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Small Business Advocate

The Small Business Advocate was established in Public Law Chapter 304, “An Act To Ensure Regulatory Fairness and Reform,” enacted by the 125th Maine Legislature and signed into law by the Governor on June 13, 2011. The Secretary of State chairs the Regulatory Fairness Board, staffed by the Small Business Advocate, which hears testimony and reports to the Legislature and the Governor on regulatory and statutory changes necessary to enhance the state's business climate.

What is the Small Business Advocate’s role?


Maine’s Small Business Advocate serves as an independent voice for Maine small businesses within our state’s regulatory system, ensuring it functions fairly and effectively. The Advocate works directly with small businesses of 50 employees or fewer that have specific grievances with one or more regulatory agency’s enforcement actions. The Advocate’s top priority is to represent small businesses that face the challenging task of understanding and complying with Maine’s extensive and often complex regulatory requirements.

The Advocate is not a substitute for established agency procedures or the formal appeals process, nor can the Advocate reverse legal or adjudicatory determinations.

Why is the work of the Small Business Advocate important?


As an appointee of Maine’s Secretary of State, the Advocate serves as an independent, accountable and appropriate check on the state’s efforts to regulate Maine businesses. This position is the first of its kind in the state and the nation, demonstrating our state’s commitment to ensuring that our small businesses take root and prosper.

The Advocate informs and serves the Regulatory Fairness Board, chaired by the Secretary of State, with members from the private sector appointed by the Governor, Senate President, and House Speaker. This board reports to the legislature and Governor annually on regulatory and statutory changes to enhance Maine’s business climate.  The Advocate also comments on rules and testifies on legislation affecting the interests of Maine’s small businesses.

How are small businesses served by the Small Business Advocate?

  • A small business owner who feels aggrieved by a state agency through its regulatory enforcement action contacts the Small Business Advocate requesting assistance, offering sufficient information regarding their grievance to enable the Advocate to effectively research and address their grievance.
  • The Advocate conducts fact-finding by researching pertinent statutes and rules and regulations, then consulting with the small business and state agency/ies involved.
  • The Advocate then serves as an intermediary between the small business and the agency to determine, if appropriate and if the agency has discretion, whether there is an alternative means of effective enforcement possible that would not cause a significant economic hardship to the business.
  • When necessary, the Advocate will request that the Secretary of State issue a regulatory impact notice to the Governor outlining the fact finding and recommending an alternative means of effective enforcement that would relieve the small business of the significant economic hardship imposed.

How to file a grievance:

If you feel that your business has been aggrieved by a state agency through a regulatory enforcement action and would like to request assistance from the Small Business Advocate, please fill out the following three forms (all must be completed) and return them by mail, e-mail or fax to:

Please ensure that you return both the Privacy Act Authorization Form as well as the Office of Small Business Advocate Disclaimer.  This Office cannot begin a review of your complaint without them.

Once all of the requested documents have been received, the Advocate will review the information provided and contact your business to advise you on what assistance this Office may be able to offer.

Contact the Small Business Advocate

Peggy Schaffer, Small Business Advocate
Office of the Secretary of State
148 State House Station
Augusta, Maine 04333-0148
Telephone: (207) 626-8410
Fax: (207) 287-8598
E-mail: sos.office@maine.gov

It is important to note that the Advocate is not a substitute for established agency procedures or the formal appeals process, nor can the Advocate reverse legal or adjudicatory determinations.