107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1271

AN ACT

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

the purpose of facilitating compliance by small business

concerns with certain Federal paperwork requirements,

to establish a task force to examine information collection

and dissemination, and for other purposes.

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Small Business Paper5 work Relief Act of 2001’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FACILITATION OF COMPLIANCE WITH FEDERAL PA2 PERWORK REQUIREMENTS.

3 (a) REQUIREMENTS APPLICABLE TO THE DIRECTOR

4 OF OMB.—Section 3504(c) of title 44, United States

5 Code (commonly referred to as the ‘‘Paperwork Reduction

6 Act’’), is amended—

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

8 inserting a semicolon;

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

10 inserting a semicolon; and

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

12 ‘‘(6) publish in the Federal Register and make

13 available on the Internet (in consultation with the

14 Small Business Administration) on an annual basis

15 a list of the compliance assistance resources avail16 able to small businesses, with the first such publica17 tion occurring not later than 1 year after the date

18 of enactment of the Small Business Paperwork Re19 lief Act of 2001.’’.

20 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF AGENCY POINT OF CON21 TACT.—Section 3506 of title 44, United States Code, is

22 amended by adding at the end the following:

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

24 subsection (c), each agency described under paragraph (2)

25 shall, with respect to the collection of information and the

26 control of paperwork, establish 1 point of contact in the
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1 agency to act as a liaison between the agency and small

2 business concerns (as defined in section 3 of the Small

3 Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632)). Each such point of contact

4 shall be established not later than 1 year after the date

5 of enactment of the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act

6 of 2001.

7 ‘‘(2) An agency described under this paragraph is—

8 ‘‘(A) any agency with a head that is listed at

9 a level I position on the Executive Schedule under

10 section 5312 of title 5; and

11 ‘‘(B) the Federal Communications Commission,

12 the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the

13 Environmental Protection Agency.’’.

14 (c) ADDITIONAL REDUCTION OF PAPERWORK FOR

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

16 44, United States Code, is amended—

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

18 and inserting a semicolon;

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

20 and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

21 (3) by adding at the end the following:

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

23 chapter regarding the reduction of information col24 lection burdens for small business concerns (as de-
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1 fined in section 3 of the Small Business Act (15

2 U.S.C. 632)), make efforts to—

3 ‘‘(A) further reduce the information collec4 tion burden for small business concerns with

5 fewer than 25 employees; and

6 ‘‘(B) eliminate any unnecessary paperwork

7 burdens.’’.

8 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF TASK FORCE ON INFORMA9 TION COLLECTION AND DISSEMINATION.

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

11 States Code, is amended—

12 (1) by redesignating section 3520 as section

13 3521; and

14 (2) by inserting after section 3519 the fol15 lowing:

16 ‘‘§ 3520. Establishment of task force on information

17 collection and dissemination

18 ‘‘(a) There is established a task force to study the

19 feasibility of streamlining requirements with respect to

20 small business concerns regarding collection of informa21 tion and strengthening dissemination of information (in

22 this section referred to as the ‘task force’).

23 ‘‘(b) The members of the task force shall be ap24 pointed by the head of each applicable department or
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1 agency (and in the case of paragraph (12) by the Direc2 tor), and include—

3 ‘‘(1) not less than 2 representatives of the De4 partment of Labor, including 1 representative of the

5 Bureau of Labor Statistics and 1 representative of

6 the Occupational Safety and Health Administration;

7 ‘‘(2) not less than 1 representative of the Envi8 ronmental Protection Agency;

9 ‘‘(3) not less than 1 representative of the De10 partment of Transportation;

11 ‘‘(4) not less than 1 representative of the Office

12 of Advocacy of the Small Business Administration;

13 ‘‘(5) not less than 1 representative of the Inter14 nal Revenue Service;

15 ‘‘(6) not less than 2 representatives of the De16 partment of Health and Human Services, including

17 1 representative of the Health Care Financing Ad18 ministration;

19 ‘‘(7) not less than 1 representative of the De20 partment of Agriculture;

21 ‘‘(8) not less than 1 representative of the De22 partment of Interior;

23 ‘‘(9) not less than 1 representative of the Gen24 eral Services Administration;
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1 ‘‘(10) not less than 1 representative of each of

2 2 agencies not represented by representatives de3 scribed under paragraphs (1) through (9) and (11);

4 ‘‘(11) 1 representative of the Director, who

5 shall convene and chair the task force; and

6 ‘‘(12) not less than 3 representatives of the

7 small business community.

8 ‘‘(c) The task force shall—

9 ‘‘(1) recommend a plan for the development of

10 an interactive Government application, available

11 through the Internet, to allow each small business to

12 better understand which Federal requirements re13 garding collection of information (and, when pos14 sible, which other Federal regulatory requirements)

15 apply to that particular business;

16 ‘‘(2) identify ways to integrate the collection of

17 information across Federal agencies and programs

18 and examine the feasibility of requiring each agency

19 to consolidate requirements regarding collections of

20 information with respect to small business concerns,

21 within and across agencies without negatively im22 pacting the effectiveness of underlying laws and reg23 ulations regarding such collections of information, in

24 order that each small business concern may submit

25 all information required by the agency—
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1 ‘‘(A) to 1 point of contact in the agency;

2 and

3 ‘‘(B) in a single format, such as a single

4 electronic reporting system, with respect to the

5 agency;

6 ‘‘(3) examine the feasibility and helpfulness to

7 small businesses of the Director publishing a list of

8 the collections of information applicable to small

9 business concerns (as defined in section 3 of the

10 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632)), organized—

11 ‘‘(A) by North American Industrial Classi12 fication System code;

13 ‘‘(B) industrial/sector description; or

14 ‘‘(C) in another manner by which small

15 business concerns can more easily identify re16 quirements with which those small business

17 concerns are expected to comply;

18 ‘‘(4) examine the savings, including cost sav19 ings, for implementing a system of electronic paper20 work submissions; and

21 ‘‘(5) examine the feasibility of measures to

22 strengthen the dissemination of information.

23 ‘‘(d) Not later than 1 year after the date of enact24 ment of the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2001,

25 the task force shall submit a report of its findings under
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1 subsection (c), including any minority views of the task

2 force, to—

3 ‘‘(1) the Director;

4 ‘‘(2) the chairpersons and ranking minority

5 members of—

6 ‘‘(A) the Committee on Governmental Af7 fairs and the Committee on Small Business and

8 Entrepreneurship of the Senate; and

9 ‘‘(B) the Committee on Government Re10 form and the Committee on Small Business of

11 the House of Representatives; and

12 ‘‘(3) the Small Business and Agriculture Regu13 latory Enforcement Ombudsman designated under

14 section 30(b) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C.

15 657(b)).

16 ‘‘(e) In this section, the term ‘small business concern’

17 has the meaning given under section 3 of the Small Busi18 ness Act (15 U.S.C. 632).’’.

19 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—

20 The table of sections for chapter 35 of title 44, United

21 States Code, is amended by striking the item relating to

22 section 3520 and inserting the following:

‘‘3520. Establishment of task force on information collection and dissemination.

‘‘3521. Authorization of appropriations.’’.
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1 SEC. 4. REGULATORY ENFORCEMENT REFORMS.

2 Section 223 of the Small Business Regulatory En3 forcement Fairness Act of 1996 (5 U.S.C. 601 note) is

4 amended by striking subsection (c) and inserting:

5 ‘‘(c) REPORTS.—

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after

7 the date of enactment of the Small Business Paper8 work Relief Act of 2001, and not later than every

9 2 years thereafter, each agency shall submit a report

10 to the Director of the Office of Management and

11 Budget and the chairpersons and ranking minority

12 members of the Committee on Governmental Affairs

13 and the Committee on Small Business of the Senate,

14 and the Committee on the Judiciary and the Com15 mittee on Small Business of the House of Rep16 resentatives, that includes information with respect

17 to the applicable 1-year period or 2-year period cov18 ered by the report on each of the following:

19 ‘‘(A) The number of enforcement actions

20 in which a civil penalty is assessed.

21 ‘‘(B) The number of enforcement actions

22 in which a civil penalty is assessed against a

23 small entity.

24 ‘‘(C) The number of enforcement actions

25 described under subparagraphs (A) and (B) in

26 which the civil penalty is reduced or waived.
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1 ‘‘(D) The total monetary amount of the re2 ductions or waivers referred to under subpara3 graph (C).

4 ‘‘(2) DEFINITIONS IN REPORTS.—Each report

5 under paragraph (1) shall include definitions of the

6 terms ‘enforcement actions’, ‘reduction or waiver’,

7 and ‘small entity’ as used in the report.’’.

Passed the Senate December 17, 2001.

Attest:

Secretary.
107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1271

AN ACT

To amend chapter 35 of title 44, United States

Code, for the purpose of facilitating complianceby small business concerns with certain Federalpaperwork requirements, to establish a task forceto examine information collection and dissemination, and for other purposes.