At The Weekly Standard, Jeffery Anderson posted a chart comparing the costs of “major” regulations (those over $100 million) from the first three years of the current and previous administrations. The costs are going up like a helium balloon.

What’s more, this chart doesn’t count the myriad of regulations that don’t reach the “major” threshold.

While regulatory costs rise, there are too many instances of federal regulators not being as open and transparent as they could be in the regulatory process.

Small businesses are especially vulnerable to federal regulations, and they know it. The Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index found that 72% said government regulations were hurting them, and 46% said they were hurting them a lot.

Because they’re focused on their daily tasks instead of what a random federal agency is up to, small business owner often miss finding out about important rules. To help, the House of Representatives’ Small Business Committee created the Small Biz Reg Watch, a tool that collects proposed regulations may significantly affect small businesses and helps them submit comments to regulators.

The flow of new regulations won’t end anytime soon. It’s important that small businesses speak up.