A bill to enhance compliance assistance for small business.

Summary: Small Business Compliance Assistance Enhancement Act of 2004 - Amends the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 to require an agency to prepare a compliance guide to assist small entities in complying with a Federal regulation whenever an agency determines that a Federal regulation will have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Small Business Compliance Assistance 
Enhancement Act of 2004''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) Small businesses represent 99.7 percent of all 
        employers, employ half of all private sector employees, and pay 
        44.3 percent of total United States private payroll.
            (2) Small businesses generate 60 to 80 percent of net new 
        jobs annually over the last decade.
            (3) Very small firms with fewer than 20 employees spend 60 
        percent more per employee than larger firms to comply with 
        Federal regulations. Small firms spend twice as much on tax 
        compliance as their larger counterparts. Based on an analysis 
        in 2001, firms employing fewer than 20 employees face an annual 
        regulatory burden of nearly $7,000 per employee, compared to a 
        burden of almost $4,500 per employee for a firm with over 500 
        employees.
            (4) Section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory 
        Enforcement Fairness Act (5 U.S.C. 601 note) requires agencies 
        to produce small entity compliance guides for each rule or 
        group of rules for which an agency is required to prepare a 
        final regulatory flexibility analysis under section 604 of 
        title 5, United States Code.
            (5) The Government Accountability Office has found that 
        agencies have rarely attempted to comply with section 212 of 
        the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (5 
        U.S.C. 601 note). When agencies did try to comply with that 
        requirement, they generally did not produce adequate compliance 
        assistance materials.
            (6) The Government Accountability Office also found that 
        section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement 
        Fairness Act (5 U.S.C. 601 note) and other sections of that Act 
        need clarification to be effective.
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are the following:
            (1) To clarify the requirement contained in section 212 of 
        the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (5 
        U.S.C. 601 note) for agencies to produce small entity 
        compliance guides.
            (2) To clarify other terms relating to the requirement in 
        section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement 
        Fairness Act (5 U.S.C. 601 note).
            (3) To ensure that agencies produce adequate and useful 
        compliance assistance materials to help small businesses meet 
        the obligations imposed by regulations affecting such small 
        businesses, and thereby to increase compliance with these 
        regulations.

SEC. 3. ENHANCED COMPLIANCE ASSISTANCE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES.

    (a) In General.--Section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory 
Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 (5 U.S.C. 601 note) is amended by 
striking subsection (a) and inserting the following:
    ``(a) Compliance Guide.--
            ``(1) In general.--For each rule for which an agency head 
        does not make a certification under section 605(b) of title 5, 
        United States Code, the agency shall publish 1 or more guides 
        to assist small entities in complying with the rule, and shall 
        entitle such publications `small entity compliance guides'.
            ``(2) Publication of guides.--The publication of each guide 
        under this subsection shall include--
                    ``(A) the posting of the guide in an easily 
                identified location on the website of the agency; and
                    ``(B) distribution of the guide to known industry 
                contacts, such as small entities, associations, or 
                industry leaders affected by the rule.
            ``(3) Publication date.--An agency shall publish each guide 
        (including the posting and distribution of the guide as 
        described under paragraph (2))--
                    ``(A) on the same date as the date of publication 
                of the final rule (or as soon as possible after that 
                date); and
                    ``(B) not later than the date on which the 
                requirements of that rule become effective.
            ``(4) Compliance actions.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Each guide shall explain the 
                actions a small entity is required to take to comply 
                with a rule.
                    ``(B) Explanation.--The explanation under 
                subparagraph (A)--
                            ``(i) shall include a description of 
                        actions needed to meet requirements to enable a 
                        small entity to know when such requirements are 
                        met; and
                            ``(ii) if determined appropriate by the 
                        agency, may include a description of possible 
                        procedures, such as conducting tests, that 
                        assist a small entity in meeting such 
                        requirements.
                    ``(C) Procedures.--Procedures described under 
                subparagraph (B)(ii)--
                            ``(i) shall be suggestions to assist small 
                        entities; and
                            ``(ii) shall not be additional requirements 
                        relating to the rule.
            ``(5) Agency preparation of guides.--The agency shall, in 
        its sole discretion, taking into account the subject matter of 
        the rule and the language of relevant statutes, ensure that the 
        guide is written using sufficiently plain language likely to be 
        understood by affected small entities. Agencies may prepare 
        separate guides covering groups or classes of similarly 
        affected small entities, and may cooperate with associations of 
        small entities to develop and distribute such guides. An agency 
        may prepare guides and apply this section with respect to a 
        rule or a group of related rules.''.
    (b) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--Section 211(3) of the 
Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 (5 U.S.C. 
601 note) is amended by inserting ``and entitled'' after 
``designated''.