Ronald Reagan once joked that the nine most terrifying words in the English language are, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” It’s a string of words most businesses may dread even more, given the government’s make-or-break power to tax and regulate.

Like many Americans, Statehouse Republicans understand that there was a serious subtext to Reagan’s quip. Government regulators too often assume an unnecessarily adversarial role vis-à-vis business, punitively enforcing fines and penalties as their default method of ensuring compliance with rules and regulations.

That’s why we introduced the “Regulatory Relief Act of 2017” as the first bill of this legislative session. It signals the importance Republicans place on giving businesses a break. Our aim is to help end this constant state of conflict that exists between the public and private sectors, in favor of a culture of cooperation and respectful coexistence that will help spur economic growth and opportunity.

Coloradoans know small businesses are the engine of our economy and statistics bear that out. For instance, 50 percent of all Colorado businesses are “small,” employing 500 employees or less. Together, these ventures employ just over 1 million people.

In 2013, the most recent year for which reliable numbers are available, there were 573,000 small businesses in the state. Leading categories of job creation in Colorado include health care, hospitality and food services and professional, scientific and technical services.

But that only tells one side of the story. 5,255 small businesses were started in Colorado in 2014, but, in that same time span, 4,584 businesses closed their doors or exited the state, highlighting the difficulty of starting, maintaining and growing a new enterprise.

We all understand that’s part of the creative, dynamic, highly competitive process called capitalism. Government’s heavy hand can’t automatically be blamed for every business that goes bust. But it’s reasonable to assume that regulatory overkill can be linked to the fatality rate, considering that the state of Colorado over the last decade averaged more than 500 new rules per year, totaling 15,700 pages of fine print annually. And that’s on top of the relentless deluge of federal rules businesses must cope with, creating a constantly changing regulatory climate with huge compliance costs.

Given the overwhelming benefits we all enjoy because of free enterprise, don’t we owe it to our risk-takers and dreamers to do what we can to reduce the headwinds they face? We think so. And this is how SB-1 would help.

It shifts the state’s focus from punishments and penalties for minor offenders, in zero-tolerance fashion, to educating and training toward compliance, providing an opportunity for businesses to cure the problem before fines are imposed for minor violations. “Minor violations” are defined as operational or administrative matters, such as record keeping, retention of data, or filing of reports, which don’t place the safety of the public, employees or others at risk.

The bill also amends the stakeholder provision to direct agencies to make diligent attempts to notify and solicit input from representatives of small businesses about proposed rulemaking, if the agency’s proposed rulemaking has a potential impact on small business.

It’s been over 30 years since President Reagan joked about the “nine most feared words,” yet too much fear still looms for most Colorado businesses when someone from the government calls or visits, offering “help.” Senate Bill-1, the “Regulatory Relief Act of 2017,” will help reduce unnecessary friction between the regulators and the regulated by shifting the focus of compliance from autopilot corporal punishment to cooperation and education, with no risk to public health and safety.

With fewer fears and obstacles to wrestle with, business owners can spend more time and energy serving customers, creating jobs and keeping Colorado’s economy hitting on all cylinders.

Tim Neville represents Senate District 16, and Minority Leader Patrick Neville represents House District 45, in the Colorado General Assembly