Small businesses get a complaint hotline; agencies get no obligation to listen.

What it does

This bill directs the Small Business Administration's Chief Counsel for Advocacy to establish a 'Red Tape Hotline' — a centralized intake system where small businesses can report regulations, guidance, and agency policies they find burdensome. The Counsel must publish the hotline's contact methods online, collect and categorize complaints annually, and report findings to Congress and the SBA Administrator with recommendations for reducing regulatory burden on small entities.

Why we flagged it

The bill establishes an intake and reporting system for small-business regulatory complaints. It is not a deregulation bill, a subsidy, or a mandate — it is a procedural tool designed to surface and document regulatory burden, with the intent to inform future policy decisions.

What the text implies

• The hotline's annual reports may become a political tool: if one party controls Congress and the SBA, reports could be weaponized to target agencies or regulations aligned with the opposing party's priorities.
• No requirement that agencies respond to or act on recommendations creates a risk that the hotline becomes a symbolic gesture without material regulatory change.
• The bill does not define 'burdensome' — subjectivity in complaint categorization may skew reports toward industries with the loudest advocacy or best-organized complaint campaigns.
• Aggregated data on which rules generate the most complaints could be used to identify regulatory targets for future legislative rollback, even if those rules serve a public interest.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

Small businesses gain a formal complaint channel and visibility into regulatory burden, which may lead to future relief; however, the bill creates no enforcement mechanism, no obligation for agencies to respond, and no guarantee that complaints will result in regulatory change. The hotline is a transparency and advocacy tool, not a restraint on regulation itself.

Named in the bill

Small Business Administration (SBA), Chief Counsel for Advocacy, Small entities (as defined in 5 U.S.C. § 601), Federal agencies (as defined in 5 U.S.C. § 551)

Where it stands

3 cosponsors: 3 Republicans.

• Jul 10, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Jul 10, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Small Business and Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Small Business”
• Nov 18, 2025 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
• Nov 18, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 18 - 9”
• Dec 3, 2025 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On passage Passed by the Yeas and Nays: 269 - 146 (Roll no. 311). (text: CR 12/02/2025 H4989-4990)”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

4 lobbying clients named this bill on 6 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $22,312,577 in lobbying spend. A filing names 40 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 72% of bills with at least one filing.

Tony Wied, the sponsor, reported $589,000 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• Chamber of Commerce of the U.S.A. — $17,960,000 on 1 filing
• American Petroleum Institute — $2,780,000 on 1 filing
• Associated Builders and Contractors Inc — $1,400,000 on 2 filings
• Public Citizen — $172,577 on 2 filings

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.