliance with these requirements subject to judicial review, with small businesses able to challenge final agency action within one year.

• Mandates agencies review all existing rules within four years and all new rules every five years to minimize economic impact on small businesses while considering the continued need for rules, public complaints, complexity, overlap with other regulations, and changes in technology or economic conditions.