Small Business Guide to Comment Letter Writing
Writing an effective comment letter is an essential way for small businesses to influence the federal rulemaking process. When a new regulation or rule is proposed, businesses have an opportunity to voice their concerns, provide feedback, and suggest improvements. This guide will help you understand how to write an impactful comment letter and make sure your voice is heard.
Why Comment Letters Matter
The federal government uses comment letters to gather feedback on proposed regulations and rules that can affect small businesses. Advocacy encourages small businesses to express their concerns about a regulation directly to a federal agency during the open comment period. Advocacy and other interested organizations often use the public comment period to express small entity concerns to an agency after talking with affected small business owners and other stakeholders. It is invaluable, however, for the agency to hear directly from small businesses impacted by the regulation.
Taking the time to comment on a rule can be a hassle for small businesses, but it is important because not all small businesses are the same. Regulated small entities can have different business concerns, different cost pressures, and different perspectives. Also, while associations work hard to represent their members, they generally represent numerous small business stakeholders. That means your specific concerns might not get expressed.
By submitting a well-crafted comment letter, you can:
- Express concerns about the impact of a proposed rule on your business
- Suggest alternatives or modifications to make regulations more feasible for small businesses
Help shape the regulatory landscape in a way that’s fair and practical for your industry.
Steps to Write an Effective Comment Letter
- Understand the Rule
- Review the Proposed Rule: Carefully read the proposed regulation in the Federal Register or from the relevant agency. Pay attention to the key points, including the purpose of the regulation and how it might affect your business.
- Identify Key Issues: Focus on the areas where the regulation could have the most significant impact on your business.
- Be Clear and Concise
- State Your Purpose Early: In the first few sentences, clearly state that you are submitting a comment letter on a proposed rule and briefly explain why this is important to your business.
- Use Clear Language: Avoid jargon or overly technical language. Aim to communicate your points clearly and concisely so the regulatory agency can easily understand your concerns.
- Explain the Impact on Your Business
- Be Specific: Share concrete examples of how the proposed rule will affect your day-to-day operations. Whether it increases costs, limits growth, or creates unnecessary burdens, explaining the real-world impact of the rule is crucial.
- Provide Data: Where possible, include data or evidence to support your claims. This might include cost estimates, operational impacts, or industry benchmarks.
- Offer Solutions or Alternatives
- Be Constructive: If you believe the proposed regulation could be improved, suggest specific changes or alternatives. Offer practical solutions that would allow businesses like yours to comply without facing significant challenges.
- Highlight Benefits: Emphasize how your proposed changes could lead to a better regulatory environment for both businesses and consumers.
- Be Professional and Respectful
- Keep a Professional Tone: While it’s important to express your concerns, ensure that your letter remains respectful and constructive. Avoid emotional language or accusations.
- Follow the Agency’s Instructions: Each agency may have specific instructions for submitting comment letters (e.g., formatting, submission process). Make sure to follow these guidelines to ensure your letter is accepted.
When to Submit Your Comment Letter
- Check the Comment Period: Once a proposed rule is published, there is typically a comment period (often 30 to 60 days) during which you can submit your letter. Make sure to submit your comments before the deadline.
- Timely Submission: Submitting your comments as early as possible allows agencies more time to consider your feedback before finalizing the rule.
Tips for Writing an Impactful Comment Letter
Expand a section to learn more about how to structure a letter.
Every letter, regardless of the rule you are commenting on, should contain the following items.
- An introduction. The introduction should specify who you are, the name of the rule you are commenting on, a brief overview of your business and/or experience that is relevant to the rule, and a summary paragraph briefly describing the parts of the rule you are concerned about and why.
- A section that describes the parts of the rule you support or oppose, with explanations as to why each provision helps or hurts your small business. Be specific and offer any data that will support your position. Small businesses are often understandably reluctant to offer propriety information in their comment letter. Please try your best to provide the agency with any information that will allow them to understand your argument without disclosing any confidential information.
- A conclusion. The conclusion should summarize your main points, in about a sentence or two each. You should also thank the agency for considering your comment.
When writing a comment letter, carefully consider what your argument will look like. The three principal components of a good argument are as follows:
- A claim, which is the statement that contains your main argument. This should be at the very beginning of each section.
- Some data to support your claim. You should, as best as you can, quantify how the regulatory proposal will impact your business. Some data points to consider are:
- Agency assumptions on the overall costs associated with the rule, or costs for the individual provisions of the rule.
- Compliance costs associated with acquiring new equipment or hiring employees.
- Costs and time necessary to file new forms or other paperwork requirements associated with the rule.
- An argument why a certain alternative to a provision is better than the provision proposed in the rule.
- How the agency may have overestimated or underestimated how the rule will impact your business revenue.
- A response to an agency’s argument that the regulatory provision will serve as a cost benefit and not result in a cost impact on your business.
- The impact of the data on your claim. This is where you make clear why the evidence you provide matters. Tie together the claim and data and explain to the agency exactly why the rule is burdensome, or why an alternative is better. You might also offer alternative suggestions on lessening the harm the rule has on your business. For instance:
- A suggestion to alter a specific section of the rule that will minimize the harmful impact on your business.
- A delay in the compliance date to give your business more time to comply.
- An exclusion for a particular part of your industry that may not be contributing to the problem the rule seeks to correct.
A good comment letter contains arguments either for or against parts of a proposed rule. These arguments likely look a bit different, depending on context. However, there are some common pieces of advice you should keep in mind.
- Be specific. The more specific information you can provide, the better. Agencies are more likely to listen to arguments that call on specific data or use clear, real-world examples that are full of details. Likewise, being specific in your comments makes things clearer for the regulators you’re working with. Remember that the person writing the rule is human too- if you can explain to them in very clear terms what the issue is, you improve the likelihood they will listen to you.
- Cite your sources. When you provide data and documentation, make very clear where they come from.
- Bolster your own credibility. Take some time and make clear why the agency should listen to you. Agencies are more receptive if they believe that you’re an informed party, so make sure to mention your experience in the field related to the rule and contextualize the information you provide. Be careful not to overstate or over-inflate your estimates. This only serves to undercut your argument.
- Be careful about your tone and language use. Avoid an angry tone or sarcasm at all costs, but also avoid making your letter too complicated. Write in plain English as best you can. Your goal should be a clear and accessible tone that lays out the facts as you see them.
- Proofread. Ideally, you should give the letter to someone trusted to review for both errors in grammar and spelling and places where your argument is unclear. If you do not feel comfortable or cannot find a suitable volunteer, give yourself some space from the letter before editing. You might also read it aloud to yourself- this allows you to catch more errors.
Need Help? Download our handy guide to comment letter writing.
By submitting comment letters, small businesses can play an important role in shaping regulations that affect them. This guide will help you ensure your feedback is heard and your voice is part of the regulatory process.