WASHINGTON The chief counsel of the U.S. Small Business Administration says small businessmen and women neednt stay up nights worrying that the final days of the Bush Administration will produce a flood of new regulations that will strangle their companies.

During the past 60 years, the final months of outgoing administrations have oftentimes seen a deluge of new federal rules, which have come to be known as "midnight regulations."

Writing in the Washington Times, SBA Chief Counsel Thomas Sullivan notes that a recent paper from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University makes clear that in the "midnight period" - the three months between election day in early November and inauguration day in late January - regulatory output substantially increases.

The George Mason authors document that, going back to 1948, when the White House switches parties, the number of pages in the Federal Register (where rules are published) increases on average 17 percent in the three months following the election compared to non-election years.

Since federal regulations have a disproportionate impact on small businesses - the smallest of which annually pay 45 percent more per employee to comply with regulations than their biggest counterparts - this is obviously bad news for them and their employees, says Sullivan.

More importantly, as SBA Office of Advocacy research shows, American small businesses create 60 to 80 percent of net new jobs. "Clearly, this is not the time to ramp up the growth in federal regulations that impose a greater burden on small business," Sullivan asserts.

"That is why I am pleased that the White House has sent a strong and proactive message that this administration will avoid the last-minute proliferation of regulations that can happen when the presidency changes.

"On May 9, White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten issued a memorandum to the heads of federal executive departments and agencies, noting ... that the burden imposed by new regulations is cumulative and has a significant effect on all Americans."

The memo required that all regulations that are meant to be finalized during the current administration be proposed no later than June 1, with final regulations to be issued no later than Nov. 1.

"Nothing in the memorandum," said Sullivan, "is intended to impede an agencys ability to carry out existing law. Moreover, in extraordinary circumstances, agencies could propose and finalize rules outside of the deadlines."