Small business owners now will have a place to gripe if they feel state regulations are too burdensome – and they won’t have to drive to Augusta to do it.

The Maine Regulatory Fairness Board, stalled since 2001, was unveiled last week and will travel around the state to listen.

“It’s an ongoing venue between the regulators and the regulated,” said Sen. Lynn Bromley, D-Cumberland County, the Senate chairman of the Business, Research and Economic Development Committee. She said small businesses, in particular, don’t have the staff to keep up with regulations coming out of Augusta.

“They don’t hear about it until it’s actually landed in their lap,” she said.

Bromley told a story of one business owner who was cited for letting an underage worker use dangerous equipment. “It was a blender,” she said, just like the kind most people have in their kitchen, but there was no place on the violation form for the business to say, “Hey, wait a minute. It was just a blender.”

The board is made up of seven members, including business owners, the former legislator who originally proposed it and a retired commander of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. Members will travel around the state to listen at least three times a year. The first meeting likely will be in mid- to late-February, at a date and time to be announced.

The topics may focus on types of businesses, but at first likely will be open to all complaints about state regulations. Many different state agencies create business rules, ranging from the proper disposal of wastewater to licenses needed to open a restaurant.

At business forums held across the state this past year, sponsored by House Speaker John Richardson, business owners said they need more clarity on what the state wants from them.

“We heard the same things at every forum. It’s difficult to follow regulations and sometimes the regulations don’t make sense,” said Rep. Nancy Smith, D-Monmouth, the House chairman of the Legislature’s business committee.

Suggestions for changes will be made by the board to the committee. The state also has set up an interactive Web site through the Department of Economic and Community Development that allows businesses to ask questions and get lists of what licenses they need to operate. That Web site is www.maine.gov/businessanswers.

The members on the new board include:

• Peter Bowman of Kittery, a retired Navy Captain and the former Commander of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

• Timothy Carter of Bethel, who previously worked for the USDA, and lives on a sixth-generation family farm in Bethel, where he manages and harvests wood from his woodlot.

• Larry Schneider of Newcastle, the former owner of King Eider’s Pub in

Damariscotta and owner of Aw Shucks!, a Maine company that manufactures and markets the patented Aw Shucks! Oyster opener.

• Elliot Stanley of Portland, the former owner of New England Antigenics, which specialized in allergenic source material supplies.

• Debbie Elliott of Falmouth, owner of Debbie Elliot Salon and Day Spa, which is located in Portland and Newport.

• Ed Phillips of Winthrop, owner of a small communication business, Tel-Comm Contracting Incorporated of Winthrop.

• Marge Kilkelly of Dresden, a former senator who was the original sponsor of the legislation that created this board. She is the owner of Dragonfly Cove Enterprises.