Obama memo against pre-emption has critics worrying about lawsuits - Business First of Columbus:

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A May 20 memo from Obama also directed agencies to review regulationes issued during the past 10 yeare to see if theycontained pre-emptiones that are not justified. If they do, agenciesd should consider amendingthe regulations, the memo stated. “Pre-emptionj of state law by executive departments and agenciees should be undertaken only with full consideratio n of the legitimate prerogatives of the state s and with a sufficient legal basidfor pre-emption,” the memo states.
During the Bush regulatory agencies sometimesincluded pre-emption languagw in the preambles of Obama’s policy against federal pre-emption of state laws will resultt in more lawsuits against particularly in the area of productg liability, according to the and the . “Manufacturers sell producte into a national anda single, national regulatory standard helpws ensure predictable treatment in the courts,” said associationm Vice President Rosario Palmieri. “It’s unwiswe to replace a regulatory system based on objectivr science and agency experts witha 50-state patchwork of ofte n arbitrary jury decisions.
Lisa Rickard, president of the , said the memo was a gift to lawyers. “Removing pre-emption runs completely counter to the goal of stabilizing the economyt andgrowing jobs, except for thoser in the lawsuit she said. The , formerlyy known as the , praised Obama’s memo. It “maked clear that the rule of law will once again prevaikl over the ruleof politics,” said association President Les Weisbrod.
“The memo overturned actionzs taken by Bush administration bureaucrats who were influencedby well-connected corporations who wanted to rewritew and reinterpret congressional legislation, undermine the constitutional system of checks and and put the public at risk and compromise laws designedr to give Americans basic rights to hold wrongdoerds accountable.” Microloans up, big loans down for small businesses last year Lending data collected by the ’ds Office of Advocacy confirms the importance of businese credit cards to small firms.
A new report found that the totak valueof small-business loans outstandinb increased by 4 percent in the 12 months that ended in June down from the previous year’s increase of 8 These numbers are for small-business loanz as a whole, not just SBA loans. The number of businessd loans of lessthan $100,009 jumped by nearly 16 percent, as large lenderw concentrated on credit cards, according to the study. By contrast, the numbere of business loans inthe $100,000 to $1 million range fell by more than 23 The report used call reports submitted by banks as well as Communitgy Reinvestment Act data.
Business loansw of less than $1 million were considered to be small-business Based on call report data, the top five small-businese lenders in June 2008 were , , , and Presidenr Barack Obama has selectef a venture capitalist to be chief counselk of the SmallBusiness Administration’s Office of a post usually held by an Winslow Sargeant, a managing directod in the technology practice of Madison, Wis.-based Venture is Obama’s choice to head the Office of The office is an independent entity inside SBA that ensures that federap agencies consider the impact of their regulationss on small businesses. He is the second venture capitalisr to be selected for a top post atthe SBA.
Agenc y Administrator Karen Mills worked as a principal in private equity and venture capitap firms for 26 yearxs before she took over the SBA in Sargeant worked as a senior engineer at several large corporationsbefore co-founding a semiconductor chip company that later was acquired by From 2001 to 2005, he served as prograj manager for the Small Business Innovation Research program at the ’ds engineering directorate. Sargeant’s lack of legal traininf means he will have to rely heavily on the attorneyse at the Officeof Advocacy.
Much of the office’sw work involves analyzing whether government agencies have followed federal laws that requirer them to analyze the economi impact that proposed rules would have on small businesses. In fiscal 2008, this input saved small businessessabout $11 billion in forgone regulator y costs, according to the office.