II

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1604

To provide for greater regulatory flexibility for small governments, lessen

compliance burdens on small governments, test innovative regulatory

methods, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

OCTOBER 29 (legislative day, OCTOBER 13), 1993

Mr. GLENN (for himself, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. PRYOR, Mr. AKAKA, and Mr.

LIEBERMAN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Governmental Affairs

A BILL

To provide for greater regulatory flexibility for small governments, lessen compliance burdens on small governments,

test innovative regulatory methods, 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 Governments

5 Regulatory Improvement and Innovation Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSES.

7 The purposes of this Act are to—
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1 (1) better determine the cost and other impacts

2 of regulation on small governments;

3 (2) encourage the use of more flexible regu4 latory approaches that lessen compliance burdens on

5 small governments; and

6 (3) test innovative methods of regulation.

7 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

8 For the purposes of this Act—

9 (1) the term ‘‘small government’’ means a small

10 governmental jurisdiction as defined under section

11 601(5) of title 5, United States Code;

12 (2) the term ‘‘agency’’ means any agency as de13 fined under section 551(1) of title 5, United States

14 Code;

15 (3) the term ‘‘Director’’ means the Director of

16 the Office of Management and Budget;

17 (4) the term ‘‘Council’’ means the Council on

18 Small Governments established under section 8;

19 (5) the term ‘‘small entity’’ means a small en20 tity as defined under section 601(6) of title 5,

21 United States Code; and

22 (6) the term ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Ad23 ministrator of the Small Business Administration.
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1 SEC. 4. AGENCY RESPONSIBILITIES.

2 (a) GUIDELINES.—The head of each agency shall,

3 after opportunity for public comment, issue guidelines con4 sistent with section 6(b) of this Act to ensure implementa5 tion of chapter 6 of title 5, United States Code, by the

6 agency.

7 (b) PLANS.—The head of each agency shall develop

8 a plan to inform, educate, and advise small entities on

9 compliance with any rule that has a significant impact on

10 small entities. Such plan shall be published in the Federal

11 Register in the notice of proposed rulemaking and the

12 final rulemaking notice for any such rule, and shall include

13 a listing of—

14 (1) local and regional workshops for the pur15 pose of providing and receiving information about

16 the impact of the rule;

17 (2) written guidance and other applicable publi18 cations and their availability; and

19 (3) relevant Federal, State, and local technical

20 assistance programs.

21 (c) REPORTS.—The head of each agency shall report

22 annually to the Administrator and to the Director on the

23 agency’s implementation of this Act and compliance with

24 the provisions of chapter 6 of title 5, United States Code.
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1 SEC. 5. SMALL GOVERNMENT COORDINATORS.

2 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in each

3 agency the position of Small Government Coordinator who

4 shall report directly to the head of the agency. The Small

5 Government Coordinator shall—

6 (1) communicate the small government perspec7 tive on agency rules and policies during the develop8 ment of such rules and policies;

9 (2) oversee and report to the agency head on

10 agency efforts to comply with chapter 6 of title 5,

11 United States Code, as such chapter applies to small

12 governmental jurisdictions, including—

13 (A) participation in the development of

14 agency guidelines for the full implementation of

15 chapter 6 of title 5, United States Code, as

16 such chapter applies to small governmental ju17 risdictions; and

18 (B) the development of alternative regu19 latory proposals that accomplish the stated ob20 jectives of applicable statutes and which mini21 mize the impact of regulations on small govern22 ments by working with—

23 (i) agency regulatory policy personnel;

24 (ii) national organizations represent25 ing small governments;

26 (iii) local elected officials;
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1 (iv) public policy experts;

2 (v) the Administrator;

3 (vi) the Director; and

4 (vii) the Council;

5 (3) advising the agency head on establishing

6 electronic or other means of information collection to

7 gather data on small governments;

8 (4) advising the agency head and the Director

9 on the development and implementation of the pilot

10 program established under section 6; and

11 (5) providing technical assistance to small gov12 ernments on compliance with agency regulations.

13 (b) PERSONNEL.—To the greatest extent practicable,

14 the head of each agency shall designate existing personnel

15 to perform the duties described under this section.

16 (c) WAIVER.—(1) The head of an agency may waive

17 the requirements of this section if such agency head—

18 (A) in consultation with the Council and in con19 currence with the Director, certifies that the agency

20 does not issue a significant number of rules affecting

21 small governments; and

22 (B) publishes such certification in the Federal

23 Register.

24 (2) Such waiver shall be reviewed annually and such

25 certification shall be made annually, if appropriate.
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1 SEC. 6. REGULATORY COORDINATION.

2 (a) OFFICE OF INFORMATION AND REGULATORY AF3 FAIRS.—The Director shall delegate responsibility for the

4 implementation of all duties of the Director under this Act

5 to the Administrator of the Office of Information and Reg6 ulatory Affairs.

7 (b) GUIDELINES.—The Director, in consultation with

8 the Administrator of Small Business, shall issue guidelines

9 to agencies on the identification of rules having a signifi10 cant impact on small entities. In issuing the guidelines,

11 the Director shall consider—

12 (1) the number of small entities that may be

13 impacted by a rule;

14 (2) the economic cost or benefit to small enti15 ties from compliance with a rule;

16 (3) the effect a rule may have on regional

17 economies; and

18 (4) the reporting and paperwork requirements

19 imposed on small entities by a rule.

20 (c) COMPLIANCE.—The Director, to the extent per21 mitted by law and in consultation with the Administrator,

22 shall be responsible for monitoring and coordinating agen23 cy compliance with the requirements of this Act.

24 SEC. 7. REGULATORY FLEXIBILITY PILOT PROGRAM.

25 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director, in consultation

26 with agencies and the Council, shall establish pilot pro-
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1 grams in at least 2 agencies to test innovative, and more

2 flexible regulatory approaches that—

3 (1) reduce reporting and compliance burdens on

4 small entities; and

5 (2) meet overall statutory goals and objectives.

6 (b) PROGRAM CONTENTS.—The pilot programs shall

7 focus on rules in effect or proposed rules, or a combination

8 thereof, that have a significant impact on small entities,

9 with equal emphasis given to rules that impact small gov10 ernments, small business, and small organizations.

11 SEC. 8. THE SMALL GOVERNMENTS ADVISORY COUNCIL.

12 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—(1) There is established a

13 Small Governments Advisory Council composed of 9 rep14 resentatives from small governments appointed by the

15 President, of whom no more than 5 shall be from any one

16 political party.

17 (2) No later than 6 months after the date of enact18 ment of this Act, the President shall make the original

19 appointments to the Council.

20 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—No less than 6 members of the

21 Council shall be acting small governmental officials. Mem22 bers of the Council shall—

23 (1) have an extensive understanding of and ex24 perience with the operations of small governments;

25 and
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1 (2) represent a balance with respect to the re2 gions, the sizes of small governments, and the occu3 pations represented on the Council.

4 (c) DUTIES.—The duties of the Small Governments

5 Advisory Council shall be to—

6 (1) serve as a focal point for the receipt of com7 ments concerning the regulatory policies and activi8 ties of agencies that affect small governments;

9 (2) advise the Small Government Coordinators

10 as to the performance of their duties under section

11 5;

12 (3)(A) develop proposals for changes in the reg13 ulatory policies and activities of any agency which

14 shall carry out the purposes of this Act; and

15 (B) communicate such proposals to the Director

16 and appropriate agencies;

17 (4)(A) monitor the costs and other burdens of

18 Federal regulation on small governments, including

19 the cumulative effect of such regulation; and

20 (B) make legislative and nonlegislative propos21 als for eliminating excessive or unnecessary regu22 latory burdens placed on small governments;

23 (5) advise the Director on the implementation

24 of section 6 as such section relates to small govern25 ments; and
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1 (6) report annually to the Administrator and

2 the Director on the actions of the Council under this

3 Act, including—

4 (A) a summary of all proposals offered

5 under subsection (c)(3);

6 (B) a detailed assessment, prepared in con7 sultation with the Small Government Coordina8 tors established under section 5, of the costs

9 and other burdens of government regulation on

10 small governments, including the cumulative ef11 fects of such regulation; and

12 (C) an assessment of the effectiveness of

13 the pilot programs established under section 7.

14 (d) CHAIRMAN.—The Council shall elect a chairman

15 and meet at the call of the chairman but no less often

16 than every 6 months.

17 (e) MEETINGS.—The Director shall meet with the

18 Council on a regular basis, but no less often than every

19 6 months.

20 (f) FEDERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ACT.—The

21 Council shall be subject to the Federal Advisory Commit22 tee Act (5 U.S.C. App.).

23 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

24 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as necessary

25 to carry out the provisions of this section.
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1 SEC. 9. ASSISTANCE OF GOVERNMENT AGENCIES.

2 Consistent with applicable law, each department,

3 agency, and instrumentality of the Federal Government

4 shall furnish to the Council such reports and other infor5 mation as the Council determines necessary to carry out

6 its duties under this Act.

7 SEC. 10. TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.

8 Chapter 6 of title 5, United States Code, is amend9 ed—

10 (1) in section 601(5) by inserting ‘‘Indian

11 tribes,’’ after ‘‘school districts,’’;

12 (2) in section 602(b) by inserting ‘‘the Director

13 of the Office of Management and Budget and’’ after

14 ‘‘transmitted to’’; and

15 (3) in section 605(b)—

16 (A) in the first sentence by striking out

17 ‘‘sections 603 and 604 of this title’’ and insert18 ing in lieu thereof ‘‘sections 603(c) and 604 of

19 this title’’; and

20 (B) in the second sentence—

21 (i) by striking out ‘‘or at the time of

22 publication of the final rule’’; and

23 (ii) by inserting ‘‘the Director of the

24 Office of Management and Budget and’’

25 after ‘‘such certification and statement

26 to’’.
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