Small business is an important aspect of the nation’s economy and an equally important contributor to Pennsylvania’s growth. As co-owner of James Austin Company, the oldest family-owned bleach manufacturer in the United States, I’m proud to play a part in maintaining both the economic success and rich heritage of our region.

Our state’s prosperity throughout the years is due largely to the plethora of small businesses that make up a whopping 98 percent of all Pennsylvania business.

James Austin Company, like many businesses in the state, would not be where it is today without the financial support from our local financial institutions, which include community banks and credit unions. These institutions allow small businesses like Austin’s not only to survive but also expand, helping to improve our local and national economies. Unfortunately, these same community banks and credit unions supporting businesses around the state have faced burdensome federal regulations, which can keep them from best serving their customers.

I am dismayed to see our government intervening in the marketplace and consequently hurting the same community banks and credit unions that backed Austin’s from its very beginning.

Six years ago, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois snuck a costly provision into the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which was created in response to the financial crisis. The Durbin Amendment placed a price control on interchange fees, which retailers pay to process debit transactions. Although interchange fees had nothing to do with the recession, it passed Congress largely due to promises made by the largest retailers that consumers would benefit.

Despite big-box stores claiming they would pass their savings (now totaling $42 billion) on to consumers through lower prices, time — and several studies — have proven that to be wrong.

To give background, interchange fees used to be determined by the competitive free market, which was flexible and allowed for discounts for businesses selling small-ticket items. This often helped small businesses on Main Streets around the country, including the bakery selling breakfast sandwiches and the convenience store selling candy bars. However, under the new one-size-fits-all system, card networks were forced to eliminate the discounts — and small merchants have felt the impacts.

According to a Richmond Federal Reserve study, of the businesses reporting changes to their interchange fees, one in four reported price increases. And, when looking at how businesses selling those small-ticket items have been affected, nine times as many reported price hikes compared to those reporting cuts. Now, the one-size-fits-all-system could erode the profitability of these lower-cost transactions. This is detrimental to mom-and-pop shops that make our communities more vibrant and thriving.

The consequences do not end there. Our local financial institutions, including the community banks and credit unions providing support to our communities and small businesses, have suffered from costly routing provisions and a decrease in interchange revenue under the amendment.

To make up for this loss, banks were forced to eliminate free checking accounts and debit card reward programs for customers. Today, only 39 percent of banks offer a checking account with no minimum balance requirement and no monthly checking fee, down six percent from pre-Durbin numbers.

As a small business owner and Pennsylvania resident, I have seen the consequences of the harmful Durbin Amendment. In order to protect small businesses in our great state and across the country, it is paramount that we end this failed policy. It’s about time that we allow the free market to do its job and allow for competition and consumer choice. Let us once again allow our local financial institutions and small businesses to promote economic growth: it’s time to repeal the Durbin Amendment in 2017.

Doug Austin is co-owner of James Austin Company in Mars, the nation's oldest family-owned manufacturer of chlorine bleach products.