I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5999 

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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 19, 2023 

Mr. MFUME (for himself, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mr. THANEDAR, Ms. SCHOLTEN, 

Mr. MCGARVEY, Mr. LANDSMAN, and Mr. PHILLIPS) introduced the following bill 

OCTOBER 25, 2023 

Referred to the Committee on Small Business 

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’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. SBA REGULATORY ENFORCEMENT OMBUDSMAN. 

2 Section 30(b) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

3 657(b)(2)) is amended— 

4 (1) in paragraph (2)— 

5 (A) in subparagraph (A)— 

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

7 regulatory authority’’ and inserting the fol8 lowing: ‘‘with— 

9 ‘‘(i) each Federal agency with regu10 latory authority’’; 

11 (ii) by inserting ‘‘and’’ after the semi12 colon; and 

13 (iii) by adding at the end the fol14 lowing: 

15 ‘‘(ii) each Federal agency with regu16 latory authority over small business con17 cerns or that makes grants or enters into 

18 contracts or cooperative agreements with 

19 small entities to develop best practices to 

20 assist the Federal agency in— 

21 ‘‘(I) establishing a program to 

22 assist small entities (as defined in sec23 tion 601 of title 5, United States 

24 Code) in meeting regulatory require25 ments imposed by that Federal agen26 cy, including by responding to inquirVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:17 Nov 04, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5999.IH H5999

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1 ies under section 213 of the Small 

2 Business Regulatory Enforcement 

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

4 note); 

5 ‘‘(II) educating small entities 

6 about the regulations of that Federal 

7 agency that are applicable to small en8 tities; 

9 ‘‘(III) training small entities to 

10 comply with the regulations of that 

11 Federal agency; 

12 ‘‘(IV) assisting small entities in 

13 completing forms relating to such 

14 grants, contracts, or cooperative 

15 agreements required by the regula16 tions of that Federal agency; 

17 ‘‘(V) addressing any specific 

18 question or concern of small entities; 

19 ‘‘(VI) evaluating compliance 

20 guides described under section 212 of 

21 the Small Business Regulatory En22 forcement Fairness Act of 1996 (5 

23 U.S.C. 601 note); 

24 ‘‘(VII) ensuring that the compli25 ance guides described in subclause 


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1 (VI) are available to small business 

2 development centers and to other re3 source partners of the Administration; 

4 and 

5 ‘‘(VIII) developing webinars re6 lating to compliance assistance for— 

7 ‘‘(aa) recently finalized rules 

8 of the Federal agency; and 

9 ‘‘(bb) rules relating to which 

10 the Federal agency or Ombuds11 man receives a significant num12 ber of compliance inquiries from 

13 small entities;’’; 

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

15 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

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

17 period at the end and inserting a semicolon; 

18 and 

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

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

21 a Federal agency designated by the head of the 

22 Federal agency as the primary point of contact 

23 with the Ombudsman, establish a procedure re24 lating to how the Federal agency will provide 

25 information— 


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1 ‘‘(i) to small business concerns re2 garding the Ombudsman; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) to the Ombudsman regarding the 

4 nature, scope, and resolution of requests to 

5 the Federal agency from small business 

6 concerns about proposed, final, or existing 

7 rules; 

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

9 regulatory authority over small business con10 cerns and with programs of the Administration 

11 (including the Service Corps of Retired Execu12 tives authorized under section 8(b)(1)(B), wom13 en’s business centers operating under section 

14 29, and small business development centers) to 

15 conduct a robust outreach initiative, including 

16 through the use of the Internet, to increase the 

17 visibility of the Ombudsman and promote 

18 awareness of the services available from the 

19 Ombudsman; and 

20 ‘‘(H) make information regarding the edu21 cation, training, and compliance assistance serv22 ices of the Ombudsman readily available on the 

23 website of the Ombudsman.’’; and 

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


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1 ‘‘(3) PRIMARY POINT OF CONTACT.—The head 

2 of each Federal agency with regulatory authority 

3 over small business concerns or that makes grants 

4 or enters into contracts or cooperative agreements 

5 with small business concerns shall designate an em6 ployee of the Federal agency as the primary point of 

7 contact with the Ombudsman.’’. 

8 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

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

10 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

12 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

13 such sums as are necessary.’’. 

Æ 


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