The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) published a final rule on August 31, 2026, rescinding its policy to utilize notice and comment procedures for certain rulemaking actions. For more than five decades, the SBA has voluntarily engaged in public notice and comment procedures whenever it made changes to SBA regulations involving loan, grant, benefit and contract programs, even though federal law does not require it to do so. That policy has officially come to an end with the issuance of SBA's final rule.
SBA's rescission of this aspect of the rulemaking process is part of the administration's broader push to streamline the regulatory process. At least two other federal agencies – the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) – have already taken steps to revoke their standing policies of providing for notice and comment for matters that otherwise would be subject to the exemption at issue here.
