I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1882

To amend provisions of law enacted by the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 to ensure full analysis of potential

impacts on small entities of rules proposed by certain agencies, and

for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 20, 1999

Mr. TALENT (for himself, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mrs. KELLY, Mr. BARTLETT of

Maryland, and Mr. EWING) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Small Business, for a period to be subsequently determined by

the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To amend provisions of law enacted by the Small Business

Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 to ensure

full analysis of potential impacts on small entities of

rules proposed by certain agencies, 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 Review

5 Panel Technical Amendments Act of 1999’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

2 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following:

3 (1) A vibrant and growing small business sector

4 is critical to creating jobs in a dynamic economy.

5 (2) Small businesses bear a disproportionate

6 share of regulatory costs and burdens.

7 (3) Federal agencies must consider the impact

8 of their regulations on small businesses early in the

9 rulemaking process.

10 (4) The Small Business Advocacy Review Panel

11 process that was established by the Small Business

12 Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 has

13 been effective in allowing small businesses to partici14 pate in rules that are being developed by the Envi15 ronmental Protection Agency and the Occupational

16 Safety and Health Administration.

17 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are the fol18 lowing:

19 (1) To provide a forum for the effective partici20 pation of small businesses in the Federal regulatory

21 process.

22 (2) To clarify and strengthen the Small Busi23 ness Advocacy Review Panel process.

24 (3) To expand the number of Federal agencies

25 that are required to convene Small Business Advo26 cacy Review Panels.
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1 SEC. 3. ENSURING FULL ANALYSIS OF POTENTIAL IMPACTS

2 ON SMALL ENTITIES OF RULES PROPOSED BY

3 CERTAIN AGENCIES.

4 Section 609(b) of title 5, United States Code, is

5 amended to read as follows:

6 ‘‘(b)(1) Before the publication of an initial regulatory

7 flexibility analysis that a covered agency is required to

8 conduct under this chapter, the head of the covered agency

9 shall—

10 ‘‘(A) notify the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of

11 the Small Business Administration (in this sub12 section referred to as the ‘Chief Counsel’) in writing;

13 ‘‘(B) provide the Chief Counsel with informa14 tion on the potential impacts of the proposed rule on

15 small entities and the type of small entities that

16 might be affected; and

17 ‘‘(C) not later than 30 days after complying

18 with subparagraphs (A) and (B)—

19 ‘‘(i) with the concurrence of the Chief

20 Counsel, identify affected small entity rep21 resentatives; and

22 ‘‘(ii) transmit the information referred to

23 in subparagraph (B) to the identified small en24 tity representatives for the purposes of obtain25 ing advice and recommendations about the po26 tential impacts of the draft proposed rule.
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1 ‘‘(2)(A) Not earlier than 30 days after the covered

2 agency transmits information pursuant to paragraph

3 (1)(C)(ii), the head of the covered agency shall convene

4 a review panel for the draft proposed rule. The panel shall

5 consist solely of full-time Federal employees of the office

6 within the covered agency that will be responsible for car7 rying out the proposed rule, the Office of Information and

8 Regulatory Affairs of the Office of Management and

9 Budget, and the Chief Counsel.

10 ‘‘(B) The review panel shall—

11 ‘‘(i) review any material the covered agency has

12 prepared in connection with this chapter, including

13 any draft proposed rule;

14 ‘‘(ii) collect advice and recommendations from

15 the small entity representatives identified under

16 paragraph (1)(C)(i) on issues related to paragraphs

17 (3), (4), and (5) of section 603(b) and section

18 603(c); and

19 ‘‘(iii) allow any small entity representative iden20 tified under paragraph (1)(C)(i) to make an oral

21 presentation to the panel, if requested.

22 ‘‘(C) Not later than 60 days after the date a covered

23 agency convenes a review panel pursuant to this para24 graph, the review panel shall report to the head of the

25 covered agency on—
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1 ‘‘(i) the comments received from the small enti2 ty representatives identified under paragraph

3 (1)(C)(i); and

4 ‘‘(ii) its findings regarding issues related to

5 paragraphs (3), (4), and (5) of section 603(b) and

6 section 603(c).

7 ‘‘(3) The head of the covered agency shall print in

8 the Federal Register the report of the review panel under

9 paragraph (2)(C), by the earlier of—

10 ‘‘(A) 120 days after the date the head of the

11 covered agency receives the report; or

12 ‘‘(B) as part of the publication of the notice of

13 proposed rulemaking for the proposed rule.

14 ‘‘(4) Where appropriate, the covered agency shall

15 modify the draft proposed rule, the initial regulatory flexi16 bility analysis for the draft proposed rule, or the decision

17 on whether an initial regulatory flexibility analysis is re18 quired for the draft proposed rule.’’.

19 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

20 Section 609(d) of title 5, United States Code, is

21 amended to read as follows:

22 ‘‘(d) For the purposes of this section—

23 ‘‘(1) the term ‘covered agency’ means the Envi24 ronmental Protection Agency, the Occupational

25 Safety and Health Administration of the Depart-
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1 ment of Labor, and the Internal Revenue Service of

2 the Department of the Treasury; and

3 ‘‘(2) the term ‘small entity representative’

4 means a small entity, or an individual or organiza5 tion that represents a small entity.’’.

6 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.

7 This Act shall take effect upon the expiration of the

8 90-day period beginning on the date of the enactment of

9 this Act.

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