II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1378

To amend chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code, for the purpose

of facilitating compliance by small businesses with certain Federal paperwork requirements, to establish a task force to examine the feasibility

of streamlining paperwork requirements applicable to small businesses,

and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JULY 15, 1999

Mr. VOINOVICH (for himself and Mrs. LINCOLN) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Governmental Affairs

A BILL

To amend chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code, for

the purpose of facilitating compliance by small businesses

with certain Federal paperwork requirements, to establish a task force to examine the feasibility of streamlining

paperwork requirements applicable to small businesses,

and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Small Business Paper5 work Reduction Act Amendments of 1999’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FACILITATION OF COMPLIANCE WITH FEDERAL PA2 PERWORK REQUIREMENTS.

3 (a) REQUIREMENTS APPLICABLE TO THE DIRECTOR

4 OF OMB.—Section 3504(c) of chapter 35 of title 44,

5 United States Code (commonly referred to as the ‘‘Paper6 work Reduction Act’’), is amended—

7 (1) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘; and’’ and

8 inserting a semicolon;

9 (2) in paragraph (5), by striking the period and

10 inserting a semicolon; and

11 (3) by adding at the end the following new

12 paragraphs:

13 ‘‘(6) publish in the Federal Register on an an14 nual basis a list of the requirements applicable to

15 small-business concerns (within the meaning of sec16 tion 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 631 et

17 seq.)) with respect to collection of information by

18 agencies, organized by North American Industrial

19 Classification System code and industrial/sector de20 scription (as published by the Office of Management

21 and Budget), with the first such publication occur22 ring not later than one year after the date of the en23 actment of the Small Business Paperwork Reduction

24 Act Amendments of 1999; and

25 ‘‘(7) make available on the Internet, not later

26 than one year after the date of the enactment of
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1 such Act, the list of requirements described in para2 graph (6).’’.

3 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF AGENCY POINT OF CON4 TACT; SUSPENSION OF FINES FOR FIRST-TIME PAPER5 WORK VIOLATIONS.—Section 3506 of such chapter is

6 amended by adding at the end the following new sub7 section:

8 ‘‘(i)(1) In addition to the requirements described in

9 subsection (c), each agency shall, with respect to the col10 lection of information and the control of paperwork—

11 ‘‘(A) establish one point of contact in the agen12 cy to act as a liaison between the agency and small13 business concerns (within the meaning of section 3

14 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 631 et seq.));

15 and

16 ‘‘(B) in any case of a first-time violation by a

17 small-business concern of a requirement regarding

18 collection of information by the agency, provide that

19 no civil fine shall be imposed on the small-business

20 concern unless, based on the particular facts and cir21 cumstances regarding the violation—

22 ‘‘(i) the head of the agency determines that

23 the violation has the potential to cause serious

24 harm to the public interest;
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1 ‘‘(ii) the head of the agency determines

2 that failure to impose a civil fine would impede

3 or interfere with the detection of criminal activ4 ity;

5 ‘‘(iii) the violation is a violation of an in6 ternal revenue law or a law concerning the as7 sessment or collection of any tax, debt, revenue,

8 or receipt;

9 ‘‘(iv) the violation is not corrected on or

10 before the date that is six months after the date

11 of receipt by the small-business concern of noti12 fication of the violation in writing from the

13 agency; or

14 ‘‘(v) except as provided in paragraph (2),

15 the head of the agency determines that the vio16 lation presents a danger to the public health or

17 safety.

18 ‘‘(2)(A) In any case in which the head of an agency

19 determines that a first-time violation by a small-business

20 concern of a requirement regarding the collection of infor21 mation presents a danger to the public health or safety,

22 the head of the agency may, notwithstanding paragraph

23 (1)(B)(v), determine that a civil fine should not be im24 posed on the small-business concern if the violation is cor-
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1 rected within 24 hours of receipt of notice in writing by

2 the small-business concern of the violation.

3 ‘‘(B) In determining whether to provide a small-busi4 ness concern with 24 hours to correct a violation under

5 subparagraph (A), the head of the agency shall take into

6 account all of the facts and circumstances regarding the

7 violation, including—

8 ‘‘(i) the nature and seriousness of the violation,

9 including whether the violation is technical or inad10 vertent or involves willful or criminal conduct;

11 ‘‘(ii) whether the small-business concern has

12 made a good faith effort to comply with applicable

13 laws, and to remedy the violation within the shortest

14 practicable period of time;

15 ‘‘(iii) the previous compliance history of the

16 small-business concern, including whether the small17 business concern, its owner or owners, or its prin18 cipal officers have been subject to past enforcement

19 actions; and

20 ‘‘(iv) whether the small-business concern has

21 obtained a significant economic benefit from the vio22 lation.

23 ‘‘(3) In any case in which the head of the agency im24 poses a civil fine on a small-business concern for a first25 time violation of a requirement regarding collection of in-
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1 formation which the agency head has determined presents

2 a danger to the public health or safety, and does not pro3 vide the small-business concern with 24 hours to correct

4 the violation, the head of the agency shall notify Congress

5 regarding such determination not later than 60 days after

6 the date that the civil fine is imposed by the agency.

7 ‘‘(4) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no

8 State may impose a civil penalty on a small-business con9 cern, in the case of a first-time violation by the small-busi10 ness concern of a requirement regarding collection of in11 formation under Federal law, in a manner inconsistent

12 with the provisions of this subsection.’’.

13 (c) ADDITIONAL REDUCTION OF PAPERWORK FOR

14 CERTAIN SMALL BUSINESSES.—Section 3506(c) of title

15 44, United States Code, is amended—

16 (1) in paragraph (2)(B), by striking ‘‘; and’’

17 and inserting a semicolon;

18 (2) in paragraph (3)(J), by striking the period

19 and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

20 (3) by adding at the end the following new

21 paragraph:

22 ‘‘(4) in addition to the requirements of this

23 chapter regarding the reduction of paperwork for

24 small-business concerns (within the meaning of sec25 tion 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 631 et
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1 seq.)), make efforts to further reduce the paperwork

2 burden for small-business concerns with fewer than

3 25 employees.’’.

4 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF TASK FORCE TO STUDY

5 STREAMLINING OF PAPERWORK REQUIRE6 MENTS FOR SMALL-BUSINESS CONCERNS.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 35 of title 44, United

8 States Code, is further amended by adding at the end the

9 following new section:

10 ‘‘§ 3521. Establishment of task force on feasibility of

11 streamlining information collection re12 quirements

13 ‘‘(a) There is hereby established a task force to study

14 the feasibility of streamlining requirements with respect

15 to small-business concerns regarding collection of informa16 tion (in this section referred to as the ‘task force’).

17 ‘‘(b) The members of the task force shall be ap18 pointed by the Director, and shall include the following:

19 ‘‘(1) At least two representatives of the Depart20 ment of Labor, including one representative of the

21 Bureau of Labor Statistics and one representative of

22 the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

23 ‘‘(2) At least one representative of the Environ24 mental Protection Agency.
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1 ‘‘(3) At least one representative of the Depart2 ment of Transportation.

3 ‘‘(4) At least one representative of the Office of

4 Advocacy of the Small Business Administration.

5 ‘‘(5) At least one representative of each of two

6 agencies other than the Department of Labor, the

7 Environmental Protection Agency, the Department

8 of Transportation, and the Small Business Adminis9 tration.

10 ‘‘(6) At least two representatives of the Depart11 ment of Health and Human Services, including one

12 representative of the Health Care Financing Admin13 istration.

14 ‘‘(c) The task force shall examine the feasibility of

15 requiring each agency to consolidate requirements regard16 ing collections of information with respect to small-busi17 ness concerns, in order that each small-business concern

18 may submit all information required by the agency—

19 ‘‘(1) to one point of contact in the agency;

20 ‘‘(2) in a single format, or using a single elec21 tronic reporting system, with respect to the agency;

22 and

23 ‘‘(3) on the same date.

24 ‘‘(d) Not later than one year after the date of the

25 enactment of the Small Business Paperwork Reduction
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1 Act Amendments of 1999, the task force shall submit a

2 report of its findings under subsection (c) to the chairmen

3 and ranking minority members of the Committee on Gov4 ernment Reform and Oversight and the Committee on

5 Small Business of the House of Representatives, and the

6 Committee on Governmental Affairs and the Committee

7 on Small Business of the Senate.

8 ‘‘(e) As used in this section, the term ‘small-business

9 concern’ has the meaning given that term under section

10 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 631 et seq.).’’.

11 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sec12 tions at the beginning of such chapter is amended by add13 ing at the end the following new item:

‘‘3521. Establishment of task force on feasibility of streamlining information

collection requirements.’’.

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