II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1156

To amend provisions of law enacted by the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 to ensure full analysis of potential

impacts on small entities of rules proposed by certain agencies, and

for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MAY 27, 1999

Mr. BOND (for himself and Mr. KERRY) introduced the following bill; which

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business

A BILL

To amend provisions of law enacted by the Small Business

Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 to ensure

full analysis of potential impacts on small entities of

rules proposed by certain agencies, 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 Advo5 cacy Review Panel Technical Amendments Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following:
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1 (1) A vibrant and growing small business sector

2 is critical to creating jobs in a dynamic economy.

3 (2) Small businesses bear a disproportionate

4 share of regulatory costs and burdens.

5 (3) Federal agencies must consider the impact

6 of their regulations on small businesses early in the

7 rulemaking process.

8 (4) The Small Business Advocacy Review Panel

9 process that was established by the Small Business

10 Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 has

11 been effective in allowing small businesses to partici12 pate in rules that are being developed by the Envi13 ronmental Protection Agency and the Occupational

14 Safety and Health Administration.

15 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are the fol16 lowing:

17 (1) To provide a forum for the effective partici18 pation of small businesses in the Federal regulatory

19 process.

20 (2) To clarify and strengthen the Small Busi21 ness Advocacy Review Panel process.

22 (3) To expand the number of Federal agencies

23 that are required to convene Small Business Advo24 cacy Review Panels.
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1 SEC. 3. ENSURING FULL ANALYSIS OF POTENTIAL IMPACTS

2 ON SMALL ENTITIES OF RULES PROPOSED BY

3 CERTAIN AGENCIES.

4 Section 609(b) of title 5, United States Code, is

5 amended to read as follows:

6 ‘‘(b)(1) Before the publication of an initial regulatory

7 flexibility analysis that a covered agency is required to

8 conduct under this chapter, the head of the covered agency

9 shall—

10 ‘‘(A) notify the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of

11 the Small Business Administration (in this sub12 section referred to as the ‘Chief Counsel’) in writing;

13 ‘‘(B) provide the Chief Counsel with informa14 tion on the potential impacts of the proposed rule on

15 small entities and the type of small entities that

16 might be affected; and

17 ‘‘(C) not later than 30 days after complying

18 with subparagraphs (A) and (B)—

19 ‘‘(i) with the concurrence of the Chief

20 Counsel, identify affected small entity rep21 resentatives; and

22 ‘‘(ii) transmit to the identified small entity

23 representatives a detailed summary of the infor24 mation referred to in subparagraph (B) or the

25 information in full, if so requested by the small

26 entity representative, for the purposes of ob-
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1 taining advice and recommendations about the

2 potential impacts of the draft proposed rule.

3 ‘‘(2)(A) Not earlier than 30 days after the covered

4 agency transmits information pursuant to paragraph

5 (1)(C)(ii), the head of the covered agency shall convene

6 a review panel for the draft proposed rule. The panel shall

7 consist solely of full-time Federal employees of the office

8 within the covered agency that will be responsible for car9 rying out the proposed rule, the Office of Information and

10 Regulatory Affairs of the Office of Management and

11 Budget, and the Chief Counsel.

12 ‘‘(B) The review panel shall—

13 ‘‘(i) review any material the covered agency has

14 prepared in connection with this chapter, including

15 any draft proposed rule;

16 ‘‘(ii) collect advice and recommendations from

17 the small entity representatives identified under

18 paragraph (1)(C)(i) on issues related to paragraphs

19 (3), (4), and (5) of section 603(b) and section

20 603(c); and

21 ‘‘(iii) allow any small entity representative iden22 tified under paragraph (1)(C)(i) to make an oral

23 presentation to the panel, if requested.

24 ‘‘(C) Not later than 60 days after the date a covered

25 agency convenes a review panel pursuant to this para-
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1 graph, the review panel shall report to the head of the

2 covered agency on—

3 ‘‘(i) the comments received from the small enti4 ty representatives identified under paragraph

5 (1)(C)(i); and

6 ‘‘(ii) its findings regarding issues related to

7 paragraphs (3), (4), and (5) of section 603(b) and

8 section 603(c).

9 ‘‘(3)(A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), the

10 head of the covered agency shall print in the Federal Reg11 ister the report of the review panel under paragraph

12 (2)(C), including any written comments submitted by the

13 small entity representatives and any appendices cited in

14 the report, as soon as practicable, but not later than—

15 ‘‘(i) 180 days after the date the head of the

16 covered agency receives the report; or

17 ‘‘(ii) the date of the publication of the notice of

18 proposed rulemaking for the proposed rule.

19 ‘‘(B) The report of the review panel printed in the

20 Federal Register shall not include any confidential busi21 ness information submitted by any small entity represent22 ative.

23 ‘‘(4) Where appropriate, the covered agency shall

24 modify the draft proposed rule, the initial regulatory flexi25 bility analysis for the draft proposed rule, or the decision
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1 on whether an initial regulatory flexibility analysis is re2 quired for the draft proposed rule.’’.

3 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

4 Section 609(d) of title 5, United States Code, is

5 amended to read as follows:

6 ‘‘(d) For the purposes of this section—

7 ‘‘(1) the term ‘covered agency’ means the Envi8 ronmental Protection Agency, the Occupational

9 Safety and Health Administration of the Depart10 ment of Labor, and the Internal Revenue Service of

11 the Department of the Treasury; and

12 ‘‘(2) the term ‘small entity representative’

13 means a small entity, or an individual or organiza14 tion that represents the interests of 1 or more small

15 entities.’’.

16 SEC. 5. COLLECTION OF INFORMATION REQUIREMENT.

17 (a) DEFINITION.—Section 601 of title 5, United

18 States Code, is amended—

19 (1) in paragraph (5) by inserting ‘‘and’’ after

20 the semicolon;

21 (2) in paragraph (6) by striking ‘‘; and’’ and in22 serting a period; and

23 (3) by striking paragraphs (7) and (8).

24 (b) INITIAL REGULATORY FLEXIBILITY ANALYSIS.—

25 The fourth sentence of section 603 of title 5, United
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1 States Code, is amended to read as follows: ‘‘In the case

2 of an interpretative rule involving the internal revenue

3 laws of the United States, this chapter applies to interpre4 tative rules (including proposed, temporary, and final reg5 ulations) published in the Federal Register for codification

6 in the Code of Federal Regulations.’’.

7 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.

8 This Act shall take effect upon the expiration of the

9 90-day period beginning on the date of the enactment of

10 this Act.

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