Washington, D.C.:

U.S. Small Business Administration

2000
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Washington, DC 20402-9328.

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Office of the President of the United States

106th Congress of the United States

We present to you the Final Report on Implementation of the Recommendations of the

1995 White House Conference on Small Business.

For the past five years, the Office of Advocacy and the staff of the U.S. Small Business

Administration have worked with the White House, the Congress, federal agencies and the

small business community to address the delegates’ recommendations. The conference 

delegates provided a comprehensive agenda listing the policy priorities of the nation’s small

business community.

Significant progress has resulted from this process, and the report highlights the legislative and administrative actions that have contributed to these accomplishments.

The record of policy actions is unprecedented. Action has been taken on nearly every

recommendation, and the small business community has been well served by these efforts.

We look forward to continuing this implementation process.

U.S. Small Business Administration

Washington, D.C.

July 2000

Aida Alvarez

Administrator

Jere W. Glover

Chief Counsel for Advocacy

1 Executive Summary

5 Achievements in the Issue Areas

6 Easing the Tax Burden

7 Improving Access to Capital

8 Changing the Regulatory Climate

11 Expanding Technology and Innovation

12 Increasing Procurement Opportunities

13 Enhancing the Human Factor

14 Issue Recommendations with No Action

15 Reports from the Regions

23 Appendix A: Recommendation Checklist

33 Appendix B: The 60 Recommendations

★ FINAL IMPLEMENTATION REPORT

Contents

“As we stand on the threshold of the new millennium, we know that our nation’s continued economic success will depend on the vitality of our

nation’s small business community.”

— President Bill Clinton, congratulating the

1999 National Small Business Week winners

The theme of the 1995 White House Conference

on Small Business was Foundation for a New

Century. The efforts of the more than 2,000 delegates have shaped the public policy debates in

Washington as the 21st century begins. The agenda set forth at this conference has generated significant legislative and administrative changes.

The 60 final recommendations encompassed areas

such as access to capital, the globalization of markets, and the effect of taxes on small business formation and development. These ideas and proposals originated by small business people represent their best efforts at ensuring that this growing

sector of the economy enters the next century

with strength.

The success of the implementation efforts carried out by a nationwide implementation team of

delegates is astonishing: policymakers have

addressed more than 90 percent of the issues outlined in the 60 final recommendations. To date,

the number of 1995 conference recommendations

that have resulted in administrative and legislative

policy changes exceeds that from any previous

conference. These results demonstrate that the

1995 White House Conference on Small Business

has been the most successful and productive conference of its kind ever held.

The nation’s small business agenda has forged a

common purpose between President Clinton and

the Congress. Both have worked in a bipartisan

manner to address the recommendations of this

White House Conference with meaningful action.

Twenty laws implementing the conference’s recommendations have been enacted. This cooperation is also evident in the Congress and administration’s continued efforts to maintain a balanced

budget. Small businesses voted balancing the federal budget a top priority at both previous White

House Conferences on Small Business. The federal

government achieved a sizeable budget surplus in

fiscal year 1998, and in 1999 the White House and

the Congress reached agreement on the first

budget of the 21st century that will keep the

United States on course to pay off the publicly

held debt by 2015.

Another important success for the 1995 conference has been an improvement in access to capital

for women-, minority-, and veteran-owned small

businesses. The Congress passed legislation to

streamline access to capital for the U.S. Small

Business Administration’s (SBA) women’s business centers and enhanced small business assistance for veterans through the Veterans

Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development Act of 1999. The SBA licensed its first

Hispanic small business investment corporation

and the first two women’s SBICs at the end of

1998.

These efforts to expand credit availability have

been supported by the SBA’s work over the past

several years:

★ Since the beginning of 1993, the agency has

helped almost 375,000 small businesses obtain

more than $80 billion in loans, more than in the

entire prior history of the agency, which was created in 1953.

★ Since the beginning of 1993, the SBA has

approved more than $12 billion in loans to more

than 80,000 small businesses owned by women,

more than double the amount recorded during

the previous 20 years.

★ Since 1993, the SBA has approved more

than $18 billion in loans to nearly 80,000 minority-owned businesses, more than double the

amount recorded during the previous 20 years.

★ Since its inception in 1958, the SBA’s venture capital program has put $30 billion into the

hands of small business owners to finance their

growth. About two-thirds of that has been invested since the beginning of 1993, in more than

13,000 businesses.

1 ★ FINAL IMPLEMENTATION REPORT

Executive Summary

“Our mission is to help small businesses succeed, and the numbers speak volumes about

small business success. The SBA is having a

tremendous impact on the small business 

sector, which is the engine for our unprecedented economic prosperity.”

— SBA Administrator Aida Alvarez
★ Venture capital firms licensed and funded

by the SBA have produced profits to the taxpayer

of almost $225 million since 1995, enough to fund

the agency’s entire venture capital program for

nine years. The payments represent the taxpayers’

share of the profits realized from investments

made with funds backed by the SBA. The payments go to the U.S. Treasury.

★ Since 1990, federal agencies under the SBA’s

leadership have delivered more than $407 billion

in contracts to small businesses. Of that, more

than $55 billion has gone to 8(a) companies

whose owners have been certified as being economically and socially disadvantaged.

★ During the past 10 years, while total federal

contracting has remained relatively stable at just

under $200 billion per year, 8(a) contract awards

have increased by 81.5 percent, from $3.4 billion

to $6.2 billion.

★ The Small Business Administration reduced

its staff level by 24 percent over the past decade,

from just over 4,100 employees in 1990 to around

3,100 in 1999. At the same time, the SBA’s loan

portfolio doubled from $25 billion in 1993 to

nearly $50 billion in 2000.

In the regulatory arena, one of the conference

delegates’ top priorities was strengthening the

Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 (RFA) and

reforming small business compliance assistance.

The Congress amended the RFA through the

enactment of the Small Business Regulatory

Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996. As a result, the

regulatory environment for small businesses has

improved. Federal agencies are increasing outreach to small businesses before promulgating

rules, and more agencies are seeking guidance on

compliance with the RFA. In fiscal year 1999

alone, RFA interventions by the Small Business

Administration’s Office of Advocacy — the office

charged with monitoring compliance with the

Regulatory Flexibility Act — led to changes in

final regulations that reduced potential regulatory

costs by almost $5.3 billion.

The White House and the Congress continue

to recognize the importance of small businesses in

the realm of technology and innovation. The SBA

has implemented and improved upon the Small

Business Innovation Research program, and the

Congress has continued to support expansion of

small business technology through enactment of

the Small Business Year 2000 Readiness Act of

1999 and the Internet Tax Freedom Act of 1998.

The implementation success story is nationwide. States are focusing on the ideas and initiatives that the 1995 delegates produced. State delegations continue to meet, hold regional calls and

conferences, and visit members of Congress and

state officials. Governors have examined the 60

recommendations of the 1995 conference, and

several are working to implement these ideas at

the state level.

Clearly, the White House Conference delegates,

through hard work and diligent follow-up efforts,

have laid the foundation for a new small business

century. The White House, the Congress, and federal and state agencies have cemented that foundation by passing and implementing so many of

the conference’s recommendations. Now the

nation’s small businesses can build on that

groundwork to generate economic growth in the

21st century.

Executive Summary

2 ★ THE WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE ON SMALL BUSINESS

In fiscal year 1999 alone, RFA interventions by

the Small Business Administration’s Office of

Advocacy — the office charged with monitoring compliance with the Regulatory Flexibility

Act — led to changes in final regulations that

reduced potential regulatory costs by almost

$5.3 billion.
Legislation Implementing Recommendations

of the 1995 White House Conference on

Small Business

1999

★ American Inventors Protection Act

★ SBIC Technical Corrections Act

★ Small Business Year 2000 Readiness Act

1998

★ Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act

★ Department of Defense Reform Act

★ Federal Activities Inventory Reform Act

★ Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act

★ Paperwork Reduction Act Amendments

1997

★ Balanced Budget Act

★ Taxpayer Relief Act

★ HUBZone Act

1996

★ Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act

★ Small Business Job Protection Act

★ Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

★ Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act

★ Telecommunications Act

★ Federal Acquisition Reform Act

★ National Securities Markets Improvement Act

★ Small Business Programs Improvement Act

1995

★ Small Business Lending Enhancement Act

3 ★ FINAL IMPLEMENTATION REPORT

5 ★ FINAL IMPLEMENTATION REPORT

The following narrative highlights significant

implementation activity in the issue areas identified by the delegates in their final 60 recommendations.

Achievements in the

Issue Areas
Easing the Tax Burden 

The White House Conference delegates expressed

their concerns about tax issues in their tax policy

recommendations. The Congress and the administration have continued efforts to maintain a balanced budget. After President Clinton signed the

Balanced Budget Act of 1997, the U.S. government

achieved a sizeable surplus for FY 1998 (the first

budget surplus in over 30 years). In 1999, the

administration and the Congress reached agreement on the first budget of the 21st century that

will keep the United States on course to pay off

the publicly held debt by 2015. The new budget

provides funding, subject to authorization, to

leverage investment in underserved areas and

stimulates small businesses in low- and moderateincome neighborhoods.

Since the 1995 White House Conference on

Small Business, the Clinton administration and

the Congress have implemented some important

tax legislation. Signed into law on July 22, 1998,

the Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and

Reform Act of 1998 addresses issues raised by the

delegates. The legislation allows for reorganization

of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for the benefit of taxpayers, and creates a Taxpayer’s Bill of

Rights. The act also lowers the holding period for

long-term capital gains, and provides technical

corrections to the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997.

Under the Restructuring and Reform Act, the

newly restructured Internal Revenue Service will

be built around four organizational units with

end-to-end responsibility for serving specific

groups of taxpayers. One of the units will be the

Small Business and Self-Employed Operating

Division, which will serve all small business taxpayers. The primary focus of this unit will be to

work with small businesses to teach them about

their federal tax responsibilities and to develop

less burdensome and more practical means of

compliance.

Until recently, an IRS determination of tax liability has been presumed correct, and the taxpayer

usually had the burden of proving the IRS wrong

in tax litigation. The IRS Restructuring and

Reform Act shifts the burden of proof to the IRS

when the taxpayer meets certain conditions, such

as maintaining records and backup information,

as currently required under the tax code. The shift

should help small businesses that were at a disadvantage in assuming the burden of proof.

Delegates to the 1995 White House Conference

on Small Business continue to be active and

involved with the Internal Revenue Service.

Several of the WHCSB tax chairs have been

named to serve on the IRS commissioner’s advisory council. Another delegate serves on the congressionally created Electronic Tax Administration

Advisory Committee.

The IRS has also made two important changes

designed to improve small business tax administration. First, beginning January 1, 2000, taxpayers

will not be required to use the Electronic Federal

Tax Payment System (EFTPS) unless they have

annual tax deposits greater than $200,000. The

threshold was $50,000. As a result of the change,

about 65 percent of the taxpayers now required to

use EFTPS will no longer have to do so. Second, in

1998, the IRS increased the minimum amount for

requiring quarterly tax deposits from $500 to

$1,000. Because of this change, about 3 million

small business employers will not have to deposit

employment taxes.

Furthermore, following a 1999 hearing on the

tax filing and reporting burdens on small business

owners, the Senate Committee on Small Business

announced on the IRS Web site that it would conduct an online “unpopularity” poll of IRS forms,

schedules, and instructions. The purpose of the

poll is to identify which filing and reporting materials are most burdensome on small business

owners so that the Congress can present to the

IRS commissioner a list of the documents that are

most in need of common-sense review and revision.

Small businesses began to offer new retirement

benefits in 1998, the first year SIMPLE 401(k) and

IRA plans were permitted as a result of tax

changes enacted in 1996, following WHCSB recommendations. The number of businesses opening these and other defined contribution retirement plans appears to be growing rapidly,

although a tally is not yet available.

In the State of the Union address for 2000,

President Clinton announced an effort to encourage more small businesses to offer pensions for

their employees. The president is seeking a 50 percent tax credit for qualified contributions to

employees’ pensions. President Clinton also

announced plans to create retirement savings

accounts. The president’s proposal builds on the

successful model of individual development

accounts (IDAs), extending generous matches to

all low- and moderate-income families to encourage them to save. However, many business owners

say they cannot commit at the beginning of the

year to making a specific level of retirement contributions at year’s end. The Office of Advocacy is

working with WHCSB delegates and other small

business benefits advisors to explore ways of

increasing the flexibility and simplicity of retirement options. Some improvements may be

achievable under present law with minor adminisAchievements in the

Issue Areas

6 ★ FINAL IMPLEMENTATION REPORT
trative or regulatory changes by the Internal

Revenue Service. Other enhancements will require

legislation.

Improving Access to Capital

Access to capital—whether startup or venture

capital—is a continuing problem for all small

businesses. The White House Conference on Small

Business delegates addressed the difficulty of raising capital in a number of their recommendations. These ideas reflected concern with secondary markets, pension funds, banking regulations

and expanded loan programs.

Among the highest priorities for the Small

Business Administration are increasing small business access to credit and capital and continuing to

transform the SBA into a 21st century leadingedge financial institution. These goals involve

expansion of the SBA finance programs, along

with improved management and analysis of credit

needs. SBA’s programs include the 7(a) business

loan guarantee, Section 504 economic development loan, microloan, small business investment

company, disaster loan, and surety bond programs. Congress has designed each of these programs to provide access to capital and credit for

small businesses that encounter barriers to borrowing in the private unsubsidized market.

SBA’s credit programs have continued to provide valuable financial assistance to small businesses of all types. For FY 1999, the 7(a) program

loan approval totaled $10.15 billion. SBA’s 504

certified development company loans totaled

almost $2 billion. The combined dollar amount of

$12.15 billion is a record, exceeding the previous

mark of nearly $10.9 billion in FY 1997.

In September 1998, the SBA revamped two of

its most popular finance programs, the LowDoc

program and the SBAExpress, increasing the

amount that can be approved under each program

to $150,000. These improvements make smaller

loans more accessible to the start-ups and “New

Market” entrepreneurs who need them, by streamlining the process and simplifying the amount of

paperwork.

All areas of the women-owned business sector

have grown significantly. The 8.5 million womenowned businesses in 1997 accounted for more

than one-third of all businesses and generated

$3.1 trillion in revenues. SBA programs have

advanced to meet this growing sector’s needs. (For

more statistical information on woman-owned

businesses, see Women in Business, prepared by

the SBA Office of Advocacy, located at www.sba.

gov/stats/wib.pdf.)

Often, micro-borrowers are women, particularly lower-income women who have difficulty

obtaining financial assistance in other ways. SBA’s

microloans are small loans under $25,000 for

start-up businesses, coupled with intensive technical assistance. The SBA’s microloan program

recorded 1,091 loans amounting to more than $11

million in 1998. Each microloan creates or retains

about 1.6 jobs. This program is seeing more

growth and demand.

The small business investment company program fills the gap between venture capital—available primarily at larger dollar values to more

established companies—and the more modest

needs of small businesses that are starting or

growing. The SBA licensed 53 new SBICs in FY

1999. Most notable was the creation of four

women-managed SBICs. A private study found

that only 2 percent of the $33 billion in venture

capital investments currently goes to womenowned firms, although women own about 40 percent of all U.S. firms. A White House Conference

delegate heads the woman-managed SBIC located

in Nashville, Tennessee.

Additionally, Congress passed legislation in

1999 for the SBA’s women’s business centers program. The legislation increases the program’s

appropriation from $8 million to $11 million.

Like women-owned businesses, minorityowned businesses also have difficulty obtaining

loans through traditional lending sources. SBA

licensed its first Hispanic SBIC in December of

1998. A record 28 percent of all SBA guaranteed

loan dollars in FY 1999 went to minority borrow7 ★ THE WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE ON SMALL BUSINESS

SBA Loan Activity

Dollar value of SBA lending, 1953–1992 and 

1993–2000

$20

$40

$60

$80

$100

0

$78.36 $80.67

Billions of dollars

1953–1992 1993–2000
ers—almost $3.36 billion to 12,127 minorityowned businesses.

The Congress improved access to capital for

veterans who own small businesses by passing the

Veterans Entrepreneurship and Small Business

Development Act of 1999. President Clinton

signed the legislation into law on August 16, 1999.

The act makes certain small business assistance

more available to veterans by expanding veterans’

eligibility, directing certain departments and agencies to take action, and establishing new institutions to assist. Among other things, the act

requires the SBA to defer repayment of the principal and interest on any direct 7(a) loan to an eligible reservist or qualified borrower upon written

request.

Answering the need for year 2000 computer

bug assistance for small business, President

Clinton signed into law the Small Business Year

2000 Readiness Act on April 2, 1999. The law

required the SBA to provide for a loan guaranty

program to address the year 2000 computer problems of small business concerns.

The Small Business Administration’s Office of

Advocacy has launched an innovative, nationwide

Internet-based listing service that provides information to angel investors on small, dynamic,

growing businesses seeking $250,000 to $3 million

in equity financing. Ace-Net allows small businesses to raise equity capital at a fraction of current costs and time expended. The SBA obtained a

“no action” recommendation from Securities and

Exchange Commission staff. The North American

Securities Administrators Association, Inc., supported the SBA’s model exemption from state laws

for small business stock offerings to angel

investors and developed the first in a series of proposed “model terms and conditions” that may

reduce both the cost and time of raising capital.

The Ace-Net service is available at www.sba.gov.

Changing the Regulatory Climate

The burdens of government regulations and

paperwork are daunting to many small businesses.

Depending on the business, they can expect to

confront a full range of obligations that may not

necessarily advance productivity, increase profits,

or improve services or products. The delegates to

the White House Conference on Small Business

confronted these concerns by developing constructive recommendations for both administrative and congressional action.

The delegates focused their energy on a wideranging change to federal agencies’ approach to

small business. At the top of the list were suggestions for strengthening the Regulatory Flexibility

Act of 1980 (RFA) and reforming small business

compliance assistance. In response, in 1996,

Congress enacted the Small Business Regulatory

Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA), which

amended the RFA in several critical respects. The

SBREFA amendments to the RFA were designed

to ensure meaningful small business input during

the earliest stages of the regulatory development

process. The amendments also required agencies

to provide more detailed and substantive analyses

of regulatory economic impacts. SBREFA also

reaffirmed the authority of the chief counsel for

advocacy to file amicus curiae briefs in regulatory

appeals brought by small entities.

The SBREFA amendments added two key provisions to the RFA:

★ Small Business Advocacy Review Panel

Process: SBREFA mandates that an interagency

review panel be convened to ensure small business

participation in the development of rules by the

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

(OSHA) when such rules are expected to have a

significant impact on a substantial number of

small entities.

★ Judicial Review of Agency Compliance:

SBREFA authorizes aggrieved small businesses

appealing from agency final actions to seek judicial review of agency failure to comply with the

RFA.

Three years after SBREFA amended the RFA,

there are visible signs that the regulatory environment for small businesses has changed for the better. As highlighted in the chief counsel for advocacy’s annual report on agency compliance with the

RFA, during the past few years, small businesses

have played active roles in bringing about some

fundamental changes in the way federal agencies

view the RFA and their responsibilities under the

law. A cultural change is under way in the agencies

as a result of the SBREFA amendments. Because

of RFA intervention by the Office of Advocacy,

small businesses, and SBREFA panels, the federal

agencies—to their credit—made changes to final

regulations in fiscal year 1999 that reduced potential regulatory costs by almost $5.3 billion. This

was accomplished without compromising public

policy objectives.

Numerous agencies have implemented changes

to their regulatory processes. They have noticeably

enhanced outreach efforts to small businesses,

conducted internal training on compliance with

the RFA, and committed resources to ensure adequate regulatory flexibility analyses. Other agencies are learning to comply with the RFA the hard

way, through litigation. Federal regulatory agencies, along with the small business community, are

Achievements in the

Issue Areas

8 ★ FINAL IMPLEMENTATION REPORT
beginning to monitor the latest court cases resulting from the judicial review provisions of the

RFA.

Most significantly, agencies and the Congress

are paying special attention to the changes

brought about by the addition of the small business advocacy review panel process. As a procedure for gathering public comments, this SBREFA

amendment to the RFA mandates that small business representatives be consulted early in the rulemaking process by policymakers of the EPA and

OSHA—two agencies that have a major impact on

a wide range of industries dominated by small

businesses. The panel process allows small businesses to take a seat at the regulatory development

table, and this new process is making a difference.

Since enactment of SBREFA, 18 small business

advocacy review panels have completed work on a

diverse range of EPA and OSHA regulatory proposals. Approximately 300 small entities throughout the country were consulted in the course of

the panels’ deliberations. Arguably the most

rewarding aspect of the panel process is the fact

that small entities brought real world experiences

to the panels’ discussions. Small entities seldom

challenged the need for regulatory solutions, but

the information they provided did challenge

agency estimates of regulatory costs and effectiveness. This input was important in helping regulatory agencies identify equally effective alternatives—all of which resulted in major changes to

regulatory proposals. In one instance, a proposal

was withdrawn in its entirety when the data

showed there was no need for a national regulation.

As amended by SBREFA, the Regulatory

Flexibility Act now allows courts to review agency

compliance with the RFA in appeals from final

agency actions. A review of litigation on the RFA

over the past three years reveals that small entities

are not hesitant to initiate court challenges in

appropriate cases. A significant body of legal

precedents has already developed under the RFA,

and more cases are sure to arise in the future.

Adding value to the RFA litigation is the role of

the Office of Advocacy and its chief counsel. As

part of its congressionally mandated responsibilities under the RFA, the Office of Advocacy routinely critiques agencies’ regulatory proposals and

their compliance with the RFA. These communications are a matter of public record that can be

used—and have in fact been cited—in judicial

appeals. As a result of SBREFA’s judicial review

amendment, the chief counsel’s comments on

agencies’ regulatory proposals are having greater

impact, and agencies are taking them more seriously than ever before.

In a recent court case, the chief counsel for

advocacy filed the first amicus curiae brief as

authorized by the RFA. In 1998, the District Court

for the District of Columbia ruled in favor of

small business in Northwest Mining v. Babbitt (5 F.

Supp. 2d 9). The case, brought by a trade association against the Department of the Interior’s

Bureau of Land Management (BLM), raised an

issue about BLM’s failure to use the proper size

standard for determining the number of small

businesses that would be harmed by the regulation. In an amicus brief filed in January 1998, the

chief counsel challenged the BLM’s use of a small

business size standard that was not in compliance

with the SBA’s standards published under the

authority of the Small Business Act. The brief also

raised concerns about the agency’s failure to comply with the Administrative Procedure Act and

about the quality of the economic analysis put on

the record by BLM. In May 1998, the District

Court issued its ruling and agreed with the issues

raised by the chief counsel, holding that BLM’s

certification in its final rule violated the RFA by

failing to incorporate the correct definition of

“small entity.” The Court remanded the case to the

agency so that the plaintiff small business trade

association would have an opportunity to provide

input into the regulatory process. Filing the amicus brief in this case has unquestionably increased

agency awareness of the risks of failing to comply

with the RFA.

9 ★ THE WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE ON SMALL BUSINESS

Loans to Women and Minorities

SBA lending to women (1973–1992 and 1993–2000) 

and minorities (1953–1992 and 1993–2000)

20

$5.70

$7.86

Billions of dollars

1993–2000 1953–1992

15

10

5

0

1973–1992 1993–2000

$12.23

$18.43 Women

Minorities
Outside of the Regulatory Flexibility Act,

SBREFA established new requirements for federal

regulatory agencies that include the adoption of

compliance policies with mitigation provisions,

the compilation of small entity compliance guides

for regulations that have a significant impact on

small business, the establishment of regional small

business regulatory fairness boards, and the establishment of a small business and agriculture regulatory enforcement ombudsman.

SBREFA establishes a process whereby small

businesses may register complaints about enforcement actions with a small business ombudsman

and small business regulatory fairness (RegFair)

boards. The 10 regional boards are unique entities

composed of small businesses. The ombudsman

and boards, first appointed in September 1996,

receive comments from small businesses concerning aggressive enforcement-related activities conducted by agency personnel. The ombudsman,

with advice from the boards, reports annually to

the Congress on agency enforcement efforts and

their impact on small businesses. These reports

can be found at www.sba.gov/regfair/. Almost half

of the members of the fairness boards were White

House Conference delegates, and they continue to

advance the objectives of the conference by committing to serve as representatives of fellow small

businesses.

The ombudsman’s 1999 report to Congress

includes an extensive evaluation of 36 agencies

with regulatory enforcement authority over small

business. The RegFair program’s outreach to the

small business community has included the following:

★ Over the past two years, more than 1,200

people have attended RegFair hearings held in 20

cities nationwide.

★ At RegFair hearings, nearly 350 small businesses have testified before the RegFair boards and

the national ombudsman on issues as varied as

tax reporting, immigration and health care.

★ Business leader roundtables bring together

10 to 20 leaders of the local small business community to discuss regulatory reform and RegFair.

Ten of these roundtables have been held since they

began in August 1998; more were planned for

2000.

More aggressive federal agency outreach to

small business is an important change resulting

from SBREFA. Almost every federal agency today

incorporates a wide variety of mechanisms to

reach the communities affected by its regulations.

For example, agencies routinely participate at

industry conferences, host roundtable meetings in

regions of the country, answer inquiries from

small businesses via mail, fax, and electronic mail,

and utilize the Internet and toll-free telephone

numbers to encourage easy access to information

for small businesses.

The Department of Housing and Urban

Development’s (HUD) outreach efforts are especially noteworthy. HUD, like many other agencies,

utilizes its Office of Small and Disadvantaged

Business Utilization (OSDBU) for implementing

its RFA compliance program. HUD has been very

aggressive in making sure that the agency identifies the most appropriate small entity representatives to receive its information. HUD’s OSDBU

has written to more than 700 trade associations

and minority- and women-owned business chambers of commerce advising them of small business

rights under SBREFA and the RFA. HUD has also

taken aggressive measures to include small businesses in “negotiated rulemakings” on regulations

dealing with manufactured housing, real estate

settlement procedures, Indian housing, lead-based

paint, and public housing. This outreach effort is

intended to involve appropriate small entities

from the very beginning of a rulemaking process.

In addition to reaching out to small businesses,

more and more agencies are also seeking guidance

on compliance with the RFA. Many are redirecting

agency resources to the actual task of complying

with the RFA and increasing productivity through

training. It is apparent that some agencies have

recognized the value of seeking compliance with

the RFA early in the regulatory process in order to

save time, produce better regulatory proposals,

and avoid litigation.

One example comes from the Department of

Health and Human Services, Health Care

Financing Administration (HCFA). Since SBREFA

amended the RFA, HCFA has instituted new procedures to seek input on controversial or burdensome regulations during the earliest stages of rulemaking, and the administrators of HCFA and the

Small Business Administration have met to discuss RFA compliance and related issues. In addition, two day-long RFA/SBREFA training sessions

were conducted for HCFA employees. This

renewed commitment by HCFA to comply with

the RFA has resulted in a number of occasions in

which HCFA submitted draft rules for early small

business impact review.

In sum, because of the 1996 SBREFA amendments and diligent oversight and active involvement by Congress, the courts, small businesses,

the SBA’s Office of Advocacy, and the administration, federal agencies are doing a better job of

analyzing how best to solve social problems without harming competition or unduly burdening

small businesses—the major source of competition and innovation in the U.S. economy.

Achievements in the

Issue Areas

10 ★ FINAL IMPLEMENTATION REPORT
Expanding Technology and

Innovation

Small firms play an important role in developing

innovative products and processes and bringing

them to the marketplace. Although they spend

only a fraction of the amount spent by large firms

on research and development, they produce a far

more significant share of the innovations.

Studies show that small businesses are the leading source of innovations and that small firms

produce twice as many innovations per employee

as large firms. Although small businesses receive a

small percentage of federal research and development funds, they are responsible for a large share

of patents. The Congress created two programs,

the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)

program and the Small Business Technology

Transfer (STTR) program, to ensure that the best

and brightest entrepreneurial researchers in

America would be part of vital federal research

and development efforts that benefit the national

defense, build safer highways and airports, and

contribute to public health and safety. Delegates

to the 1995 White House Conference on Small

Business recognized the importance of these two

programs and adopted recommendations that

fully endorsed their continuation and growth.

The SBA continues to implement and improve

upon the SBIR program. In FY 1998, more than

$1 billion was awarded to small high technology

businesses under SBIR. The SBA also developed a

model program for states to establish economic

development organizations that support the federal program with funding, management assistance,

and other services to small technology firms. The

SBA will implement a $1 million grant program

to stimulate the participation of rural small high

technology firms in the SBIR program.

The SBA continues to award the annual Tibbetts

awards. These awards were established to give welldeserved national recognition to those small firms,

individuals, projects, and organizations that exemplify the business, economic, and technological

achievements of the federal SBIR program.

Answering the need for year 2000 “computer

bug” assistance for small business, President

Clinton signed into law the Small Business Year

2000 Readiness Act on April 2, 1999. The law

required the SBA to provide a loan guaranty program to address the year 2000 computer problems

of small business concerns. In signing the law, the

president said, “The legislation I am signing today

will help ensure that the nation’s small businesses

have access to the capital they need to be ‘Y2KOK’ in the year 2000.”

President Clinton had previously established

the President’s Council on Year 2000 Conversion

on February 4, 1998, by Executive Order 13073.

The council was responsible for coordinating the

federal government’s efforts to address the year

2000 problem. The council also enlisted agencies

to serve as “sector coordinators” to promote

action on the problem and to offer support to

public and private sector organizations. In particular, agencies worked with industry trade associations, individual companies, and state and local

governments. To help small organizations become

Y2K ready, the council issued 100 Days to Y2K: A

Resource Guide for Small Organizations in September 1999. The guide provided resource listings for

Y2K information. The resource listing included

toll-free numbers, Web sites, and publications that

provide useful technical information to small

organizations moving toward Y2K readiness.

Under the Telecommunications Act of 1996,

the Congress authorized the creation of the

Telecommunications Development Fund (TDF).

TDF is a private venture capital fund with $25

million under management that invests exclusively

in small businesses in all sectors of the telecommunications industry. The money that TDF

invests comes entirely from private sources; TDF

is not a governmental agency and does not receive

any appropriated or other government funding.

Electronic commerce—the marketing, promotion, buying, and selling of goods and services

11 ★ THE WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE ON SMALL BUSINESS
electronically, particularly via the Internet—is

experiencing unprecedented growth, according to

a report recently released by the SBA’s Office of

Advocacy. Many online entrepreneurs believe that

taxing this medium of commerce will slow its

growth. For this reason the Internet Tax Freedom

Act was enacted in 1998. The law prohibits state

and local governments imposing taxes on Internet

access charges until October 21, 2001, and protects consumers and vendors involved in commercial transactions over the Internet from any new

tax liability. The act also creates a temporary commission to examine the issue to determine

whether Internet commerce should be taxed.

As many as 35 percent of small businesses

maintained their own Web site and earned $3.5

billion in e-commerce sales in 1997. Because of

the Internet’s importance to small business, the

SBA’s Office of Advocacy has been carefully monitoring the development of new Internet domain

name policy by the Internet Corporation for

Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). ICANN

is a non-profit corporation that was formed for

the express purpose of managing the domain

name system. ICANN will have authority over

Internet addressing and protocols and is currently

adopting policies that will determine the future of

the Internet. ICANN policies under consideration

that could affect small businesses include the following:

★ Granting domain name registrars the ability

to suspend, cancel, or transfer a domain name.

★ Creating a mandatory arbitration process

with the authority to take a domain name away

from a losing party, but not precluding court action

against a party that prevails in the arbitration.

★ Granting protection to trademark owners

from “cybersquatters.”

The Office of Advocacy is carefully monitoring

these issues and has commented on many of

ICANN’s policies. With the enormous impact of

these policies, small businesses should be aware of

these issues and participate in the process.

Increasing Procurement

Opportunities

In the early 1990s, the U.S. Congress and the executive branch of the federal government reached a

policy consensus on the need for acquisition

reform. The call for reform was as urgent inside

government as it was in the contracting communities across the United States. The contracting

community, including the delegates to the White

House Conference on Small Business, were of the

general belief that it was too burdensome to do

business with the federal government. Within the

federal government, contracting officers and the

end users of procured goods and services viewed

the acquisition process as time-consuming and ineffective in getting the best product for the money.

The stage was set for acquisition reform in the

U.S. government. What was required, many

believed, was the total revamping and streamlining of the acquisition process. The intent was to

make the federal marketplace emulate the commercial trading center and to ensure that the federal government would get full value for its nearly

$200 billion procurement budget.

The centerpieces of the reform were the

Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994 (P.L.

103-355) and the Federal Acquisition Reform Act

(FARA) of 1996 (P.L. 104-106). In the reform,

many of the old traditional ways of buying and

selling to the federal government were discarded

for faster, commercial, off-the-shelf commodity

purchases. The credit card emerged as the tool of

choice for government purchases of commercial

items. A few other techniques from the commercial marketplace enhanced the federal procurement process, including electronic transfer of payment and greater use of electronic commerce.

Contracting officers were given greater authority

to use contracting vehicles such as governmentwide agency contracts (GWACs) and Federal

Supply Services schedules.

Historically, small businesses are the backbone

of the U.S. economy. They offer more competition, lower overall costs, more innovations and

more job creation than any other sector. Unfortunately, even with the recent procurement reforms,

Achievements in the

Issue Areas

12 ★ FINAL IMPLEMENTATION REPORT

More Loans, Less Cost

Subsidy cost to taxpayers per $100 lent under

SBA loan programs, Fiscal Years 1992 and 2000

$8

$6

$4

$2

0

FY 1992 FY 2000

$4.85

$1.16
most government acquisitions—about 80 percent

of federal prime contract dollars—are still awarded to large businesses. Thus, the 1995 White

House Conference on Small Business, in addition

to supporting the reform movement, focused on

correcting the less-than-proportionate share of

federal contracts awarded to small firms. Seven of

the top 60 recommendations dealt with increasing

procurement opportunities for small businesses.

In 1997, the Congress, with the support of the

administration, increased the federal government

prime contracting goal for small business to 23

percent (P.L. 105-135). In addition, the new law

contained a new program, the HUBZone program, to help small businesses and their employees located in historically underutilized business

zones. The Congress made it very clear to procuring agencies that tactics such as the “bundling” of

contracts into packages that curtail small business

participation would not be tolerated. In fact, the

Small Business Administration Reauthorization

Act of 1997 stipulated that federal agencies can

only bundle contracts to achieve “measurably substantial benefits” in terms of lower costs, shorter

acquisition cycles, or better terms and conditions.

The SBA issued final regulations on bundling on

July 26, 2000.

On May 23, 2000, President Clinton signed

Executive Order 13157, which directs federal

agencies to take steps to meet or exceed the goal of

5 percent for prime contracts or subcontracts

awarded to women-owned businesses.

In addition, the Congress enacted the Federal

Activities Inventory Reform Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-

270, the FAIR Act). The FAIR Act directs agencies

to develop inventories of their commercial activities and to conduct cost comparisons to determine whether a commercial activity that is performed by a governmental source should instead

be performed by a private sector source.

In an effort to open more contracting opportunities to small businesses, the SBA developed

PRO-Net® in 1997. This nationwide Internetbased data base of small businesses serves as a

government-wide link to procurement opportunities for small firms and as a powerful electronic

search engine for contracting officers looking for

small business vendors. Nearly 200,000 firms are

currently registered on PRO-Net.®

Finally, a study released by the SBA’s Office of

Advocacy ranked the 2,235 federal procurement

centers on their levels of prime contracting with

small firms in fiscal year 1998. Overall, the study

found, the procurement centers with the most

contracting dollars spent the least in small businesses. When the centers were ranked in order of

the share of dollars spent on small firms, the least

“small-business-friendly” 30 percent of the centers

controlled 66.2 percent of the prime contracting

dollars and spent just 6.3 percent on small firms.

This study also identified the primary purchasing

activity of the procurement center by the use of

the two-digit Standard Industrial Classification

(SIC) code. Using this study, small firms can, for

the first time, identify how particular procurement centers spend their funds and earmark their

marketing to specific centers.

All of these initiatives should help to increase

federal procurement opportunities for small businesses.

Enhancing the Human Factor

If small businesses drive the economy, it is also

true that employees energize small firms. The

White House Conference on Small Business recognized that initiatives that support American

workers are important. In particular, small businesses have concerns that work force costs—pensions, Social Security, health benefits—become

increasingly important as the work force ages.

Moreover, in times of low unemployment, it is

especially hard for small businesses to attract and

retain qualified workers.

Small businesses began to offer new retirement

benefits in 1998. That was the first year the socalled SIMPLE 401(k) and IRA plans were permitted as a result of tax changes enacted in 1996, following WHCSB recommendations. The number

of businesses opening these and other defined

13 ★ THE WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE ON SMALL BUSINESS

Doing More with Less

Number of SBA employees and SBA lending, 

1990–2000

Number of SBA employees

SBA lending (billions of dollars)

$30

$40

$50

8,000 $60

0

$20

$10

7,000

6,000

5,000

4,000

3,000

2,000

1990 2000
contribution retirement plans appears to be growing rapidly, although a tally is not yet available.

In the State of the Union address for 2000,

President Clinton announced an effort to encourage more small businesses to offer pensions for

their employees and proposed a 50 percent tax

credit for qualified contributions to employees’

pensions. He also announced plans to create

retirement savings accounts, which would build

on the successful model of individual development accounts (IDAs), extending generous matches to all low- and moderate-income families to

encourage them to save. However, many business

owners say they cannot commit at the beginning

of the year to making a specific level of retirement

contributions at year’s end. The Office of

Advocacy is working with WHCSB delegates and

small business benefits advisors to explore ways of

increasing the flexibility and simplicity of retirement options. Some improvements may be

achievable under present law with minor administrative or regulatory changes by the Internal

Revenue Service. Other enhancements will require

legislation.

One still-unrealized goal of the WHCSB delegates is full deductibility of health insurance costs

for unincorporated businesses and independent

contractors. This objective became more urgent as

health insurance costs began to accelerate in 1999

after several years of relatively small increases. The

1998 omnibus appropriation bill included an

acceleration of 100 percent deductibility to 2003.

Small business advocates have been working to get

Congress to speed up that timetable, and several

bills have been offered to solve this problem more

quickly.

The delegates endorsed the concept of taxadvantaged medical savings accounts (MSAs).

These accounts are personal savings accounts set

aside to pay for medical expenses. A demonstration pilot program for these MSAs was created

through legislation in 1996. Unfortunately, initiating an MSA is complicated. A bill passed the

House of Representatives that would simplify

MSAs. The bill would allow health insurance policies with lower deductibles to qualify, permit both

employers and employees to contribute, allow full

(rather than 65-75 percent) deductibility of savings, and eliminate the deadline of December 31,

2000.

An additional medical savings account demonstration is under way (through 2002) that expands

coverage to Medicare recipients under the Medicare and Choice program.

President Clinton and the Congress have

worked together to improve the welfare-to-work

situation. With a dwindling labor pool, qualified,

trained workers are in demand. The Welfare-toWork Initiative has successfully partnered with

states, local governments, and private industry to

move people off public assistance and into the

work force.

Issue Recommendations 

with No Action

Most of the 1995 WHCSB recommendations have

been considered by one or both of the executive

and legislative branches of government. Policy

discussions on issues important to small business

have benefited from the diverse work of the delegates. Fifty-six of the 60 recommendations have

been implemented in full or in part. However, not

every recommendation has been implemented

fully. Four have had no action.

In the issue area of Main Street, the idea of creating a small business relief fund financed by large

businesses to economically assist small businesses

displaced by large businesses (Recommendation

139) has not been implemented.

In the tax area, two WHCSB recommendations

have not advanced. These were the recommendations that Congress enact legislation preventing it

from raising taxes retroactively (Recommendation

250) and that a two-thirds supermajority vote be

required to enact legislation resulting in a tax

increase (Recommendation 252).

Finally, no activity resulted on a proposal

(Recommendation 105) relating to labor law

reforms creating protections for workers or businesses.

14 ★ THE WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE ON SMALL BUSINESS

Achievements in the

Issue Areas
The implementation process has taken many

forms across the nation. This section details the

regional activities of the delegates to the 1995

White House Conference on Small Business.

15 ★ FINAL IMPLEMENTATION REPORT

Reports from the Regions
The White House Conference delegates left

Washington, D.C., in June of 1995 and began the

task of seeing their recommendations through to

implementation. The state delegations have

employed a variety of means to achieve their

goals.

After receiving the White House Conference on

Small Business Final Report in September 1995,

the WHCSB national implementation chairs designated October 27, 1995 as National White

House Conference Implementation Day. Across

the country, delegates met with their congressional representatives and governors to present the 60

final recommendations in their small business

agenda.

Meetings and conferences modeled on the

WHCSB pattern of issue discussions and delegate

elections took place. Several states published

books or reports about their Washington experiences. Delegates became leaders in both their local

and national business organizations. In every

region, delegates were chosen to represent the

small business community on the small business

regulatory fairness boards established under the

Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness

Act. Two delegates now serve in the United States

House of Representatives. Several others have run

for state office and are serving in their legislatures.

All of the delegates to the 1995 White House

Conference on Small Business are to be congratulated for their commitment. Following is a regional roundup of post-conference activities and

accomplishments.

Region I: Connecticut, Maine,

Massachusetts, New Hampshire,

Rhode Island, Vermont

In the New England region, delegates continue to

promote the issues raised at the conference, and

several have assumed leadership roles in their state

organizations. The Region I implementation chair,

Pat Mellion, serves as an SBA national advisory

council member and is very involved with the

Connecticut advisory council. She and her

Connecticut colleagues work with the state legislature to foster a greater understanding of the small

business agenda. In Maine, Patrick Murphy has

served as an SBA national advisory board member. In Massachusetts, Judith Obermayer became a

member of the regional regulatory fairness board.

In New Hampshire, Jeffrey Pollock, was named

the 1999 Financial Services Advocate of the Year

by SBA. In Rhode Island, Cap Willey, Rhode

Island White House Conference state chair, and

Mark Deion, a very active delegate, continue to

work through their state advisory council to educate the state legislature, the governor, and members of Congress on small business issues. In

Vermont, delegates continue to have a strong

working relationship with Governor Dean and

members of the legislature.

Region II: New Jersey, New York,

Puerto Rico

The Region II delegates have proven to be active

and effective at all levels of government. The

regional chairperson, Jennifer Carey, serves on the

New York Governor’s Small Business Advisory

Committee along with delegate Emma Kounine.

This group works closely to advance small business issues and interests statewide. The New Jersey

delegates continue to work actively for small business at both the state and federal levels. Joy Turner

has remained a dedicated tax advocate for New

Jersey and at the federal level on the White House

Conference on Small Business tax issues. Other

New Jersey delegates have assumed leadership

roles in state and national small business organizations. The Puerto Rico delegates have held several conferences and work closely with the governor to present small business concerns to the legislature. They have used the White House

Conference on Small Business as a springboard to

organize and promote small business throughout

Puerto Rico.

Region III: Delaware, District of

Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania,

Virginia, West Virginia

Delaware was the first state to hold its preliminary

state conference before the White House

Conference on Small Business. Its early consideration of issues subsequently discussed in state conferences throughout the nation helped frame recommendations that eventually were included in

the final report. Of particular interest to the

Delaware delegation was the need for greater

accountability of elected officials to their small

business constituents. An “accountability” recommendation was adopted, and the Delaware small

business community continues to carefully examine the actions of both its state and federal representatives for their potential impact on small business. Members of the Delaware delegation also

have taken a proactive role in small business policy formulation in the state, helping to organize

and staff two subsequent statewide Governor’s

Conferences on Small Business in 1996 and 1997.

Reports from the

Regions

16 ★ FINAL IMPLEMENTATION REPORT
The issues discussed at these conferences included

both recommendations flowing from the White

House Conference and matters of more local

interest. The recommendations developed at the

state conferences continue to guide Delaware policymakers today, and members of the original

White House Conference delegation remain active

in promoting the action agendas at both levels.

The District of Columbia White House

Conference delegation developed a well-deserved

reputation as one of the most active in the nation

in post-conference activities and follow-through

efforts. District delegates continued to meet regularly and, among other activities, organized a successful small business exchange mission to Russia.

A video showcasing this trip, its participants and

their activities was professionally produced by a

delegation member and has been given wide distribution to small business groups and associations considering similar missions. District of

Columbia delegates have testified before the U.S.

Congress and continue to work with local authorities on small business issues. One delegate serves

on the Mid-Atlantic States Regulatory Fairness

Board established by the Small Business

Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act, enacted in

response to the White House Conference on Small

Business.

The Maryland delegation worked extensively

after the White House Conference on Small

Business to take the results and ideas from the

process to the state and local levels. Meetings and

events were held with both the governor’s office

and the state economic development officials.

Individual delegates, including Chairman Bennie

Thayer, continue to promote small business issues

and economic development for the state.

Pennsylvania delegates to the White House

Conference continue to have a special interest in

regulatory affairs. Two delegates serve on the MidAtlantic States Regulatory Fairness Board. Also,

Pennsylvania delegates are currently working with

the commonwealth to establish a regulatory

review process at the state level similar to the regulatory flexibility analysis process at the federal

level. Pennsylvania delegates have also played a

pivotal role in organizing the Pennsylvania Small

Business Conference 2000, a statewide small business conference, which was preceded by two

regional conferences in the Pittsburgh and

Philadelphia areas. As at the White House

Conference, delegates to the Pennsylvania conference formulated a small business action agenda

for the use of policymakers at the state level. All

White House Conference delegates were invited to

participate at the state conference, and they

brought a tremendous amount of experience to

this effort, some having served as delegates to all

three prior White House Conferences.

Virginia delegates to the White House

Conference have continued their small business

advocacy efforts, serving in leadership positions at

both the state and local levels. Of special importance is the Governor’s Small Business Advisory

Board. The board has actively promoted the establishment of a successful small business incubator

program. Delegates have also been instrumental in

developing new programs under the Virginia

Small Business Financing Authority, including a

capital access fund for the disadvantaged. Virginia

delegates are working on developing a regulatory

review process similar to the federal process, and a

Virginia delegate serves on the Mid-Atlantic States

Regulatory Fairness Board. Virginia delegates are

also working with the state government to establish a Virginia business information center,

including toll-free numbers and a Web site devoted to information needed by Virginia businesses.

West Virginia delegates have worked with their

elected representatives to support and enhance a

variety of small business initiatives, including an

award-winning program to provide small technical assistance grants for small businesses in need

of specialized training or consulting services to

deal with regulatory compliance or other problems. Many of these businesses are located in rural

areas where such help is not locally available. West

Virginia delegates have also supported paperwork

reduction legislation and the establishment of a

loan fund to help small businesses comply with

the costs of environmental regulations.

Region IV: Alabama, Florida,

Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi,

North Carolina, South Carolina,

Tennessee

The Region IV implementation and technology

chair, Wanda Gozdz, has worked diligently with

other technology leaders over the past five years

on patent reform, which was passed during the

last legislative session. Ms. Gozdz continues

actively to promote SBIR reauthorization efforts.

The North Carolina delegation continues to

work with the governor and the secretary of commerce on the legislative recommendations that

emerged from the state’s Governor’s Small

Business Conference. The governor and the delegates (Deidre Jersey and Warren Gulko, co-chairs)

received a 1998 Model of Excellence award from

the Office of Advocacy for the state’s small business conference, which was modeled after the

17 ★ THE WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE ON SMALL BUSINESS
White House Conference on Small Business.

Senator John Matthews, Jr., of South Carolina

received a Model of Excellence award at the Office

of Advocacy’s Vision 2000: The States and Small

Business Conference in December 1999. White

House Conference delegates from South Carolina,

North Carolina, Florida, and Tennessee have

served as workshop participants in both the 1998

and 1999 Vision 2000 conferences.

Delegates from the region have continued to

work on national efforts. Jack Oppenheimer of

Florida has worked on tax reform at the national

level. Whitney Johns of Tennessee was installed as

national president of National Association of

Women Business Owners (NAWBO) in 1999. The

Alabama state implementation chair, Synthia

Hardy, currently serves on the National Advisory

Board of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Senator Larry Shaw, a White House Conference

commissioner from North Carolina, Rita Mitchell

of Tennessee, and Robert Clark of South Carolina

have served on the regional regulatory fairness

board.

Region V: Illinois, Indiana,

Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio,

Wisconsin

Thelma Ablan, implementation chairperson,

reports that Region V has been focusing on taxation, technology, and other issues of importance

to businesses in the region. The state delegations

of Region V have been active. In Ohio, the governor held a small business summit in fall 1999; a

majority of the attendees had served as delegates

to the 1995 WHCSB. The Ohio Chamber of

Commerce has a group called the Ohio Small

Business Council; one-third of its membership

were delegates to the WHCSB. John Hexter, Ohio

state chair and member of the regional regulatory

fairness board, and Tom Petrone report that delegates are active in the annual Small Business Day

at the Capitol, the National Federation of

Independent Business conference, and the Small

Business Task Force.

Paul Hense of Michigan relates that he has represented the region in tax policy matters on a

number of occasions. He and his fellow delegates

from other regions have met with Internal

Revenue Service Commissioner Rossotti, Senate

Small Business Committee Chair Kit Bond, House

Small Business Committee Chair James Talent,

and others to further the implementation of the

WHCSB policy recommendations. Hense serves as

chairperson of the tax committee for National

Small Business United (NSBU) and will help to

educate policy makers on the small business community’s areas of interest.

Rob Risser of Michigan reports that his efforts

as regional technology chair have been enhanced

by his membership in the Small Business

Technology Coalition. This group developed by

the technology chairs is formally incorporated as a

national organization and co-located with NSBU.

Risser is able to stay on top of committee responsibilities with the help of the technology committee of the Small Business Association of Michigan

and Mark Clevey, who staffs it.

In Minnesota, Wendell Maddox relates the

activities of the Governor’s Conference on Small

Business. Among the participants were most of

the congressional delegation, as well as members

of the state legislature and staff. The delegates

who attended continue to work on both the original issues and subsequent developments at both

the state and national levels. Maddox reports that

the Governor’s Conference gave the delegates the

impetus needed to develop ongoing relationships

with state and federal policy makers to support

implementation of the 1995 policy recommendations, as well as initiatives that have arisen since

the WHCSB.

Region V delegates continue to rise to leadership positions. Members of the SBA National

Advisory Council include Max Fallek, Harry

Alford, Leni Siker, Ron Hall, Facundo Bravo, Gary

Kushner, Thelma Ablan, and Toby Malichi.

Thelma Ablan also became chairperson of the

regional regulatory fairness board, and John

Hexter, Hazel King, and Don Magett serve as

members.

Region VI: Arkansas, Louisiana,

New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas

Delegates from Region VI remain active and

aggressive in their efforts for small business. In

Louisiana, the chair of the delegation, Ruth Ann

Menutis, led efforts to establish the Center for

Entrepreneurship at the University of New

Orleans. WHCSB delegate Elise McCullough

became president of the Louisiana Women’s

Business Association, entrepreneur in residence at

the Center for Entrepreneurship at the University

of New Orleans, and a member of the regional

regulatory fairness board. She also chairs the New

Orleans Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Small

Business Council.

In Oklahoma, Larry Mocha, Cheryl Cohenour,

Terry Neese, Sheldon Reznik, and other WHCSB

delegates continue to be active with the state legislature on small business issues. They succeeded in

Reports from the 

Regions

18 ★ FINAL IMPLEMENTATION REPORT
urging the governor and the legislature to establish an annual state small business conference.

Mocha also serves on the regional regulatory fairness board and is co-chair of the Oklahoma State

Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business Council.

Cheryl Cohenour serves as an advisor to the city

of Tulsa on environmental issues.

In Arkansas, the delegates work closely with the

lieutenant governor and state legislature. Delegate

Bill Ferren has represented small business on several EPA review panels and is on the state small

business council.

In New Mexico, delegates led by Diane Denish

and Janet Kerley serve on the fairness boards and

EPA review panels.

The Texas delegates, led by Wanda Brice and

David Pinkus, continue to work within the state

groups, Texas Small Business United, and the

National Association of Women Business Owners

in effecting state legislation. They successfully

urged the lieutenant governor to establish state

regional small business councils. Delegate Andy

Lagueruela serves on the board of the Small

Business Alliance for Fair Utility Deregulation.

Region VII: Iowa, Kansas, Missouri,

Nebraska

The delegates from Region VII have remained

committed to the issues they championed during

the 1995 White House Conference on Small

Business. Several regional implementation chairs

continue to participate actively in their respective

areas of expertise. Roy and Edith Quick of

Missouri, the regional tax chairs, have extensive

interaction with the Internal Revenue Service,

congressional committees, and the Office of

Advocacy. Scott George has served on the SBREFA

regulatory fairness board and is chairing his association’s regional advisory council. Judy Meador

publishes columns on a monthly basis featuring

the House and Senate Small Business Committee

chairmen, Senator Kit Bond and Representative

Jim Talent. All delegates stay in contact with these

committees.

Region VIII: Colorado, Montana,

North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah,

Wyoming

White House Conference delegates in Region VIII

have remained active in a variety of state and federal small business issues. For example, Region

VIII tax chair Jim Turner, of Utah, participated in

WHCSB tax policy meetings in Washington, D.C.,

in December 1999. Kristy Schloss, Region VIII

implementation co-chair, was active in Colorado

as an appointed member of the governor’s disparity resolution task force, working on procurement

issues. Ken Heller, also a Region VIII implementation co-chair, participated in a regional meeting of

the Small Business Alliance for Fair Utility

Deregulation as did fellow WHCSB delegates

Glenda Stark of Wyoming and Elaine Demery of

Colorado.

Region IX: Arizona, California,

Guam, Hawaii, Nevada

Region IX has a dynamic and committed group of

WHCSB state delegations. Their efforts following

the WHCSB contributed significantly to the successful implementation of the conference recommendations on both the federal and state levels.

They continue to keep their focus, work hard and

develop practical and innovative solutions to government policies that do not work well for small

business. The following are among the region’s

priority small business issues:

★ Work force development—incentive packages, training in the rapidly changing technological environment, retraining to replace out-of-date

skills, and ensuring small businesses their fair

share of funds available for training.

★ Regulatory fairness—developing legislation

modeled after successful regulatory fairness legislation recently passed by other states, including

Hawaii; providing funding for Regulatory Fairness

Act components, such as the small business

defender; protecting small business interests in the

process of deregulating utilities; and assessing the

impact of environmental legislation on small

business.

★ Small business tax reform—incentives

including 100 percent deductibility of health

insurance premiums for all small business entities

and individuals, and revision of commercial property tax policy.

★ Access to capital—ensuring availability of

capital for women and investment of public and

private pension funds in small business.

★ Other issues—developing the role of small

business in the global market; enhancing procurement opportunities, especially in states where

rules exist that significantly limit the ability of

small businesses to participate; developing a

health care buying pool for small business, which

would be a non-profit organization; Y2K protection from egregious lawsuits.

Federal issues being addressed by delegates in

Region IX include independent contractor status,

19 ★ FINAL IMPLEMENTATION REPORT
OSHA’s proposed rules on ergonomics and health

and safety plans, Y2K compliance costs, and

exploring how the welfare-to-work initiative can

work more effectively.

Region X: Alaska, Idaho, Oregon,

Washington

The Northwest’s elected delegates continue to

work in advancing small business issues both

nationally and locally. They also continue to work

with local press to highlight small business concerns and implementation activities. Many delegates are represented on the region’s regulatory

fairness board.

Alaska had the first designated ACE-Net network operator in Region X. Delegates organized a

widely attended ACE-Net ribbon-cutting event in

Anchorage that featured Senator Ted Stevens and

Chief Counsel for Advocacy Jere Glover. Alaska

delegates serve on Governor Tony Knowles’

Marketing Alaska Task Force and his Small

Business Committee, looking for ways to simplify

access to state business assistance programs and

making recommendations for improvement and

consolidation. One result was the creation of a

“Hub site” for providing information access

through the Internet. Delegates also helped prepare an extensive Technology and Information

Infrastructure Assistance Program (TIIAP) grant

proposal designed to create the Hub site and provide public access terminals in seven remote communities. At the request of the governor, members

of the delegation helped develop a tax incentive

program for small businesses that provides relief

from state unemployment tax in exchange for

equipment purchases and upgrades. Alaska delegation members helped organize several successful

conferences hosted by Senator Ted Stevens. These

included a one-day conference on regulatory

reform with participants from the SBA, OSHA

and EPA, as well as a statewide conference on

doing business with the government. In addition,

delegates helped secure funding from First

National Bank for a five-year Rural Outreach

Program to provide business assistance to native

and rural Alaskans. Delegates were also involved

in the creation of the Alaska Small Business

Development Center’s Rural Outreach Program,

winner of a Model of Excellence award from the

SBA’s Office of Advocacy at the Vision 2000

Conference.

The Idaho team has remained in contact,

focusing their efforts primarily on international

trade and deregulation of telecommunications

and utilities issues. Traditionally, a major challenge for the group has been finding common

ground on issues that both the northern and

southern halves of the state can address. The delegation has used the momentum created by the

White House Conference as a balancing force to

bring the state’s regionally diverse small business

community together. With the election of former

Senator Dirk Kempthorne as governor and the

advent of the Small Business Alliance for Fair

Utility Deregulation, the Idaho team has found

two focal points to fortify their efforts. The delegation is scheduling meetings with the governor’s

office to explore the possibility of establishing a

governor’s small business advisory council and

working together on opening doors to international commerce. The state delegation organized a

Small Business Alliance for Fair Utility

Deregulation meeting in Boise, bringing together

representatives from state, federal, and local governments.

Oregon delegates continue to provide leadership on implementing the remaining WHCSB recommendations. Several have testified before congressional committees and worked closely with

federal agencies to clarify regulations. They also

meet regularly with congressional committee

staffs, particularly the Small Business and Ways

and Means Committees. Delegates continue to

work diligently on implementing important tax

provisions, along with tax chairs from other

regions. One delegate serves as a member of the

small business and self-employed workgroup of

the IRS Advisory Council,. The delegation has

received strong support from the House and

Senate Small Business Committee staffs regarding

a bill they drafted to implement White House

Conferences on Small Business on a regular fouryear cycle. They have also made contact with their

congressional delegation, most recently with

Senator Gordon Smith, to explain how a microenterprise bill will help small businesses. At the

state level, the delegation supported the creation

of the small business advocate position within the

Oregon Economic Development Department.

They also worked to establish a statewide

Governor’s Small Business Council, chaired by

delegate Eric Blackledge. The council was the

recipient of a Vision 2000 State Model of

Excellence Award. The Oregon Emerging Business

Initiative Tax and Policy Group, which is also cochaired by Eric Blackledge, has introduced three

bill concepts that support the WHCSB capital formation goals. Two are modified extenders for the

state research and development tax credit and the

qualified small business capital gain deferral or

rollover. The third bill seeks to create tax advantaged small business investment funds that would

Reports from the

Regions

20 ★ THE WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE ON SMALL BUSINESS
make venture capital investments in Oregon businesses, similar to the Kentucky and North Dakota

models.

The Washington delegation helped organize

the very successful statewide Governor’s

Conference on Small Business, which received a

Vision 2000 State Model of Excellence Award.

Governor Gary Locke hosted the conference,

which brought together more than 400 small business owners who identified 180 issues, which they

reduced to 24 for a final vote. They forwarded the

top 10 recommendations to the governor and legislature for consideration over the next two years.

WHCSB delegates also serve on the Governor’s

Small Business Improvement Council, which is

working on implementation of the state conference recommendations and will provide semiannual reports. Delegates have actively worked

with the governor and the legislature on a bill to

restructure the state’s work force training programs in response to the Federal Work Force

Investment Act. This legislation specifically

includes small business representation on the

oversight board that will become the primary

vehicle for work force policy in the state. In addition to work force training, delegates have advised

the governor and legislature on issues related to

access to capital, telecommunications, regulatory

reform, energy and telephone deregulation, agricultural exports, taxation, and rural economic

development.

21 ★ FINAL IMPLEMENTATION REPORT

23 ★ FINAL IMPLEMENTATION REPORT

Appendix A:

White House Conference

Recommendation Checklist

The matrix on the following pages provides

details on the status of each of the final 60 recommendations of the 1995 White House Conference

on Small Business as of July 2000. The recommendations are listed in alphabetical order by

issues, and within each issue in order of the

National Conference Recommendation Agenda

number that was assigned to it.
White House Conference on Small Business Implementation Checklist

Issue Area No.

1

Recommendation Executive Action Congressional Action 

Capital Formation 5 Encourage pension and retirement

fund investment in small business

The IRS is streamlining the process for obtaining

prohibited transaction class exemptions on investments

of self-directed retirement plan assets.

Legislation passed the House in the 

Congress that would restrict econom

targeted investments.

Capital Formation 9 Bank regulatory reform to encourage

small business lending

The administration has undertaken a comprehensive

effort to lessen the regulatory burden on lending

institutions to increase the credit available to small

business. The Comptroller of the Currency issued

streamlined examination and compliance procedures

for small national banks.

The 104th Congress passed and the

president signed the Economic Gro

and Regulatory Paperwork Reductio

of 1996. Legislation was introduced 

105th Congress that would permit t

Federal Home Loan banks to lend t

businesses. The legislation also wou

permit greater expansion of financi

service industries into banking and

securities.

Capital Formation 14 Increase the availability of growth

capital to small business

The president signed into law revisions to the capital

gains tax provisions for investments in small businesses.

P.L. 106-9, the SBIC Technical

Corrections Act, passed, making the

SBIC program more efficient.

Capital Formation 20 Tax code changes to encourage small

business investment

The president signed P.L. 105-34, the Taxpayer Relief

Act of 1997, and P.L. 104-188, the Small Business Job

Protection Act.

The Congress passed P. L. 105-34 w

(a) lowers the tax on capital gains; (

retains a favorable rate (14 percent) 

help target long-term investment in

qualified small businesses; and (c) a

for the roll-over from one qualified 

business investment to another. P.L

188 reforms and expands S corpora

provisions. The law allows S corpor

to create employee stock ownership 

Capital Formation 24 Small corporate offering registration SBA’s Office of Advocacy assisted the North American

Securities Administrators Association in the drafting

and adoption of a model accredited investor exemption

to facilitate small companies’ sales of securities.

The National Securities Markets

Improvement Act of 1996 directs th

Securities and Exchange Commissio

study and report to Congress on the 

to which uniformity of state regulat

requirements for securities has been

achieved.

Capital Formation 25 Small business loan guarantee

programs

The president signed the Small Business Lending

Enhancement Act of 1995. The SBA worked with the

Congress to overhaul its loan guarantee programs to

allow greater availability of funds without increased

appropriations. Administratively, SBA has worked to

prohibit abuses of the guarantee programs and has

decreased the length of time necessary to process

guarantee applications.

Congress passed the Small Business

Lending Enhancement Act of 1995, 

changed the SBA’s guaranty lending

programs, increasing the availability 

program funds. Congress also passe

Small Business Programs Improvem

Act of 1996.
Issue Area No.

1

Recommendation Executive Action Congressional Action 

Capital Formation 28 Community Reinvestment Act rating

includes small business lending

The administration and the banking regulators have

revised regulations to implement the Community

Reinvestment Act (CRA). The regulations include

greater emphasis on small business lending and require

large financial institutions to collect small business

lending data. Implementation of these new regulations

took place on January 1, 1996.

No action. 

Community

Development

31 Federal measures to address

distressed urban and rural areas

The president signed the HUBZone Act. The

administration has pursued and endorsed policies to

support distressed rural and urban areas, including the

New Markets Initiative.

Congress passed P.L. 105-135, the

HUBZone Act .

Community

Development

34 Expand the home office deduction The president signed the Taxpayer Relief Act, which

expands the home office deduction, on August 5, 1997.

Congress passed P.L. 105-34, the Ta

Relief Act of 1997, which redefines 

“principle place of business” as the 

where essential administrative and

managerial functions occur.

Community

Development

41 The Department of Education and the

SBA should create a K–12

entrepreneurship education program

The administration’s School-to-Work Opportunities

Initiative creates partnerships between educators,

businesses and communities to achieve much of this

recommendation.

The School-to-Work Act passed Co

and was signed into law by the pres

May 1994.

Community

Development

44 Congress should prevent the direct or

indirect use of federal funds to lure

business into a state from another

state

Not applicable—requires legislation. No current legislation. H.R. 1842

introduced in 104th Congress.

Environmental

Policy

51 Sound science, risk assessment, health

and cost benefit analysis applied to all

regulations

The administration has made a concerted effort to make

regulations user-friendly, based on the best information

available, and less punitive in nature, and to provide

compliance assistance.

Legislation is pending that addresse

of this recommendation.

Environmental

Policy

57 Environmental legislation’s impact on

private property, i.e., takings,

wetlands, brownfields

Requires legislative action. The administration opposes

pending takings proposals because of their impact on

vital protections and the budget, preferring to protect

private property interests by reinventing individual

regulatory programs where consistent with

environmental and other protections, including

simplifying wetlands policy.

In the 104th Congress, legislation p

the House to address takings.

Environmental

Policy

63 Superfund reform The administration has promulgated reforms to the

Superfund program that address sound science, remedy

selection, lender liability and de minimis and

de micromis settlements.

H.R. 2247, the Small Business Supe

Fairness Act introduced.

S. 8 introduced in January 1997.
White House Conference on Small Business Implementation Checklist

Issue Area No.

1

Recommendation Executive Action Congressional Action 

Environmental

Policy

74 Uniform enforcement of

environmental statutes and

regulations

The administration is committed to the uniform

enforcement of environmental statutes and regulations.

No legislation required. 

Human Capital 78 100 percent health care deduction for

all business entities

President Clinton signed P.L. 105-277, accelerating the

increase to 100 percent deductibility for the selfemployed to 2003.

Congress passed the 1998 Omnibus

Budget Reconciliation bill, which

accelerates to 2003 increasing the

deduction to 100 percent.

Human Capital 87 Health care reform President Clinton signed the Balanced Budget Act of

1997 to expand the medical savings account pilot

project to Medicare recipients and to expand portability

and health care coverage to children of poor families.

In 106th Congress, H.R. 614 was

introduced, expanding MSA covera

Human Capital 91 Pension reform President Clinton signed P.L. 105-34, the Taxpayer

Relief Act of 1997, which increased eligibility for IRAs.

President Clinton signed the Small Business Job

Protection Act of 1996. The president proposed

simplified defined benefit plans as part of his 1999

budget, which included tax credits for small businesses

that start pension plans.

In 106th

 

Congress, H.R. 1102, a new

pension reform proposal, passed th

House. It simplifies pensions for sm

businesses and increases contributi

levels.

Human Capital 103 Ensure small, women- and minorityowned firms are afforded equal

opportunities

The administration is looking at ways to expand the

definition of minority small business programs to be

more inclusive. The Department of Transportation

agreed to accept DOT’s certification of minority

contractors into SBA’s minority business programs. 

Additionally, the president signed Executive Order

13157 to increase procurement opportunities for

women-owned small businesses.

Legislation passed to increase the sm

business goal from 20 percent to 23

percent.

In 106th Congress, House Small Bu

Committee passed H.R. 4897 to pro

set-asides for women-owned busine

selected industries.

Human Capital 105 Labor law reform Some parts of this recommendation are current law and

are enforced as such: the use of the Racketeer

Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), the

legal responsibility of unions and their officials for

criminal acts, and the application of civil rights

provisions to unions.

No action 

Human Capital 203 Reform of the National Labor

Relations Act

Current law protects small businesses from abuses and

intimidation practices by organized labor.

H.R. 3246, the Fairness for Small Bu

and Employees Act of 1998 would l

playing field for small businesses, sm

unions, and employees.

Human Capital 324 Privatize Social Security The president and Congress continue to discuss

structural changes to the Social Security system.

Discussions in this area continue. 
Issue Area No.

1

Recommendation Executive Action Congressional Action 

Human Capital 336 Consolidate federal work force

programs into state block grants

Since 1996, President Clinton’s welfare-to-work

initiative has successfully partnered with private

industry and the states to move people from welfare to

the work force.

Congress passed the Personal

Responsibility and Work Opportun

Reconciliation Act giving states mo

control over welfare funds.

International Trade 115 Intellectual property protection President Clinton signed P.L. 106-113 on November 29,

1999. This bill strengthens the patent process and

makes the system sensitive to small business needs.

The American Inventors Protection 

1999 passed the Congress.

International Trade 121 Export assistance for small business TradeNet Export Advisor is a one-stop online

information resource at www.tradenet.gov. The SBA

operates export assistance centers (jointly supported by

the SBA, the Export-Import Bank and the Department

of Commerce) that offer one-stop export assistance to

small businesses.

No action. 

International Trade 129 Export finance Legislation required. SBA’s export working capital and

international trade loan programs provide pre-export

and export finance.

No action. 

Main Street 130 Legal rights of franchisees, dealers,

and product distributors

The FTC’s franchise rule is currently under review; the

FTC published an advance notice of proposed

rulemaking on disclosure requirements of franchise

opportunities.

H.R. 3308, the Small Business Fran

Act of 1999, was introduced and ref

to committee.

Main Street 134 Remove the barriers to small firms

mediating, arbitrating, or litigating in

their home states

Not applicable—legislation required. See above—H.R. 3308. 

Main Street 139 Create a relief fund to assist small

businesses displaced by large

businesses

Not applicable—legislation required. No action 

Main Street 140 Private sector “all risk” property

insurance program

Not applicable—legislation required. No current legislation. 

Main Street 141 Antitrust laws should be examined

and strengthened

The SBA’s Office of Advocacy sponsored a conference

on industrial structure. FTC has stepped up its efforts

in investigating antitrust violations and negotiating

consent agreements. DOJ has strengthened its criminal

antitrust enforcement efforts.

No action 

Procurement 144 Prohibit government and tax-exempt

organizations from competing with

small firms

The president signed the 1998 FAIR Act, the Federal

Activities Inventory Reform Act, as P.L. 105-270. The

administration issued a revision of the A-76 circular to

protect businesses, including small businesses, from

unfair government competition.
White House Conference on Small Business Implementation Checklist

Issue Area No.

1

Recommendation Executive Action Congressional Action 

Procurement 153 Establish a national organization to

develop uniform certification criteria

for small-, disadvantaged-, and

women-owned firms

The administration is reviewing a possible certification

process.

No action 

Procurement 161 8(a) program reforms The administration strongly supports policies oriented

toward diversity and fair economic opportunity. The

SBA initiated a “delegation of authority” pilot with

other agencies to streamline the 8(a) program. SBA’s

PRO-Net, an Internet-based information system and

marketing tool for 8(a) participants, is operational.

No action. 

Procurement 164 Repeal the Davis-Bacon and Service

Contract Acts

The administration supports reform of the Davis-Bacon

Act, but strongly opposes repeal of the Davis-Bacon and

Service Contract Acts.

Legislation is not likely. 

Procurement 167 Strengthen the Prompt Payment Act Legislation required. The administration is examining

options to provide payment relief to small firms. OMB

issued policy letters to Federal agency heads outlining

the importance of the act and the agencies’ obligations.

No action 

Procurement 360 Increase opportunities for all small

businesses to participate equitably in

federal procurement

SBA and the Office of Federal Procurement Policy are

developing a small business set-aside pilot for service

task-order contracts. Commerce Business Daily

automated and procurement opportunities are available

on the Internet. The administration increased the

government-wide procurement goal to 23 percent.

Bundling regulations are implemented.

In 106th Congress, the House Smal

Business Committee approved H.R

to stop agencies from bundling con

P.L. 105-135 was signed, making th

percent procurement goal a statutor

requirement. Also established HUB

The 104th Congress passed the Fed

Acquisition Reform Act of 1996.

Procurement 437 Congress and the president should

respond to the Adarand v. Peña

decision with strong support for

women- and minority-owned firms

The administration strongly supports policies oriented

toward diversity and fair economic opportunity. The

Department of Justice is currently reviewing all

minority preference programs in order to comply with

the Adarand decision. The president and OFPP support

the 8(a) program and diversity in federal contract

markets with policy statements sent to all agency heads.

No action 

Regulation and

Paperwork

183 Regulatory reform, including judicial

review of federal regulations

The president signed the Small Business Regulatory

Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 (SBREFA). It

provides for full judicial review of agency compliance in

developing certifications and regulatory flexibility

analyses.

Regulatory reform legislation, P.L. 

121, The Small Business Regulatory

Enforcement Fairness Act, passed in 

104th Congress.
Issue Area No.

1

Recommendation Executive Action Congressional Action 

Regulation and

Paperwork

188 Periodic review of all regulations,

simplify and eliminate regulations,

and provide single source of

regulatory information

Implementation of the Small Business Regulatory

Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 is taking place

throughout the federal agencies.

Regulatory reform legislation passed 

104th Congress. H.R. 852, the Pape

Elimination Act, passed the House.

Regulation and

Paperwork

194 Change the nature of the federal

government’s enforcement of

regulations

SBREFA establishes a small business ombudsman and

10 regional boards to monitor enforcement of federal

rules.

Regulatory reform legislation passed 

104th Congress.

Regulation and

Paperwork

200 Tort reform The president signed P.L. 106-37 to establish

procedures for civil actions resulting from Y2K failures.

The Congress passed P.L. 106-37

concerning Y2K damages.

Regulation and

Paperwork

369 Reform of OSHA OSHA has adopted variations of many of the proposals

in this recommendation: voluntary compliance audits

are conducted and some companies are eligible for

relief; if an employer has an effective safety and health

program, the employer is eligible for an abbreviated

inspection; with good faith efforts by the employer,

OSHA considers employee fault a viable defense against

citations; OSHA is preparing better guidance on how to

comply with its regulations. OSHA has new small

business outreach program.

OSHA reform legislation was introd

in both the House and the Senate.

Taxation 214 100 percent tax deduction for meals

and entertainment expenses

Legislation required. The administration has, however,

raised from $25 to $75 the amount of expenses for

which a receipt is needed to claim a deduction.

Legislation failed in the104th Cong

permit a 100 percent deduction. Th

Congress passed and the president s

legislation that permits meal and tra

deductions for owners (truck driver

required to stop operating under

Department of Transportation 

restrictions.

Taxation 218 Estate taxes Current repeal legislation awaiting decision.

President Clinton signed P.L. 105-34, which includes

some estate tax reform

In 106th Congress, legislation passe

repeal the estate tax.

The Congress passed the Taxpayer R

Act of 1997, which includes major e

tax reform.

Taxation 224 Clarify the tax definition of

independent contractors

The IRS has taken several administrative steps to clarify

the rules on worker classification and to resolve any

remaining issues more expeditiously. The IRS issued a

clarifying training manual that equalizes enforcement.

The IRS also established new procedures to improve

decision ruling and permit the expeditious resolution of

remaining problems. President Clinton signed the Small

Business Job Protection Act of 1996, which shifts the

burden of proof to the IRS regarding classification

disputes.

Congress passed the Small Business 

Protection Act of 1996. Legislation 

introduced in Congress that would 

the definition of independent contr

but the Senate took no action on th
White House Conference on Small Business Implementation Checklist

Issue Area No.

1

Recommendation Executive Action Congressional Action 

Taxation 229 Replace the present tax system with a

simple tax for individuals and business

President Clinton signed P. L. 105-34, the Taxpayer

Relief Act of 1997, which helps simplify taxes by cutting

back for small businesses the alternative minimum tax

(AMT). Small corporations (those with gross receipts

under $5 million) will no longer need to calculate the

AMT. This provision effectively exempts about 95

percent of all corporations (more than 2 million

businesses) from needless and complex paperwork.

Congress passed the Taxpayer Relie

1997.

Taxation 233 Increase expensing up to $250,000 for

the purchase of equipment by small

businesses

President Clinton signed the Small Business Job

Protection Act of 1996, which increases the expensing

allowance to $25,000.

Expensing increases passed as part o

Small Business Job Protection Act o

Taxation 242 Capital gains tax treatment for small

business

President Clinton signed P.L. 105-34, the Taxpayer

Relief Act of 1997, which contained extensive capital

gains relief (see Congressional Action column). Also,

the IRS adopted regulations that make redemption

possible and thereby make it easier to qualify for special

tax treatment.

Congress passed general capital gain

relief: effective July 22, 1997, capita

taxes are reduced from 28 percent t

percent on property held for at leas

months. With respect to targeted ca

gains on small business stock, the 1

percent rate is retained and the law

reduces the share subject to minimu

to 42 percent. Also, an individual in

can roll over gains from an investm

qualified small business stock held f

least six months into another qualif

stock tax-free.

Taxation 250 Prohibit retroactive increases in taxes Not applicable—legislation required. Unless a constitutional amendment 

passed and ratified, no Congress can 

a future Congress to any legislation

Taxation 252 Require 2/3 super-majority vote of

Congress to raise taxes

Not applicable—legislation required. Legislation failed to pass. 

Taxation 253 Cap employer’s portion of payroll

taxes

The administration has no proposals to raise payroll

taxes.

S. 579 and H.R. 1333 revise payroll 

but the Congress took no floor actio
Issue Area No.

1

Recommendation Executive Action Congressional Action 

Taxation 385 Tax equity: uniformly apply tax law to

all forms of business with regard to

rates, deductions, and exclusions

President Clinton signed P.L. 105-34. The

administration has supported pension reform, the

broadening of subchapter S, increases in the selfemployed health care deduction, and a simple business

form selection process, most of which were enacted as

part of the Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996.

Congress passed the Small Business 

Protection Act of 1996. Congress pa

and the president signed the Taxpay

Relief Act, P.L. 105-34, which resto

home office deduction.

Taxation 390 Enact a comprehensive capital gains

tax policy that encourages long term

investment

President Clinton signed P.L. 105-34, the Taxpayer

Relief Act of 1997, which provides for the rollover of

gain from one qualifying stock to another. The

administration’s 1993 economic plan established a

targeted 50 percent capital gains tax exclusion for

certain new investments in small business and rollovers

into specialized small business investment companies.

The administration recently adopted regulations to ease

redemption restrictions.

Congress passed general capital gain

relief: With respect to targeted capit

gains on small business stock, the 1

percent rate is retained and the law

reduces the share subject to minimu

to 42 percent. Also, an individual in

can roll over gains from an investm

qualified small business stock held f

least six months into another qualif

stock tax-free.

Technology 265 Development of all telecommunications markets to full and fair

competition with increased choices for

customer products and services and

the promotion of universal service.

Development of the National/Global

Information Infrastructure (NII/GII),

implementation of enforceable and

universal measures to legally protect

intellectual property rights (patent,

trademark, and copyright) over the

NII/GII, as well as fair access, with all

members of World Trade Organization.

President Clinton signed the Telecommunications Act,

which opens telecommunications markets to

competition. The FCC has issued a number of

landmark proceedings to implement this law.

The Department of Commerce has completed a report

on intellectual property and the National Information

Infrastructure that will guide U.S. policy. The

administration is supporting legislation to simplify the

process of obtaining global intellectual property

protection.

Per the directive of President Clinton, the Department

of Commerce, National Telecommunications and

Information Administration (NTIA), initiated a

proceeding to privatize the domain name registration

system for the Internet. As a result, the management of

Internet domain names will be by a not-for-profit entity

formed by the private sector, the Internet Corporation

for Assigned Names and Numbers.

Legislation was passed in the 104th

Congress to implement the

recommendations regarding

telecommunications. A bill passed t

House that would revamp patent law

Senate bill was under consideration

3849 and S. 442, The Internet Tax

Freedom Act, was voted out of com

The Anti-Slamming Act,

S. 1618, passed the Senate 99–0, H.

was voted out of subcommittee. Th

Digital Slamming Act, H.R. 4176, is

pending. The Telephone Slamming

Prevention and Internet Connectio

H.R. 2112, is pending. The Senate p

Universal Service, S. Amdt. 3228.

Technology 406 Expand technology commercialization

funding and investment for small

innovative companies

The SBA’s Office of Advocacy, in consultation with the

Securities and Exchange Commission and state

securities regulators, implemented ACE-Net, a national

Internet listing of small business securities. The

administration has dramatically expanded the

Manufacturing Extension Partnership, which assists

America’s 380,000 small manufacturing firms.

The 104th Congress reauthorized th

Small Business Technology Transfe

Research program for one year. The

Telecommunications Development 

was created by the Telecommunicat

Act of 1996.
White House Conference on Small Business Implementation Checklist

Issue Area No.

1

Recommendation Executive Action Congressional Action 

Unclassified 280 Balance the federal budget President Clinton signed into law the Balanced Budget

Act of 1997 as part of the budget reconciliation bill. The

measure provides for a balanced federal budget by 2002.

The U.S. government reached a sizeable surplus in FY

1998.

Congress passed the Balanced Budg

of 1997.

Unclassified 286 Future of the Small Business

Administration

The administration is committed to the small business

community. President Clinton has given the SBA

administrator Cabinet-level status. The president’s FY

2001 budget request for SBA is $1.06 billion.

House and Senate actions under wa

FY 2001 SBA appropriations.

S.1346 ensures the independence of 

Office of Advocacy.

Unclassified 287 Convene a White House Conference on

Small Business (WHCSB) every four

years

Not applicable—legislation required. The administration will support legislation if introduced to authorize

another WHCSB.

S.1111, the National Conference on 

Business Act, was the topic of a Sen

Small Business Committee roundta

Unclassified 288 Monitoring the results of the White

House Conference on Small Business

recommendations

As directed by the president, the SBA and the Office of

Advocacy have monitored and reported on the results

of the White House Conference on Small Business.

WHCSB authorizing legislation ma

that SBA report to Congress on pro

annually for three years.

1. National Conference Recommendation Agenda number.

2. Recommendations being addressed in whole or in part are considered “in progress.”

 In-progress recommendations may have portions that are substantially completed.

 Recommendations are considered “completed” only if the intent or the specific

 recommendation (or its subparts) is fulfilled.
This appendix contains the full text of the 60 

recommendations of the 1995 White House

Conference on Small Business. As decided by the

delegates, the recommendations are not rank

ordered by the number of votes the recommendations received. Instead, they are listed here in

alphabetical order by issue area, and within each

issue in order of the National Conference

Recommendation Agenda number that was

assigned to it.

Capital Formation

5. In order to increase the availability of capital

for small business, Congress shall:

(a) Authorize the SEC or an appropriate entity

to create or streamline regulations and vehicles for

public and small and large private company pensions, profit sharing, 401(k) plans, individual

IRAs, Keogh and SEP Plans to invest in small

businesses by accessing the private capital markets

and encouraging development of viable markets

for small-business loans.

(b) Modify current legislation to facilitate the

ability of an individual to invest up to 50 percent

of his or her own self-directed and/or managed

qualified plans including profit sharing, 401(k)

plans, individual IRAs, Keogh and SEP Plans in a

specific small business(es) of his/her own choice.

These funds could be used as a direct investment

or as collateral to obtain debt financing. (votes

received: 1,279)

Capital Formation 

9. Banks are too highly regulated and restrictions

on lending to small businesses are too severe. To

increase the amount of small-business lending

(and create thousands of jobs) we propose: (a)

small-business loans should be reviewed collectively based on institutions’ overall loan delinquency ratios, and (b) relaxing of collateral and

income to debt ratio requirements allowing banks

to make smaller loans based on character, personal background and creditworthiness, such as those

loans permitted pursuant to the loan-basket

guidelines under the capital availability program.

Also, Congress should enact or amend legislation

to direct the Comptroller of the Currency and

other examining authorities to allow banks, especially community banks, to invest more readily in

small business through no-cost, low-cost incentives, such as:

(a) Directing bank regulatory agencies to

reduce paperwork commensurate with loan size;

(b) Reduce the number of federal agencies regulating banking through consolidation and coordination;

(c) Allow government deposits to be placed in

a bank based on the percentage of that bank’s

portfolio that is placed in small-business loans.

(votes received: 1,275) 

Capital Formation

14. To increase the availability of growth capital to

invest in small businesses, Congress should:

(a) Further privatize the Small Business

Investment Company (SBIC) program, now

administered by the SBA, by creating a new, government-sponsored, but privately managed, corporation named Venture Capital Marketing

Association (or “Vickie Mae”), which would function similarly to the Federal National Mortgage

Association (Fannie Mae);

(b) Extend the capital gains tax deferral currently afforded investments rolled into Specialized

Small Business Investment Companies (SSBICs)

to include investments in SBICs to encourage

more investment in new SBICs;

(c) Remove barriers to pension funds, foundations and endowments wishing to invest in SBICs

and SSBICs; eliminate the “unrelated business taxable income” (UBTI) tax on all such activities; and

(d) Reduce the minimum capital size requirements for establishing SBICs owned by regulated

financial institutions, thereby encouraging them

to provide equity to small businesses provided

that no leverage is utilized by such SBICs until

current minimum capitalization for leverage is

achieved. (votes received: 1,009)

Capital Formation 

20. Congress should support the investment in

small businesses by:

(a) Establishing a tax-free rollover provision

for the gains on sale of assets or ownership interests in a small business that are reinvested or

rolled over into another small business within one

year.

33 ★ FINAL IMPLEMENTATION REPORT

Appendix B:

The 60 Recommendations

of the 1995 White House

Conference on Small Business
(b) Amending Code Section 1202, which is legislation excluding 50 percent of all capital gains

from income, to extend its benefits to S Corporations and Limited Liability Companies by

defining a “qualified small business” to include C

Corporations and the other two entities, and

extend the definition of a “qualified trade or business” under Section 1202 to all businesses.

(c) Enacting tax legislation to allow tax deductions against ordinary income for investments in

small business. (votes received: 672)

Capital Formation 

24. The Small Corporate Offering Registration

(SCOR) was meant to be a means for self reliant

small business owners to raise equity capital with

a minimum of professional assistance (legal and

accounting services) and the lowest origination

costs. To facilitate the use of SCORs, we propose

that the SEC/Congress raise the $1 million per

year ceiling to $5 million, remove limits on the

number of investors, allow for “tombstone advertising” of stock offerings and fund educational

programs for investors and issuers to be administered at state and local levels. A greater degree of

uniformity of state laws or reciprocity between

states would be encouraged by the SEC through

granting educational grants to states that accomplish this goal. (votes received: 1,027)

Capital Formation

25. Comprehensive Federally Guaranteed

Financing Reform: Congress shall continue to

appropriate funds for the Small Business

Administration Loan Guarantee programs, while

focusing on the following:

(a) Prohibit excessive abuses in the over-collateralization of all federally guaranteed loan programs.

(b) Establish criteria that would allow greater

access to all federally guaranteed loan programs.

(c) Increase the SBA loan guarantee programs

from their current level of $750,000 to $1,000,000.

(d) Require only primary owners (not passive

investors) to make personal guarantees on federally guaranteed loans.

(e) Increase the number of non-bank lenders

(SBLC) eligible to process SBA loans.

(f) Require all federally guaranteed loans be

processed in a timely manner. (votes received:

784)

Capital Formation 

28. Congress should require that federal agencies

evaluate the performance of financial institutions

under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA)

on the basis of such institutions’ efforts to meet

the credit and banking needs of small businesses

in their communities. In making such evaluations,

those financial institutions that extend credit to

small businesses without the support of government loan guarantees should be rated higher than

those institutions that simply participate in SBA,

FaHA and other guarantee programs, and/or purchase government-insured loans and loan pools.

Further, Congress should direct such federal agencies to issue a separate rating of each financial

institution’s CRA performance relative to small

business (as opposed to the current practice of

issuing one rating for overall CRA performance

with respect to the entire community). (votes

received: 554)

Community Development

31. Congress should enact legislation and the

Administration should implement a process so

that community and economic development programs could be maximized in distressed urban

and rural areas by:

(a) Creating a “most favored” community status;

(b) Continuing and enhancing the SBA microloan program;

(c) Vigorously enforcing the Community

Reinvestment Act with special efforts placed on

elimination of redlining;

(d) Providing economically oriented incentives

such as abatement of federal income taxes to

encourage the service/retail industry and other

small businesses to locate and expand in these

areas;

(e) continuing to emphasize small, non-traditional financial institutions, and women and

minority-owned business participation. (votes

received: 949)

Community Development

34. Congress should further legitimize homebased business and restore the home-office tax

deduction by reversing the effect of the 1993

Soliman decision, which requires that:

(a) Clients physically visit a home office; and,

(b) Business income be generated within the

home office.

This would again allow essential administrative, operational and/or management tasks to

qualify a home office as the “principal place of

business.” (votes received: 1,239)

Community Development

41. The U.S. Department of Education in cooperation with the U.S. Small Business Administration

should work constructively to encourage the

future growth of small business enterprises by

The 60

Recommendations

of the 1995 White

House Conference

on Small Business

34 ★ THE WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE ON SMALL BUSINESS
promoting entrepreneurship education across

America’s school systems (K – Adult Education).

It would be accomplished in the following manner.

(a) A comprehensive school-based youth entrepreneurship program that creates real world business exposure and mentorships would be developed and implemented.

(b) The program would be under the auspices

of the Department of Education and funded by

grants through public/private partnerships.

(c) All funds would be matched one to one in

the community served by the program.

(d) Businesses would receive tax incentives for

financially supporting the entrepreneurship training programs in their area. (votes received: 1,035)

Community Development

44. Efforts of an individual state or municipality

to benefit its local economy should not be made

at the expense of other states or municipalities

and at the peril of the strength of the entire economy. It should be the interest of the Congress to

benefit the economic security of all the citizens of

the United States by working to provide the

resources to expand the economy nationwide.

Therefore, Congress should ban the direct or indirect utilization of federal funds of any kind,

including subsidies, grants, bonds or tax-exempt

financing that funds, in whole or in part, any special tax, infrastructure improvement and/or

financing incentive by any state or municipality to

lure existing jobs and businesses from one location to another. (votes received: 598)

Environmental Policy

51. Congress shall mandate a complete review of

current laws and regulations relating to public

health and safety, energy and the environment,

such as the Resource Conservation and Recovery

Act, Clean Water Act, and Clean Air Act,

Endangered Species Act, and National

Environmental Policy Act. This mandated review

shall be completed within six months.

Before Congress passes laws to be regulated

through the EPA and any other agency, which

require specific technology and/or procedures for

protecting the environment, the agency(ies) must

conduct a cost-benefit analysis on a dynamic-basis

model and ensure that the particular regulation is

based on sound science. For any proposed regulation, said agency shall have six months to complete the cost-benefit analysis prior to implementation. In addition, regulations shall include a

funding mechanism that will facilitate compliance

and be enforceable on a site-specific basis. All

costs shall be allowed to be expensed within the

current year. The regulated community shall be

included in any cost-benefit analysis.

Where natural conditions exist, compliance

based on technical expertise should be accepted as

conforming to the intent of the regulation.

Regulations should take into consideration sitespecific conditions or future use. Any disputes

about implementation must be subject to a nongovernmental peer group review board. Voluntary

environmental audit privilege and disclosure shall

release the party(ies) from administrative, civil,

and/or criminal penalties (so long as non-compliance is not caused by gross negligence or willful

misconduct) when the disclosing entity initiates

actions to comply within a reasonable time. No

fines can be used to fund the fining agency.

Congress shall mandate EPA and any other

agencies to review existing and new regulations to

ensure that they adhere to the same standards as

outlined in this document. All existing and proposed regulations must not create duplication of

enforcement. There shall be no retroactive liabilities. Additionally, the fining ability of the EPA

shall be revoked.

Federal agencies regulating environmental matters must make sure that current science, realistic

risk assessments, net health analysis, and cost benefit analysis shall apply in order to reduce, condense and/or eliminate regulations, prohibit

abuse, allow adequate time to correct, and hold

government and its employees accountable. (votes

received: 1,342)

Environmental Policy

57. Federal policy regarding use of private property within the context of environmental issues

should be reviewed and substantially revised.

EPA- and state-related penalties should be

reviewed to confirm that the real potential for

environmental harm, risk assessment, and costbenefit analysis are used in land use decisions. The

issues of takings, wetlands, and brownfields

should receive special attention, as articulated

below.

Takings

Any governmental action, law, or regulation that

deprives a property owner of value or benefits of

his or her private property shall constitute a “taking” for which said property owner shall be entitled to full “fair market value” compensation.

Specifically, government should examine the economic impact before property is taken and prohibit the taking of property without just compensation.

Wetlands

Congress should direct the following changes in

wetlands laws and regulations:

35 ★ FINAL IMPLEMENTATION REPORT
(a) If regulations affect a property use after it is

acquired, the property owner should be compensated.

(b) The Army Corps of Engineers should have

exclusive jurisdiction over Section 404.

(c) Use-based regulations should be encouraged based on relative importance of a wetland to

the local environment.

(d) A statutory definition of wetlands should

be adopted using saturation at start of a growing

season as a criterion.

Brownfields

Congress should enact legislation to encourage

reuse of industrial land as follows:

(a) Direct EPA to specify the circumstances

under which it would or would not sue a business

that is involved with a state-approved reclamation

project.

(b) For brownfield projects in which cleanup is

commensurate with the intended use, EPA should

be required to enter into binding agreements with

the parties that no future federal action will be

taken. (votes received: 1,118)

Environmental Policy

63. Congress should enact reformation of the

Comprehensive Environmental Response,

Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) to

apply prospectively as well as retroactively to

cleanup sites in progress:

(a) Eliminate retroactive and strict liability

prior to January 1, 1987, to prohibit liability for

conduct that was not negligent, illegal, or in violation of regulations or permits at the time.

(b) Require sound science and realistic risk

assessments and cost/benefit analysis in assessing

health and environmental hazards at waste sites.

(c) Require sound science and realistic risk

assessments and cost/benefit analysis in establishing cleanup standards. This would include realistic

consideration of future uses of the site and actual

environmental and health risks associated with

such use.

(d) Eliminate “re-openers” — disallowing the

reopening of the remediation process at a site or a

company’s contribution to the cleanup, after it has

been closed.

(e) Offer alternative funding strategies for

cleanups.

(f) Make greater use of de minimis and de

micromis exemptions, requiring the EPA to identify

all contributions to a site within a reasonable time

period and making de minimis settlements available

prior to litigation or enforcement actions.

(g) Eliminate liability of fiduciaries and lending institutions who hold indicia of ownership

primarily to protect security interest in property

which is subject to the act.

(h) Eliminate joint and several liability for contamination.

(i) Require potentially responsible parties

(PRPs) to inform non-PRPs (parties not named

by the EPA) in contribution actions of availability

of de minimis and/or de micromis settlements

within a reasonable time period. (votes received:

1,371)

Environmental Policy

74. Congress should adopt changes in environmental statutes and regulations to assure that they

are internally consistent for all requirements of

the acts across all regions. Congress should

require the EPA to demonstrate that enforcement

of environmental laws and regulations is substantially equal in all areas of the country. The Clean

Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered

Species Act, and other such acts should be

enforced equitably across all regions. (votes

received: 911)

Human Capital

78. Congress shall enact a 100-percent deduction

for health care premiums for all business entities

so that there is equity in taxation for the selfemployed, partnerships, S Corporations, limited

liability corporations, and C Corporations. This

benefit shall continue to be excluded for tax purposes from the income of employees of all small

businesses regardless of form, including from the

income of the self-employed. (votes received:

1,283)

Human Capital

87. Congress should pass a health care package

that:

(a) Creates tax deductible medical savings

accounts.

(b) Allows the formation of voluntary competitive health insurance purchasing cooperatives.

(c) Eliminates discriminatory health insurance

practices such as redlining or cancellation of coverage for reasons other than non-payment or

fraud.

(d) Allows for insurability once pre-existing

conditions have been satisfied.

(e) Provides for portability of health insurance.

(f) Provides a full 100 percent deductibility of

health care costs for all purchasers or limits the

deduction to the same percentage for all purchasers.

(g) Provides medical malpractice reform.

(h) Prohibits any mandated coverage.

(i) Permits choice of health care insurer. (votes

received: 1,371)

The 60

Recommendations

of the 1995 White

House Conference

on Small Business

36 ★ THE WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE ON SMALL BUSINESS
Human Capital

91. Congress should repeal current disincentives

and burdensome regulations on qualified retirement plans and IRAs, and encourage adequate

retirement savings and capital accumulation,

including:

(a) Adopt a pension simplification bill, which

contains the voluntary 401(k) safe harbors, such

as H.R. 13 and H.R. 3419.

(b) Raise compensation and benefit levels to

1992 limits and index for inflation.

(c) Provide an exclusion from estate tax for

retirement plan and IRA assets to avoid double

fitaxation (they are already subject to income tax).

(d) Eliminate the 15 percent excise tax of IRC

Section 4980A.

(e) Repeal the family aggregation rules of IRC

Section 414(q)(6).

(f) Reinstate deductible IRAs and expand to

include non-employed spouses in full.

(g) Expand SARSEPs to employers with up to

100 employees.

(h) Repeal the minimum participation rules of

IRC Section 401(a)(26) for defined contribution

plans.

(i) Lower the Qualified Separate Line of

Business exception to 15 employees.

(j) Increase the exceptions to the affiliated service group rules and include a minimum 20-percent ownership test for “A” organizations.

(k) Repeal all defined benefit plan rules enacted after 1985.

(l) Amend section 72(p) of the IRC on pension

plan loans to: (1) allow for plan loans by proprietorships and partnerships; (2) increase the plan

loan balance to $100,000; and (3) allow for balloon payments in lieu of quarterly payments if the

loan is secured by the participant’s account balance. (votes received: 1,369)

Human Capital

103. The President and Congress must support

the principle of equal opportunity, which is provided for in the U.S. Constitution. Small, womenowned, and minority-owned companies are entitled to equal consideration in banking, lending,

bonding, contracting, and hiring. Laws designed

to address these disparities cannot be abolished or

restricted. Congress and the President should

adopt the following principles under the recommendations of the White House Conference on

Small Business:

(a) Government policy should be oriented

toward diversity and fair economic opportunity

that stimulates competition, increases productivity, creates jobs, and saves taxpayer dollars, thereby

benefiting all Americans.

(b) There should be rigorous enforcement of

this policy, including sanctions against fraud and

abuse.

(c) There should be periodic review to ensure

compliance with this policy. (votes received: 949)

Human Capital

105. Congress should pass legislation assuring

that no business or worker would be discriminated against on any contract based solely on their

choice not to be affiliated with a labor union or

organization, and ensuring the competition of a

trained qualified labor pool without undue union

pressures and privileges by:

(a) Passing and enacting the Open Contracting

Act;

(b) Passing and enacting national Right to

Work Legislation;

(c) Never prohibiting the hiring of permanent

replacement workers during or following an economic strike. This includes taking whatever steps

are necessary to override President Clinton’s executive order that prohibits government contracting

with firms who have replaced striking workers;

and

(d) Revising the Hobbs Act and the Federal

Criminal Code along with other applicable legislation that would:

(1) Reverse the Enmons ruling and eliminate

other special privileges such as union exemption from prohibitions against libelous and

violent speech and union officials’ legally-sanctioned power to force workers to pay union

dues to an unwanted union;

(2) Require union officials and unions to

bear full responsibility for their violence and

extortion and criminal acts just like everyone

else;

(3) Make union pensions and benefit trusts

applicable to the same regulations as other

commercial or employer-provider plans;

(4) Make unions subject to all discriminatory and civil rights provisions the same as all

businesses, and liable for the blackballing of

members who exercise their first amendment

rights in opposition to the union leadership;

(5) Use the RICO Act against Union

Organizations involved in extortion and the

commission of criminal acts; and

(6) Strictly prohibit compulsory union

membership. (votes received: 655)

Human Capital

203. Congress should amend the National Labor

Relations Act to:

(a) Protect small businesses from abuses and

intimidation practices by organized labor.

37 ★ FINAL IMPLEMENTATION REPORT
(b) Allow small businesses and their employees

to discontinue relationships with labor organizations by simply writing a termination letter.

(c) Seek fair and equitable resolution between

labor and management.

(d) Encourage cross-training of craftsmen for

greater productivity and efficiency.

(e) Prevent the use of taxpayer funds to sue on

behalf of multimillion-dollar unions.

(f) Encourage labor organizations to permit

compensation based on productivity and quality

of work.

(g) Restore employers’ ability to establish and

use employee involvement committees by repealing the impact of the Electromation case (309

NRLB No. 163) and the Dupont case (311 NRLB

No. 88). (votes received: 591)

Human Capital

324. Social Security Privatization. Congress

should privatize Social Security by adopting a

graduated phaseout and giving full disclosure to

the American people on the solvency of the fund

and the amount of money they, as individuals,

have paid into the fund. Congress should adopt a

minimum 15-year graduated phaseout schedule

for government funding of Social Security for all

new retirees; continue funding existing and

“phase-out” retirees from the employer’s 6.2 percent (allow up to 15 percent) FICA portion; and

allow for the employee’s 6.2 percent FICA portion

to be paid into their personal CompulsoryIRA/401(k) (CIRA) style account. Require all

“CIRAs” to buy disability and survivor’s insurance

benefits equal to that of Social Security. (votes

received: 818)

Human Capital

336. The President and Congress should enact legislation that consolidates the current federal workforce programs into state block grants that:

(a) Provide local control of specific skills training based on local needs.

(b) Require states to allow participation by

small businesses with fewer than 500 employees

for on-the-job training of new and existing workforces.

(c) Provide tax incentives to small businesses

that fund their own workforce training programs.

(d) Encourage public-private partnerships of

job training. (votes received: 974)

International Trade

115. The President shall direct the U.S. Trade

Representative to lead an international effort to

protect the ownership of intellectual property and

to ensure adoption of reciprocal uniform standards, centralized filing and an efficient international dispute resolution procedure for registration and enforcement of trademarks and trade

names, working with NAFTA, GATT and other

treaty partners. We further recommend that

Congress protect international patent rights in a

way that takes into account the needs of small

business, including retaining the patent term to

run for 20 years from date of application or 17

years from date of issue, whichever is longer, that

patent application remain unpublished until the

patent is granted, and that the patent remains

with the first to invent rather than first to file.

(votes received: 1080)

International Trade

121. Small business owners are calling for the

implementation of global “one-stop shopping”/

one-entity access to all government information

and resources. Congress and the administration

should create a pilot program that leverages private-sector resources to assist associations (private

and public, particularly existing public/private

partnerships) in helping their small business

members trade internationally. Examples that

would require no new funding include model

training programs, on-line database services, electronic learning networks, trade incubators

(including those in U.S. and Foreign Commercial

Service locations around the world), international

trading cooperatives, trade missions, second- and

third-tier exporting programs, niche market

development programs, and marketing-development cooperative programs.

The Administration should appoint small business representatives to all advisory or dispute settlement bodies as part of the private-sector representation (example: the World Trade Organization

dispute settlement panels.)

Congress and the Administration should maintain effective programs (eliminating ineffective

programs) of the U.S. Department of Commerce

International Trade Association that assist all

American small business in entering and/or

expanding export sales, emphasizing emerging

markets as a part of public/private partnership

efforts to increase U.S. exports, U.S. jobs, and U.S.

economic vitality.

Note: No part of this issue shall be interpreted

to be in conflict with GATT and/or other existing

international trade agreements. (votes received:

1,329)

International Trade

129. Congress and the President shall authorize

and encourage the ExIm Bank and the SBA to

sponsor revitalized fund programs designed to

The 60

Recommendations

of the 1995 White

House Conference

on Small Business

38 ★ THE WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE ON SMALL BUSINESS
foster the financing of international trade (goods

and services) including the new Export Working

Capital Program to:

(a) Provide pre-export financing, unsecured

working capital loans, transaction-based loans

and pooled loans, rather than balance sheet and

asset-based loans;

(b) Provide educational programs for regional

and local banking and financial institutions on the

methods to finance exports of small businesses;

(c) Educate and inform the small business

community on available programs to finance

exports;

(d) Coordinate the efforts of various federal

agencies that attempt to provide financing for

exports; and

(e) Provide credits and other incentives for

small businesses to develop and expand into foreign markets. (votes received: 1,181)

Main Street

130. Congress must remove the barriers that prevent franchisees, dealers, and product distributors

from exercising their basic legal and constitutional

rights by enacting H.R. 1717, now before the

104th Congress. (votes received: 997)

Main Street

134. Congress must remove the barriers imposed

on small business people in their relationship with

large national and multi-national corporations,

which prevent these small business people from

mediating, arbitrating, or litigating in their own

home state. (votes received: 930)

Main Street

139. Congress should legislate the creation of a

Small Business Relief Fund to economically assist

small businesses that are displaced by the establishment of a big business in their localities where

the big business will contribute an annual fee for

the fund. (votes received: 590)

Main Street

140. Congress should introduce and pass the

National Disaster Protection Act which would

include a private sector “All Risk” Property

Insurance Program offered through a newly created private non-profit organization to reinsure catastrophic losses. (Referenced in the Report of the

Bipartisan Task Force on Disasters,

Recommendations #1 and #2, U.S. House of

Representatives, December 14, 1994.) (votes

received: 841)

Main Street

141. Small business cannot compete with large

businesses who use their economic power to

extract unfair competitive pricing from manufacturers and service providers. Antitrust laws should

be strengthened and enforced to prohibit abuses

including unfair vertical integration, tying of pricing and product purchases, and predatory pricing

tactics. The President should appoint a presidential commission on competition to study the

enforcement and impact of the federal antitrust

laws on ensuring the survival and diversity of

small businesses. (votes received: 829)

Procurement

144. Support fair competition: Congress should

enact legislation that would prohibit government

agencies, tax- and antitrust-exempt organizations

from engaging in commercial activities in direct

competition with small businesses. (votes

received: 1,285)

Procurement

153. Congress should enact legislation to designate a national certification organization. This

organization will be initially funded by Congress

to establish a database of certified small businesses, small disadvantaged businesses, and small

businesses owned by women. It will serve as a

one-stop clearinghouse that will assist all federal

agencies by disseminating information in conjunction with their outreach efforts. To assure the

credibility of federal procurement procedures:

(a) Congress will endorse one set of criteria for

all local, city, state, and national agencies, adopted

by a task force utilizing purchasing agents and

small businesses owners, for uniform certification

of small businesses, small disadvantaged businesses, and small businesses owned by women where

contracts involve federal funds.

(b) All federal agencies must establish standardized monitoring and compliance procedures;

(c) Independent, decentralized advisory boards

should be established.

(d) States and local communities should be

encouraged to recognize this certification on a

reciprocal basis.

(e) All federal agencies should sponsor training

to increase contracting/procurement officer

awareness and use of reciprocal certification and

database. (votes received: 968)

Procurement

161. The President and Congress should continue

to support the Minority Small Business Capital

Ownership and Development Program, SBA 8(a),

and should enact legislation to make improve39 ★ FINAL IMPLEMENTATION REPORT
ments with particular emphasis on:

(a) Increase length of time.

(b) All federal minority procurement policies

and procedures must be incorporated and applied

to any recipient of federal funds and become

mandatory.

(c) Increase utilization of 8(a) contractors by

enforcing accountability of federal agencies in

achieving their 8(a) goals.

(d) The establishment of procedures for immediate relief in the event of catastrophic circumstances including but not limited to:

(1) total dissolving of government agencies;

(2) natural disasters;

(3) base closures.

(e) Relief to be in the form of extended participation in the 8(a) program for a reasonable time

to recover from the catastrophic circumstance.

All of the above will follow the intent of the

SBA 8(a) program to raise 8(a) businesses to a

threshold allowing them to graduate to the open

competitive market. (votes received: 806)

Procurement

164. The Davis-Bacon Act of 1931 and the Service

Contract Act of 1965 should be completely

repealed. (votes received: 1,046)

Procurement

167. Prompt Payment Act: The Office of

Management and Budget must penalize federal

agencies and/or their grantees for incurring interest debt generated through delayed bill payment.

Congress should modify this Act to include subcontractors. In cases of dispute between the government and a prime contractor, the subcontractor’s payment must be promptly released as long

as the subcontractor is not part of the dispute.

(votes received: 846)

Procurement

360. Increase Procurement Opportunities:

Increase the opportunities for all small businesses

to equitably participate in federal procurement.

Require that:

(a) Not less than 35 percent of all government

procurement monies (35 percent of prime and 35

percent of subcontracts) be awarded to small

firms, such that at least:

(1) 10 percent of prime and 10 percent of

subcontract monies be awarded to minority

businesses;

(2) 5 percent of prime and 5 percent of subcontract monies be awarded to women-owned

businesses; and 

(3) 10 percent of the government’s total

R&D budget be awarded to small businesses;

(b) Small businesses be provided free and easy

access to the government’s electronic commerce

system, FACNET, which profiles federal procurement opportunities;

(c) Competition not be stifled by permitting

federal agencies to “bundle” contract requirements

beyond the reach and capability of many small

firms; and,

(d) Government agencies and tax-exempt entities not be allowed to unfairly compete with private firms by strengthening and expanding OMB

circular A-76 to apply to all federal monies used

directly or indirectly in the provision of goods

and services and by increasing the scope and

improving the enforcement of the unrelated business income tax (UBIT).

(e) On sole-source purchases above $100,000, a

query of PASS must be done by federal agencies

and prime contractors.

(f) The “Rule of Two,” which requires federal

agencies to restrict competition when two or more

small businesses are capable and available to compete in price, quality and product/service for contracts of $100,000 or more, be strictly enforced.

(g) The Department of Defense and the Small

Business Administration sponsor EDI training

through the already established network of small

business procurement assistance centers located

nationwide.

(h) The SBA review and revise the size criteria

downward to reflect the “true” small business.

(votes received: 954)

Procurement

437. In rendering a decision on Adarand v. Peña

the U.S. Supreme Court has potentially dealt the

minority and women business community a

severe and in some cases potentially fatal blow.

While we recognize the separation of functions

between the three branches of government, we are

compelled out of an immediate and overwhelming sense of concern to recommend the following:

The President and Congress should proactively

and aggressively respond to support the minority

and women business community, and not use this

decision in any way to influence any legislative

action that would reduce support for our country’s long-standing commitment to promote fair

and equitable opportunity for all of its citizens

regardless of race, color, or gender. (votes received:

751)

Regulation and Paperwork

183. Congress should amend the Regulatory

Flexibility Act, making it applicable to all federal

agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service

and the Department of Defense, to include all of

The 60

Recommendations

of the 1995 White

House Conference

on Small Business

40 ★ THE WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE ON SMALL BUSINESS
the following:

(a) Require cost/benefit analysis, scientific benefit analysis, and risk assessment on all new regulations and Internal Revenue Service interpretations.

(b) Grant judicial review of regulations, providing courts the ability to stay harmful and costly

regulations and to require agencies to rewrite

them.

(c) Require small business representation on

policy-making commissions, federal advisory and

other federal commissions or boards, whose recommendations impact small businesses. Input

from small business representatives should be

required in any future legislation, policy development, and regulation-making affecting small business.

(d) With respect to all regulations involving

small business, require negotiated rulemaking

proceedings for adoption of all rules, with small

business representing 50 percent of the negotiating panel. (votes received: 1,398)

Regulation and Paperwork

188. Congress shall enact legislation and appropriate enforcement provisions to include all of the

following:

(a) Require all agencies to simplify language

and forms required for use by small business and

that only the English language be required.

(b) Require all agencies to sunset and reevaluate all regulations every five years, using the same

standards required for new regulations, with the

goal of reducing its total paperwork burden by at

least 5 percent each year for the next five years.

(c) Require agencies to assemble information

through a single source on all small business related government programs, regulations, reporting

requirements, and key federal contacts’ names and

phone numbers, with as much as is feasibly available by on-line computer access.

(d) Eliminate duplicate regulations from multiple government agencies. (votes received: 1,046)

Regulation and Paperwork

194. Congress shall enact legislation and appropriate enforcement to include all of the following:

(a) Require that all agencies provide a cooperative/consulting regulatory environment that follows due process procedures and that the agencies

be less punitive and more solution-oriented in

dealing with unintentional regulatory violations.

(b) Require that fines take into account the

severity of the infraction, size and type of company, past safety record and the frequency and severity of the violations.

(c) Allow proposed fines to be used toward

correcting violations.

(d) Prohibit fines either for violations identified during a consulting visit requested by the

company, or by an agency investigator and

brought to the attention of the employer for the

first-time specific violation. If the company is

found to be in substantial compliance; the

employer and inspector should negotiate a reasonable timetable for compliance, and fines

should be levied only for failure to comply within

that timetable.

(e) Allow small business the option of binding

arbitration to resolve any dispute with any federal

agency.

(f) Require that regulatory agencies put the

fines that they impose and collect into the general

treasury fund toward retiring the national debt;

said agencies should be prohibited from receiving

credit or usage of such monies.

(g) Require that the liability of the employer

and the employee be relative to their respective

culpability.

(h) Require enforcement actions to comply

with American due process concepts: notice and

opportunity to be heard, a presumption of innocence until proven guilty, and an impartial judge.

(votes received: 1,328)

Regulation and Paperwork

200. Congress and the President should propose

and enact legislation that reforms civil justice and

product liability legislation to accomplish the following:

(a) Return to a fault-based standard of liability.

(b) Eliminate joint-and-several liability in cases

where the defendants have not acted in concert.

(c) Limit non-economic damages (such as pain

and suffering, and mental anguish) to three times

the economic damages or $250,000, whichever is

greater.

(d) Restrict punitive damages to cases of willful

and malicious conduct. The amount awarded

should be split between the plaintiff and a judicial

system trust.

(e) Reduce awards in cases where a plaintiff

can be compensated by collateral sources, to prevent windfall double recovery.

(f) Impose a uniform reasonable statute of

limitations and repose in all civil actions, and hold

defendants to the state of the art in existence at

the time the product was manufactured or a service performed, unless willful abuse is proven.

There is no defense in drug or alcohol abuse.

(g) Provide for periodic, instead of lump sum,

payments for future medical or lost income,

administered by a court-appointed trustee.

(h) The prevailing party in a legal action

41 ★ FINAL IMPLEMENTATION REPORT
should have a statutory right to recover costs and

attorney fees from the non-prevailing party

(British Code). (votes received: 1,332)

Regulation and Paperwork

369. Small business and OSHA must work together in a non-adversarial, supportive relationship to

attain public policy safety goals. To accomplish

this, Congress must pass legislation as follows:

(a) Require that voluntary compliance audits

be performed within 60 days of a request by a

small business. Such audits must be educational

and non-threatening with written results and no

fines issued.

(b) Businesses which have completed a voluntary inspection and have corrected any deficiencies within the time allotted, will not be fined at a

subsequent inspection for deficiencies that were

missed or interpreted differently by the first

inspector.

(c) Require that all enforcement inspections,

no matter how limited the scope of the inspection, will result in an overall inspection score or

grade to be issued in writing by the inspector. On

the basis of that grade, no fines or penalties may

be issued for deficiencies found if the facility (or

that portion of the facility inspected), has been

found to be in substantial compliance. In addition, in those cases where at least 90 percent of the

entire facility has been inspected and the overall

grade indicated that the company is in substantial

compliance, OSHA will issue a letter of commendation recognizing the company for its efforts. If

needed, a definition of substantial compliance

would include:

(1) a limited number of violations/deficiencies found vs. number of items inspected.

(2) the company has an active safety committee or program and demonstrates commitment to safety by management.

(3) major programs (i.e., right-to-know,

confined space, lock out/tag out, training, etc.)

are in place.

(d) Amend regulations to assign responsibility

for regulatory compliance to the employee as well

as the employer.

(e) Amend OSHA regulations to require that

when an employer and/or employee notifies

OSHA officially that compliance has been

achieved, OSHA must confirm that compliance

has occurred within 72 hours of notification.

(f) Amend regulations to require OSHA not to

make any inspections (unless voluntary) on any

small business workplace and/or worksite unless

an accident has been recorded and reported.

(g) Amend OSHA regulations to require a

review and the development of construction standards that reflect the needs of industry-use

groups. (votes received: 1,030) 

Taxation

214. Small businesses typically rely on close personal relationships and customer service to compete for sales rather than expensive advertising

campaigns. Expenditures for meals and entertainment are often an important part of this effort.

The recent changes in the tax laws to disallow 50

percent of these expenditures for tax purposes has

disproportionately increased the selling costs for

many small businesses. Accordingly, Congress and

the President shall enact legislation which will

allow a tax deduction for 100 percent of the

expenditures for meals and entertainment. (votes

received: 1,444)

Taxation

218. Congress should repeal the federal estate, gift

and generation-skipping tax laws. There is currently legislation before the 104th Congress

known as the Family Heritage Preservation Act

(H.R.784/S.628) that would accomplish this. The

negative effect on small businesses and others far

exceeds the net income to government when all

administrative costs to individuals, businesses, and

the government are considered. (votes received:

1,385)

Taxation

224. The definition of an independent contractor

must be clarified. Congress should recognize the

legitimacy of an independent contractor.

(a) The 20-factor test is too subjective. The

number of relevant factors should be narrowed

with more definition guidelines for implementation. Realistic and consistent guidelines that

require one of four criteria plus a written agreement. The criteria are (1) realization of profit or

loss; (2) separate principal place of business; (3)

making services available to the general public; or

(4) paid on a commission basis.

(b) Safe-harbor provisions should be established that would protect the hiring business from

the burdensome penalties currently being assessed

by the IRS. De minimis rules based on dollars

paid, hours worked, years in business, and/or

specified closed-end projects should be established.

(c) The IRS should eliminate back taxes for

misclassification when Form 1099s are filed and

there is no evidence of fraud.

(d) Congress should specifically allow employers and independent contractors to provide joint

technical training and to jointly utilize major specialized tools without jeopardy of reclassification

The 60

Recommendations

of the 1995 White

House Conference

on Small Business

42 ★ THE WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE ON SMALL BUSINESS
of the independent contractor to employee status.

(e) Changes and implementation processes

should be formulated by a joint committee of legislators and small business people. (votes received:

1,471)

Taxation

229. To promote a fair and equitable system of

taxation, to encourage greater citizen participation

and understanding, and to totally abolish the

complicated present system, Congress should

enact legislation that replaces the present system

with a simple tax for individuals and businesses.

(votes received: 801)

Taxation

233. Congress should permit deductions of

expenses up to $250,000 annually for the purchase

of new or used equipment for use in a small business and should remove the cap of $200,000 and

have no upper qualifying limit on the Section 179

election. (votes received: 990)

Taxation

242. Congress should modify and expand the 50

percent capital gains exclusion for small business

stock passed in the 1993 Revenue Reconciliation

Act so that it provides a front-end, as well as a

back-end incentive for investment in small businesses. Specific recommendations:

(a) Allow investors to sell funds in any investment and roll the investment into a small company, as defined by the current law, within two years.

Capital gains tax on assets sold would be deferred

(using the same methods as like-kind exchanges).

Taxes would be payable at the favorable small

business rate if held for the specified period.

(b) Phase in the preferential tax treatment over

a five-year holding period. For example, an

investor with a three-year holding period would

pay: 28 percent – (28 percent x 50 percent x 60

percent) = 19.6 percent.

(c) Amend Code Section 1202 to extend its

benefits to S Corporations, partnerships, and sole

proprietorships by defining a “qualified small

business” to include all such business entities and

extend the definition of a qualified trade or business under Section 1202 to all types of businesses.

(votes received: 1,054)

Taxation

250. Congress should enact legislation that would

prevent it from raising taxes retroactively. (votes

received: 974)

Taxation

252. Congress should enact legislation that

requires a two-thirds supermajority vote in both

houses of Congress to enact legislation resulting

in a tax increase. (votes received: 681)

Taxation

253. Payroll Tax Relief: A cap must be placed on

the employer’s portion of payroll taxes. Congress

should reject all proposals to raise payroll taxes in

its effort to repair the Medicare program. Payroll

taxes are regressive and discriminate against small

businesses. (votes received: 571)

Taxation

385. Tax Equity Now! Congress and the President

shall enact legislation that shall place large and

small businesses on a level playing field for tax

purposes—that is, provide tax equity—in situations where small businesses are currently at a disadvantage. This should be done by uniformly

applying the tax law to all forms of business (e.g.

proprietorships, partnerships, C Corporations, S

Corporations, limited liability companies) with

regard to tax rates, deductions, and exclusions as

follows:

(a) All forms of business entities to take deductions for 100 percent of the medical insurance

premiums, dependent care, and other fringe benefits not currently deductible by self-employed

individuals, partnerships, S Corporations, and

limited liability companies on behalf of all of their

employees who are owners, partners, shareholders, and/or members. As long as fringe benefits

continue to be excluded from the income of

employees of large C Corporations, then such

benefits should be excluded from the income of

employees of all small businesses, regardless of

form, as well as from the income of self-employed

individuals.

(b) Pension plan benefits currently available to

employees of large businesses to be made available

to self-employed and employees of small businesses as provided in Recommendation no. 91.

(c) All C Corporations to be taxed using the

same graduated tax rate schedule. Section

11(b)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code, taxing the

income of qualified personal service corporations

at a flat 35 percent tax rate, should be repealed.

The privilege of deducting legitimate business

expenses should no longer be based upon the

entity chosen to operate such business. The choice

of an entity within which one will operate a business should be a legal issue, not a tax issue. (votes

received: 1,258)

Taxation

390. Congress should enact a comprehensive policy on capital gains that encourages long-term in43 ★ FINAL IMPLEMENTATION REPORT
vestment in productive assets. This policy should

include the following provisions.

(a) Indexing of the cost basis of assets held

more than one year.

(b) A targeted capital gains exclusion of 50 percent of the indexed gain for an investment in a

qualified small business held more than three

years. A qualified small business should include all

forms of business entities including passthroughs.

(c) A maximum tax of 10 percent on the sale of

a majority interest in a qualified small business

held for more than 15 years.

(d) A deferral of the gain on the sale of an

interest in a qualified small business if the gain is

reinvested in another qualified small business

within two years.

(e) The non-taxable portions of gains should

be exempt from the alternative minimum tax calculations.

(f) The capital loss reduction limitation of

$3,000 should be eliminated.

(g) Reinstate the “General Utilities Doctrine” to

eliminate the double taxation of proceeds from

the sale of a business. (votes received: 944)

Technology and the Information

Revolution

265. Congress and the executive branch should

promote the rapid private-sector development of

the National/Global Information Infrastructure

(NII/GII) and protect all intellectual property

transmitted over it. Congress and the U.S. Patent

Office should also implement an enforceable and

universal intellectual property (patent, trademark,

and copyright) application with all members of

World Trade Organization, while maintaining

“first to invent.” This must also include the ability

to police existing laws and treaties more judiciously, and to update definitions of intellectual

property on a continuing basis.

Said branches of government should enact the

following:

(a) Ensure that legal protection of intellectual

property rights, as well as fair access, is fully

accorded with respect to products over the

National Information Infrastructure (NII) and the

Global Information Infrastructure (GII).

(b) Incorporate the responsibility for trademark and copyright appeals litigation with the

federal Circuit Court of Appeals, as was done in

the mid-1980s with patents.

(c) Prevent premature disclosure through

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) access to

proprietary Small Business Innovation Research

(SBIR) technologies.

(d) Expeditiously and simultaneously open all

telecommunications markets to full and fair competition.

(e) Make it possible for all providers to equally

compete in offering one-stop shopping for telecommunications products and services; legislation

should provide universal access.

(f) Ensure privacy to all users from all parties,

including the government (for example, the

Clipper Chip or its successor), and security of the

infrastructure.

(g) Promote open and affordable access to all

small business, including underserved communities, rural communities, and minority- and

women-owned businesses.

(h) Provide technology education and training

by redirecting existing federal programs through

private sector small businesses.

(i) Include small business representation on all

NII/GII-related federal commissions and committees.

(j) Require government agencies utilizing

EC/EDI technology to use a standard technology

accessible and affordable to small businesses.

(k) Create an on-line one-stop electronic clearinghouse service coordinated by SBA/SBDC to

provide access via the information superhighway

(for example the World Wide Web, etc.) to technical, legal, patent, regulatory, environmental, commerce, and government procurement/bidding

opportunity information.

(l) The Economic Classification Policy

Committee should review and revise SIC codes

every three to five years to reflect economic

advancements of American society, for example

the definition of “manufacturer” to include

“knowledge-based manufacturing” and “technology consulting.” (votes received: 1,358)

Technology and the Information

Revolution

406. Congress should enact legislative programs

that expand the availability of technology commercialization funding and investment capital for

small, rapidly growing innovative companies

including, as a minimum:

(a) Expand, improve, and make permanent the

SBIR/STTR programs by:

(1) Excluding cost-sharing in proposal evaluation and scoring for either Phase I or Phase

II and prohibiting agencies from imposing artificial ceilings on indirect and IR&D expenses.

(2) SBA directives to agencies to budget an

appropriate portion of administrative overhead

and committing adequate personnel to managing the SBIR program.

(b) Encourage investment in small companies

by:

The 60

Recommendations

of the 1995 White

House Conference

on Small Business

44 ★ THE WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE ON SMALL BUSINESS
(1) Retaining and expanding targeted capital

gains, including mutual fund and institutional

investments in small business.

(2) Allowing tax-free rollovers for direct

investments by all investors in small business.

(3) Providing additional incentives and

reducing inhibiting regulations for investments

in small companies by pension funds, institutional and/or corporate investors.

(4) Amending tax loss rules for NOL carry

forward.

(5) Expanding and making permanent the

R&E tax credit.

(c) Develop new public markets and instruments for small firm securities.

(d) The Congress should support flexible manufacturing through the promotion of partnerships

between small business and existing resources to

create more efficient and flexible manufacturing

processes, and nurture the growth of U.S. manufacturing industries.

(e) Direct the establishment of a temporary

multi-agency task force to quickly address and

solve the impediments to the above. (votes

received: 1,292)

Unclassified

280. Deficit spending continuing year after year

poses a grave threat to our freedom as the world’s

leading economic power and to our free enterprise system. The President and Congress must

take immediate steps to bring the federal budget

into balance by eliminating or reducing appropriate programs, commissions, agencies and departments and by instituting all other measures available to them. (votes received: 913)

Unclassified

286. The U.S. Small Business Administration

(SBA) is vital to the growth of small business in

America. Efforts to make the SBA’s programs

more cost effective and efficient should be continued and encouraged. The SBA’s “independent”

agency role as the primary supporter of small

business within the federal government should be

enhanced by:

(a) Elevation of the U.S. Small Business

Administration to a congressionally approved cabinet level position.

(b) Budget allocations to maintain, increase,

and enhance the 7(a) Loan Guaranty Program.

(c) Budget allocations to maintain, increase,

and enhance the 504 Loan Program.

(d) Budget allocations to make permanent the

Small Business Development Center Program,

which provides business assistance to small businesses nationwide.

(e) Permanent maintenance of the “independent role” of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy.

(f) All other SBA programs should be reviewed

with substantial input from the private sector. Any

programs deemed to be ineffective should be

eliminated. (votes received: 1,249)

Unclassified

287. Congress should authorize and the President

convene a White House Conference on Small

Business every four (4) years to provide a continuing forum for owners and entrepreneurs to promote and work for the betterment of small business and ensure that they remain a vital part of

the American economy. (votes received: 730)

Unclassified

288. Congress should develop a tangible process

for monitoring the implementation progress of

the recommendations that emerge from the

WHCSB National Conference in June 1995. This

monitoring process should be developed to make

Congress and the President accountable to the

WHCSB participants, and should be achieved

specifically by doing the following:

(a) Periodic updates to WHCSB participants by

SBA’s Office of Advocacy on the progress of

implementation; and

(b) Annual summit of state WHCSB chairs, or

their representatives, to discuss and evaluate the

progress of implementation. (votes received: 916)

45 ★ FINAL IMPLEMENTATION REPORT