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Union Calendar No. 532

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4946

[Report No. 106–881]

To amend the Small Business Act to direct the Administrator of the Small

Business Administration to establish a pilot program to provide regulatory compliance assistance to small business concerns, and for other

purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 25, 2000

Mr. SWEENEY (for himself, Mr. TALENT, Mr. ENGLISH, and Mr. MCINTOSH)

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on

Small Business

SEPTEMBER 21, 2000

Additional sponsors: Mrs. KELLY and Mr. TERRY

SEPTEMBER 21, 2000

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on July 25, 2000]

A BILL

To amend the Small Business Act to direct the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to establish

a pilot program to provide regulatory compliance assistance to small business concerns, and for other purposes.
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1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION. 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Small Business

5 Regulatory Assistance Act of 2000’’.

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

7 The purpose of this Act is to establish a pilot program

8 to—

9 (1) provide confidential assistance to small busi10 ness concerns;

11 (2) provide small business concerns with the in12 formation necessary to improve their rate of compli13 ance with Federal regulations;

14 (3) create a partnership among Federal agencies

15 to increase outreach efforts to small business concerns

16 with respect to regulatory compliance;

17 (4) provide a mechanism for unbiased feedback

18 to Federal agencies on the regulatory environment for

19 small business concerns; and

20 (5) utilize the service delivery network of Small

21 Business Development Centers to improve access of

22 small business concerns to programs to assist them

23 with regulatory compliance.
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1 SEC. 3. SMALL BUSINESS REGULATORY ASSISTANCE PILOT

2 PROGRAM.

3 The Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637 et seq.) is

4 amended—

5 (1) by redesignating section 34 as section 35;

6 and

7 (2) by inserting after section 33 the following

8 new section:

9 ‘‘SEC. 34. SMALL BUSINESS REGULATORY ASSISTANCE

10 PILOT PROGRAM.

11 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following defi12 nitions apply:

13 ‘‘(1) ASSOCIATION.—The term ‘Association’

14 means the association, established pursuant to section

15 21(a)(3)(A), representing a majority of Small Busi16 ness Development Centers.

17 ‘‘(2) PARTICIPATING SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOP18 MENT CENTER.—The term ‘participating Small Busi19 ness Development Center’ means a Small Business

20 Development Center selected to participate in the

21 pilot program established under this section.

22 ‘‘(3) REGULATORY COMPLIANCE ASSISTANCE.—

23 The term ‘regulatory compliance assistance’ means

24 assistance provided by a Small Business Development

25 Center to a small business concern to enable the con26 cern to comply with Federal regulatory requirements.
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1 ‘‘(4) SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER.—

2 The term ‘Small Business Development Center’ means

3 a Small Business Development Center described in

4 section 21.

5 ‘‘(5) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means each of the

6 several States, the District of Columbia, the Common7 wealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Guam.

8 ‘‘(b) AUTHORITY.—In accordance with this section, the

9 Administrator of the Small Business Administration shall

10 establish a pilot program to provide regulatory compliance

11 assistance to small business concerns through participating

12 Small Business Development Centers, the Association, and

13 Federal compliance partnership programs.

14 ‘‘(c) SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTERS.—

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the pilot

16 program under this section, the Administrator shall

17 enter into arrangements with participating Small

18 Business Development Centers under which such cen19 ters will provide—

20 ‘‘(A) access to information and resources,

21 including current Federal and State nonpunitive

22 compliance and technical assistance programs

23 similar to those established under section 507 of

24 the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990;

25 ‘‘(B) training and educational activities;
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1 ‘‘(C) confidential, free-of-charge, one-on-one,

2 in-depth counseling to the owners and operators

3 of small business concerns regarding compliance

4 with Federal regulations, provided that such

5 counseling is not considered to be the practice of

6 law in a State in which a Small Business Devel7 opment Center is located or in which such coun8 seling is conducted; and

9 ‘‘(D) technical assistance.

10 ‘‘(2) QUARTERLY REPORTS.—

11 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator

12 shall require that each participating Small Busi13 ness Development Center transmit to the Associa14 tion a quarterly report that includes—

15 ‘‘(i) a summary of the regulatory com16 pliance assistance provided by the center

17 under the pilot program; and

18 ‘‘(ii) any data and information ob19 tained by the center from a Federal agency

20 regarding regulatory compliance that the

21 agency intends to be disseminated to small

22 business concerns.

23 ‘‘(B) FORM.—Each report referred to in

24 subparagraph (A) shall be transmitted to the As25 sociation in electronic form.
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1 ‘‘(C) INTERIM REPORTS.—During any time

2 period falling between the transmittal of quar3 terly reports, a participating Small Business

4 Development Center may transmit to the Asso5 ciation any interim report containing data or

6 information considered by the center to be nec7 essary or useful.

8 ‘‘(D) LIMITATION ON DISCLOSURE REQUIRE9 MENTS.—The Administrator may not require a

10 Small Business Development Center to disclose

11 the name or address of any small business con12 cern that received or is receiving assistance

13 under the pilot program, except that the Admin14 istrator shall require such a disclosure if ordered

15 to do so by a court in any civil or criminal en16 forcement action commenced by a Federal or

17 State agency.

18 ‘‘(d) ASSOCIATION OF SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOP19 MENT CENTERS.—

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the pilot

21 program under this section, the Administrator, acting

22 through the Office of Small Business Development

23 Centers (or any successor to such office), shall enter

24 into a contract with the Association under which the

25 Association will—
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1 ‘‘(A) act as the repository of and clearing2 house for data and information submitted by

3 Small Business Development Centers; and

4 ‘‘(B) transmit an annual report to the

5 President, the Small Business and Agriculture

6 Regulatory Enforcement Ombudsman described

7 in section 30(b), and to the Committees on Small

8 Business of the Senate and House of Representa9 tives, which report shall include—

10 ‘‘(i) a description of the types of assist11 ance provided by participating Small Busi12 ness Development Centers under the pilot

13 program;

14 ‘‘(ii) data regarding the number of

15 small business concerns that contacted par16 ticipating Small Business Development

17 Centers regarding assistance under the pilot

18 program;

19 ‘‘(iii) data regarding the number of

20 small business concerns assisted by partici21 pating Small Business Development Centers

22 under the pilot program;

23 ‘‘(iv) data and information regarding

24 outreach activities conducted by partici25 pating Small Business Development Centers
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1 under the pilot program, including any ac2 tivities conducted in partnership with Fed3 eral agencies;

4 ‘‘(v) data and information regarding

5 each case known to the Association in which

6 1 or more Small Business Development

7 Centers offered conflicting advice or infor8 mation regarding compliance with a Fed9 eral regulation to 1 or more small business

10 concerns; and

11 ‘‘(vi) any recommendations for im12 provements in the regulation of small busi13 ness concerns; and

14 ‘‘(C) not later than 3 years after the estab15 lishment of the pilot program, transmit to the re16 cipients referred to in subparagraph (B) a report

17 containing an evaluation of the pilot program

18 and any recommendations as to whether the

19 pilot program, with or without modification,

20 should be extended to include the participation of

21 all Small Business Development Centers.

22 ‘‘(e) SELECTION OF PARTICIPATING CENTERS.—In

23 consultation with the Association and giving substantial

24 weight to the Association’s recommendations, the Adminis25 trator shall select 2 Small Business Development Centers
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1 from each of the following groups of States to participate

2 in the pilot program under this section, except that the Ad3 ministrator may not select 2 Small Business Development

4 Centers from the same state:

5 ‘‘(1) Group 1: Maine, Massachusetts, New

6 Hampshire, Connecticut, Vermont, and Rhode Island.

7 ‘‘(2) Group 2: New York, New Jersey, Puerto

8 Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

9 ‘‘(3) Group 3: Pennsylvania, Maryland, West

10 Virginia, Virginia, the District of Columbia, and

11 Delaware.

12 ‘‘(4) Group 4: Georgia, Alabama, North Caro13 lina, South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Kentucky,

14 and Tennessee.

15 ‘‘(5) Group 5: Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana,

16 Wisconsin, and Minnesota.

17 ‘‘(6) Group 6: Texas, New Mexico, Arkansas,

18 Oklahoma, and Louisiana.

19 ‘‘(7) Group 7: Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and

20 Kansas.

21 ‘‘(8) Group 8: Colorado, Wyoming, North Da22 kota, South Dakota, Montana, and Utah.

23 ‘‘(9) Group 9: California, Guam, Hawaii, Ne24 vada, and Arizona.
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1 ‘‘(10) Group 10: Washington, Alaska, Idaho, and

2 Oregon.’’.

3 SEC. 4. PROMULGATION OF REGULATIONS.

4 Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment

5 of this Act, the Administrator shall promulgate regulations,

6 after providing an opportunity for notice and comment, to

7 carry out this Act.

Union Calendar No. 532

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4946

[Report No. 106–881]

A BILL

To amend the Small Business Act to direct the Administrator of the Small Business Administration

to establish a pilot program to provide regulatorycompliance assistance to small business concerns,and for other purposes.

SEPTEMBER 21, 2000

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union,

and ordered to be printed