§201M-2 Determination of small business impact; small business impact statement. (a) Prior to submitting proposed rules for adoption, amendment, or repeal under section 91-3, the agency shall determine whether the proposed rules affect small business, and if so, the availability and practicability of less restrictive alternatives that could be implemented. This section shall not apply to emergency rulemaking.

(b) If the proposed rules affect small business, the agency shall consider creative, innovative, or flexible methods of compliance for small businesses and prepare a small business impact statement to be submitted with the proposed rules to the departmental advisory committee on small business and the board when the rules are essentially complete and before the rules are submitted to the governor for approval for public hearing. The statement shall provide a reasonable determination of the following:

(1) The businesses that will be directly affected by, bear the costs of, or directly benefit from the proposed rules;

(2) Description of the small businesses that will be required to comply with the proposed rules and how they may be adversely affected;

(3) In dollar amounts, the increase in the level of direct costs such as fees or fines, and indirect costs such as reporting, recordkeeping, equipment, construction, labor, professional services, revenue loss, or other costs associated with compliance;

(4) The probable monetary costs and benefits to the implementing agency and other agencies directly affected, including the estimated total amount the agency expects to collect from any additionally imposed fees and the manner in which the moneys will be used;

(5) The methods the agency considered or used to reduce the impact on small business such as consolidation, simplification, differing compliance or reporting requirements, less stringent deadlines, modification of the fines schedule, performance rather than design standards, exemption, or any other mitigating techniques;

(6) How the agency involved small business in the development of the proposed rules; and

(7) Whether the proposed rules include provisions that are more stringent than those mandated by any comparable or related federal, state, or county standards, with an explanation of the reason for imposing the more stringent standard.

(c) When a proposed rule includes provisions that are more stringent than those mandated by any comparable or related federal, state, or county standards, the agency shall, in addition to the information required by subsection (b), include in the small business impact statement information comparing the costs and benefits of the standard set by the proposed rule to the costs and benefits of the standard under the comparable or related federal, state, or county law. The agency shall also include an explanation of its decision to impose the higher standard. The agency's comparison and justification shall include:

(1) A description of the public purposes to be served by imposing the standard under the proposed rule;

(2) The text of the related federal, state, or county law, including information about the purposes and applicability of the law;

(3) A comparison between the proposed rule and the related federal, state, or county law, including a comparison of their purposes and of the standards and their application and administration;

(4) A comparison of the monetary costs and benefits to the implementing agency and other agencies directly affected, of imposing the proposed standard, with the costs and benefits of imposing or deferring to the related federal, state, or county standard, as well as a description of the manner in which any additional fees derived from imposition of the proposed standard are to be used; and

(5) A comparison of the adverse effects on small businesses of the standard imposed by the proposed rule, with the adverse effects on small business of the related federal, state, or county standard.

(d) This chapter shall not apply to proposed rules adopted by an agency to implement a statute or ordinance that does not require an agency to interpret or describe the requirements of the statute or ordinance, such as federally-mandated regulations that afford the agency no discretion to consider less restrictive alternatives. [L 1998, c 168, pt of §2, §5; am L 2002, c 202, §5; am L 2007, c 217, §3; am L 2008, c 230, §3]