Joe Knilans has a tough job, and it involves ensuring that the work of a small business owner is not so tough.

Knilans, rural affairs advocate for the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy, brought his message – and a listening ear – to Bowling Green on Thursday for a Small Business Advocacy Forum at the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce.

Reinforcing President Donald Trump’s executive orders intended to reduce the federal regulatory burden on businesses, Knilans has made stops this week in Paducah, Elizabethtown and Hopkinsville to meet with business owners.

His message echoes the regulatory reform intent of Trump executive orders 13771 and 13777.

“We’re out gathering information and taking it back to the agencies,” Knilans said. “We’re serious about changing the regulatory agencies to make a better environment for business.”

That seriousness was apparent in executive order 13771, which requires any executive department or agency to propose at least two regulations to be repealed before enacting any new regulation, and in executive order 13777, which directs federal agencies to designate regulatory reform officers.

Those executive orders come from an administration with a pro-business bent, and Knilans said they are needed to encourage business start-ups and relieve regulatory burdens.

“Small businesses are desperate for relief from federal regulations,” he said. “That regulatory burden can be hard to overcome. A lot of business owners might ask, ‘Do you want me to fail?’ ”

Knilans cited regulations related to health care, transportation and interstate commerce as examples of business-stifling measures. He got an “amen” from at least one audience member.

Steve Sheldon, an entrepreneur involved in health care, food service and other ventures, said some federal regulations discourage business start-ups.

In health care, for example, Sheldon said requirements for keeping paper records and for becoming a Medicare provider are overly cumbersome.

“It’s a tremendous expense to store records on patients,” Sheldon said. “To become a Medicare provider, the form is 60 pages long. Then you have to wait to get your provider number from them.

“It’s so complicated, it’s almost like it’s built to discourage new providers.”

Encouraging, rather than discouraging, new businesses of all types is the goal of Knilan and the Office of Advocacy. That’s why he’s on his current road trip, he said.

“A win for me is taking issues back to D.C.,” he said. “If the agencies and legislators don’t know about the issues, they’ll never know how to address them.”

Toward that end, Knilans encouraged those at Thursday’s meeting to use a new mobile app called Reginfo Mobile that allows users to stay abreast of regulations and give feedback on proposed regulations.

“Our office wants to look at regulations before they’re enacted and get public comment,” he said. “It’s easier to change a regulation in the draft stage instead of going back after it’s enacted.”