II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1146 

To enhance the ability of the Office of the National Ombudsman to assist 

small businesses in meeting regulatory requirements and develop outreach 

initiatives to promote awareness of the services the Office of the National 

Ombudsman provides, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 17, 2017 

Mrs. SHAHEEN (for herself and Mr. TESTER) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business 

and Entrepreneurship 

A BILL 

To enhance the ability of the Office of the National Ombudsman to assist small businesses in meeting regulatory 

requirements and develop outreach initiatives to promote 

awareness of the services the Office of the National 

Ombudsman provides, 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 Regu5 latory Relief Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act— 


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1 (1) the term ‘‘Ombudsman’’ has the meaning 

2 given that term in section 30(a) of the Small Busi3 ness Act 15 U.S.C. 657(a)); and 

4 (2) the term ‘‘small business concern’’ has the 

5 meaning given that term under section 3 of the 

6 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632). 

7 SEC. 3. SBA REGULATORY ENFORCEMENT OMBUDSMAN. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 30(b) of the Small Busi9 ness Act (15 U.S.C. 657(b)(2)) is amended— 

10 (1) in paragraph (2)— 

11 (A) in subparagraph (A)— 

12 (i) by striking ‘‘with each agency with 

13 regulatory authority’’ and inserting the fol14 lowing: ‘‘with— 

15 ‘‘(i) each Federal agency with regu16 latory authority’’; 

17 (ii) by inserting ‘‘and’’ after the semi18 colon; and 

19 (iii) by adding at the end the fol20 lowing: 

21 ‘‘(ii) each Federal agency with regu22 latory authority over small business con23 cerns or that makes grants or enters into 

24 contracts or cooperative agreements with 


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1 small business concerns to develop best 

2 practices to assist the Federal agency in— 

3 ‘‘(I) establishing a program to 

4 assist small entities, as defined in sec5 tion 601 of title 5, United States 

6 Code, in meeting regulatory require7 ments imposed by that Federal agen8 cy, including by responding to inquir9 ies under section 213 of the Small 

10 Business Regulatory Enforcement 

11 Fairness Act of 1996 (5 U.S.C. 601 

12 note); 

13 ‘‘(II) educating small entities 

14 about the regulations of that Federal 

15 agency that are applicable to small en16 tities; 

17 ‘‘(III) training small entities to 

18 comply with the regulations of that 

19 Federal agency; 

20 ‘‘(IV) assisting small entities in 

21 completing forms required by the reg22 ulations of that Federal agency; 

23 ‘‘(V) addressing any specific 

24 question or concern of small entities; 


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1 ‘‘(VI) evaluating compliance 

2 guides described under section 212 of 

3 the Small Business Regulatory En4 forcement Fairness Act of 1996 (5 

5 U.S.C. 601 note); 

6 ‘‘(VII) ensuring that the compli7 ance guides described in subclause 

8 (VI) are available to small business 

9 development centers and to other re10 source partners of the Administration; 

11 ‘‘(VIII) developing webinars re12 lating to compliance assistance for— 

13 ‘‘(aa) recently finalized rules 

14 of the Federal agency; and 

15 ‘‘(bb) rules relating to which 

16 the Federal agency or Ombuds17 man receives a significant num18 ber of compliance inquiries from 

19 small business concerns; and 

20 ‘‘(IX) conducting customer serv21 ice surveys on an ongoing basis of 

22 small business concerns that interact 

23 with the Federal agency to assess the 

24 timeliness and quality of the activities 

25 of the Federal agency, which shall be 


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1 conducted in a manner that allows the 

2 results of the surveys to be incor3 porated into the rating of the respon4 siveness of the Federal agency under 

5 subparagraph (C);’’; 

6 (B) in subparagraph (D), by striking 

7 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

8 (C) in subparagraph (E), by striking the 

9 period and inserting a semicolon; and 

10 (D) by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(F) in collaboration with the employee of 

12 a Federal agency designated by the head of the 

13 Federal agency as the primary point of contact 

14 with the Ombudsman, establish a procedure re15 lating to how the Federal agency will provide 

16 information— 

17 ‘‘(i) to small business concerns re18 garding the Ombudsman; and 

19 ‘‘(ii) to the Ombudsman regarding the 

20 nature, scope, and resolution of requests to 

21 the Federal agency from small business 

22 concerns about proposed, final, or existing 

23 rules; 

24 ‘‘(G) work with each Federal agency with 

25 regulatory authority over small business conVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:36 May 19, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1146.IS S1146

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1 cerns and with programs of the Administration 

2 (including the Service Corps of Retired Execu3 tives authorized under section 8(b)(1)(B), wom4 en’s business centers operating under section 

5 29, and small business development centers) to 

6 conduct a robust outreach initiative, including 

7 through the use of the Internet, to increase the 

8 visibility of the Ombudsman and promote 

9 awareness of the services available from the 

10 Ombudsman; and 

11 ‘‘(H) make information regarding the edu12 cation, training, and compliance assistance serv13 ices of the Ombudsman readily available on the 

14 website of the Ombudsman.’’; and 

15 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

16 ‘‘(3)(A) The head of each Federal agency with 

17 regulatory authority over small business concerns or 

18 that makes grants or enters into contracts or coop19 erative agreements with small business concerns 

20 shall designate an employee of the Federal agency as 

21 the primary point of contact with the Ombudsman. 

22 ‘‘(B) The employee designated under subpara23 graph (A) shall have the authority to make changes 

24 necessary to address compliance issues raised by 

25 small business concerns.’’. 


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1 (b) RESOURCES.—The Ombudsman shall appoint ad2 ditional individuals to positions in which they will provide 

3 education, training, and compliance assistance to small 

4 business concerns. 

5 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

6 Section 30 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 657) 

7 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

9 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

10 such sums as are necessary.’’. 

Æ 


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