It may get easier for North Carolina companies to get help from the federal government.
Monday morning, North Carolina's junior Senator, Kay Hagan, visited the Piedmont Triad Research Park in downtown Winston-Salem. There, she announced a new bill she's authoring: the Small Business Common Application Act. It would direct the Small Business Administration to create one common application and web portal for businesses to use when applying for federal grants or assistance.
"What this act does is reduce the resources small businesses have to devote when applying for federal assistance," explained Hagan. According to Senator Hagan, it costs businesses with fewer than 20 employees more than $10,500 dollars per employee to comply with federal regulations - almost $3,000 dollars more than it costs their larger counterparts.
The measure also calls for the Economic Development Administration to create a task force to recommend how best to implement the common application in all government agencies. The bill is still in committee.
