DUMP Red Tape Act Creates Hotline for Small Businesses to Report Burdensome Rules Within 180 Days

The “Destroying Unnecessary, Misaligned, and Prohibitive Red Tape Act of 2025”—mercifully nicknamed the DUMP Red Tape Act—is setting up a direct communication channel between small businesses and the government to flag frustrating rules. This isn't just another survey; it's a formal mechanism designed to put pressure on federal agencies.

Within 180 days of the bill becoming law, the Chief Counsel for Advocacy is required to launch a "Red Tape Hotline." This isn't necessarily a phone line, but a dedicated system that must include an email address, and either a website submission form or a phone number. The goal is simple: give the small business owner—the electrician, the coffee shop manager, the software startup founder—a clear, easy way to point out which specific government rule is causing them the most pain and hassle.

The Direct Line to the Regulator

This bill recognizes that when you're running a small operation, wading through complex regulatory language can feel like a full-time job. Section 2 of the Act establishes the hotline to collect complaints about rules that are difficult or costly to follow. Think about a local bakery owner who has to spend hours filling out paperwork for an obscure environmental permit that seems totally irrelevant to their operation. Now, they have a place to send that complaint directly.

Crucially, the Chief Counsel isn’t allowed to just collect these complaints and stash them in a digital filing cabinet. They have a reporting mandate. Within one year of the hotline launch, and annually thereafter, they must send a detailed report to the Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator and Congress. This report is the teeth of the bill.

Putting Agencies on the Spot

This annual report has to lay out exactly which rules are getting the most complaints and which industries are being hit the hardest. If you’re a contractor, and five different federal regulations are slowing down your projects, this report will aggregate those complaints and show the specific rules and agencies responsible. The Chief Counsel must also include specific suggestions for changes aimed directly at the agencies that issued those burdensome rules.

For federal agencies, this means their regulatory decisions are now under a much brighter spotlight. If a rule is consistently flagged by the business community as overly complicated or unnecessary, the agency responsible will face formal pressure from Congress and the SBA to fix it. This process aims to create accountability by forcing the agencies to publicly address the friction their regulations are causing in the real economy. It’s a smart way to use hard data—the complaints of busy people—to drive bureaucratic reform.