MAKING NYC A FRIENDLIER PLACE FOR SMALL BUSINESS

A letter from Christine Quinn, Speaker, New York City Council, about a piece of legislation that will be welcomed by our neighborhood's small business owners and potential owners:

September 23, 2010
 
Dear New Yorker,

We wanted to give you a quick update on our efforts to assist small business as we head into the fall season.

Preventing Unnecessary Burdens

To help make NYC a friendlier place for small business, this past month the Council passed legislation (Intro. 91) that will improve the City's rule-making process as well as the regulatory environment for members of regulated communities, particularly small business.

The bill, which we expect the Mayor to sign into law shortly, comes largely from the work of the Regulatory Review Panel and also incorporates principles first proposed by Council Minority Leader James Oddo.

Specifically, Intro. 91 will change the City's rule-making process to ensure, among other things, that:

• agency rules are not unduly burdensome; 
• agencies conduct outreach to those affected by the proposed rules;
• new or modified rules are clear and easy to understand;
• cure periods instead of automatic fines are included in rules whenever possible and appropriate so that businesses have an opportunity to fix problems before they are fined; and
• agencies promulgating rules carefully consider ways to prevent unreasonable compliance costs.

We'd like to thank the Mayor and his administration for their leadership and support in this effort.

We'd also like to thank Anthony Crowell, Council Minority Leader Oddo, Council Member Leroy Comrie, Council Member Karen Koslowitz and the entire Regulatory Review Panel for all of their hard work and effort seeing this bill through the Council.

For additional information on Intro. 91, click here or visit us online at http://www.council.nyc.gov.


3 Golden Rules to Help Small Biz

In an op-ed piece that we wrote that recently appeared in the September 13th edition of Crain's New York Business Weekly, we describe our three "golden rules" for supporting small business:

1. Help make it easier for owners to open their doors.
2. Help existing small businesses grow and expand.
3. Get out of the way of small businesses.

By sticking to these three simple rules, we can better support small businesses and keep our City growing and moving forward.

Sincerely,

Christine C. Quinn
Speaker
NYC Council

Diana Reyna
Chair, Small Business Committee
NYC Council