I

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4946

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

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.

1 SECTION. 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Small Busi3 ness Regulatory Assistance Act of 2000’’.

4 SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

5 The purpose of this Act is to establish a pilot pro6 gram to—
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1 (1) provide confidential assistance to small

2 business concerns;

3 (2) provide small business concerns with the in4 formation necessary to improve their rate of compli5 ance with Federal regulations;

6 (3) create a partnership among Federal agen7 cies to increase outreach efforts to small business

8 concerns with respect to regulatory compliance;

9 (4) provide a mechanism for unbiased feedback

10 to Federal agencies on the regulatory environment

11 for small business concerns; and

12 (5) utilize the service delivery network of Small

13 Business Development Centers to improve access of

14 small business concerns to programs to assist them

15 with regulatory compliance.

16 SEC. 3. SMALL BUSINESS REGULATORY ASSISTANCE PILOT

17 PROGRAM.

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

19 amended—

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

21 and

22 (2) by inserting after section 33 the following

23 new section:
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1 ‘‘SEC. 34. SMALL BUSINESS REGULATORY ASSISTANCE

2 PILOT PROGRAM.

3 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following

4 definitions apply:

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

6 means the association, established pursuant to sec7 tion 21(a)(3)(A), representing a majority of Small

8 Business Development Centers, regardless whether

9 any or all of the participating Small Business Devel10 opment Centers are members of the association.

11 ‘‘(2) PARTICIPATING SMALL BUSINESS DEVEL12 OPMENT CENTER.—The term ‘participating Small

13 Business Development Center’ means a Small Busi14 ness Development Center selected to participate in

15 the pilot program established under this section.

16 ‘‘(3) REGULATORY COMPLIANCE ASSISTANCE.—

17 The term ‘regulatory compliance assistance’ means

18 assistance provided by a Small Business Develop19 ment Center to a small business concern to enable

20 the concern to comply with Federal regulatory re21 quirements.

22 ‘‘(4) SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CEN23 TER.—The term ‘Small Business Development Cen24 ter’ means a Small Business Development Center

25 described in section 21.
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1 ‘‘(b) AUTHORITY.—In accordance with this section,

2 the Administrator of the Small Business Administration

3 shall establish a pilot program to provide regulatory com4 pliance assistance to small business concerns through par5 ticipating Small Business Development Centers, the Asso6 ciation, and Federal compliance partnership programs.

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

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

9 program under this section, the Administrator shall

10 enter into arrangements with participating Small

11 Business Development Centers under which such

12 centers will provide—

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

14 including current Federal and State nonpuni15 tive compliance and technical assistance pro16 grams similar to those established under section

17 507 of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990;

18 ‘‘(B) training and educational activities;

19 ‘‘(C) confidential, free-of-charge, one-on20 one, in-depth counseling to the owners and op21 erators of small business concerns regarding

22 compliance with Federal regulations, provided

23 that such counseling is not considered to be the

24 practice of law in a State in which a Small
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1 Business Development Center is located or in

2 which such counseling is conducted; and

3 ‘‘(D) technical assistance.

4 ‘‘(2) QUARTERLY REPORTS.—

5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator

6 shall require that each participating Small

7 Business Development Center transmit to the

8 Association a quarterly report that includes—

9 ‘‘(i) a summary of the regulatory com10 pliance assistance provided by the center

11 under the pilot program; and

12 ‘‘(ii) any data and information ob13 tained by the center from a Federal agency

14 regarding regulatory compliance that the

15 agency intends to be disseminated to small

16 business concerns.

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

18 subparagraph (A) shall be transmitted to the

19 Association in electronic form.

20 ‘‘(C) INTERIM REPORTS.—During any time

21 period falling between the transmittal of quar22 terly reports, a participating Small Business

23 Development Center may transmit to the Asso24 ciation any interim report containing data or
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1 information considered by the center to be nec2 essary or useful.

3 ‘‘(D) LIMITATION ON DISCLOSURE RE4 QUIREMENTS.—The Administrator may not re5 quire a Small Business Development Center to

6 disclose the name or address of any small busi7 ness concern that received or is receiving assist8 ance under the pilot program, except that the

9 Administrator shall require such a disclosure if

10 ordered to do so by a court in any civil or

11 criminal enforcement action commenced by a

12 Federal or State agency.

13 ‘‘(d) ASSOCIATION OF SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOP14 MENT CENTERS.—

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

16 program under this section, the Administrator, act17 ing through the Office of Small Business Develop18 ment Centers (or any successor to such office), shall

19 enter into a contract with the Association under

20 which the Association will—

21 ‘‘(A) act as the repository of and clearing22 house for data and information submitted by

23 Small Business Development Centers; and

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

25 President, the Small Business and Agriculture
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1 Regulatory Enforcement Ombudsman described

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

3 Small Business of the Senate and House of

4 Representatives, which report shall include—

5 ‘‘(i) a description of the types of as6 sistance provided by participating Small

7 Business Development Centers under the

8 pilot program;

9 ‘‘(ii) data regarding the number of

10 small business concerns that contacted

11 participating Small Business Development

12 Centers regarding assistance under the

13 pilot program;

14 ‘‘(iii) data regarding the number of

15 small business concerns assisted by partici16 pating Small Business Development Cen17 ters under the pilot program;

18 ‘‘(iv) data and information regarding

19 outreach activities conducted by partici20 pating Small Business Development Cen21 ters under the pilot program, including any

22 activities conducted in partnership with

23 Federal agencies;

24 ‘‘(v) data and information regarding

25 each case known to the Association in
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1 which 1 or more Small Business Develop2 ment Centers offered conflicting advice or

3 information regarding compliance with a

4 Federal regulation to 1 or more small busi5 ness concerns; and

6 ‘‘(vi) any recommendations for im7 provements in the regulation of small busi8 ness concerns; and

9 ‘‘(C) not later than 3 years after the estab10 lishment of the pilot program, transmit to the

11 recipients referred to in subparagraph (B) a re12 port containing an evaluation of the pilot pro13 gram and any recommendations as to whether

14 the pilot program, without or without modifica15 tion, should be extended to include the partici16 pation of all Small Business Development Cen17 ters.

18 ‘‘(e) SELECTION OF PARTICIPATING CENTERS.—

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2),

20 the Administrator shall select 1 Small Business De21 velopment Center from each of the following States

22 to participate in the pilot program carried out under

23 this section:

24 ‘‘(1) Massachusetts.

25 ‘‘(2) New Hampshire.
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1 ‘‘(3) New York.

2 ‘‘(4) New Jersey.

3 ‘‘(5) Maryland.

4 ‘‘(6) Pennsylvania.

5 ‘‘(7) Florida.

6 ‘‘(8) South Carolina.

7 ‘‘(9) Illinois.

8 ‘‘(10) Ohio.

9 ‘‘(11) New Mexico.

10 ‘‘(12) Texas.

11 ‘‘(13) Missouri.

12 ‘‘(14) Iowa.

13 ‘‘(15) Colorado.

14 ‘‘(16) South Dakota.

15 ‘‘(17) California.

16 ‘‘(18) Nevada.

17 ‘‘(19) Washington.

18 ‘‘(20) Alaska.

19 ‘‘(2) STATES WITH MULTIPLE CENTERS.—In

20 the case of each State listed in paragraph (1) in

21 which there is located more than 1 Small Business

22 Development Center, the Administrator shall select

23 for participation in the pilot program the center that

24 the State director (or, in the case of the State of

25 Texas, the regional director) of Small Business De-
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1 velopment Centers for the State (or the region of the

2 State) determines to be the most qualified, based on

3 the director’s assessment of the center’s capability to

4 provide regulatory compliance assistance.’’.

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