I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 203

To amend the Small Business Act to direct the Administrator of the Small

Business Administration to establish a pilot program to provide regulatory compliance assistance to small business concerns, and for other

purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 3, 2001

Mr. SWEENEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Small Business

A BILL

To amend the Small Business Act to direct the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to establish

a pilot program to provide regulatory compliance assistance to small business concerns, 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 ‘‘National Small Busi5 ness Regulatory Assistance Act of 2001’’.

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

7 The purpose of this Act is to establish a pilot pro8 gram to—
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1 (1) provide confidential assistance to small

2 business concerns;

3 (2) provide small business concerns with the in4 formation necessary to improve their rate of compli5 ance with Federal regulations;

6 (3) create a partnership among Federal agen7 cies to increase outreach efforts to small business

8 concerns with respect to regulatory compliance;

9 (4) provide a mechanism for unbiased feedback

10 to Federal agencies on the regulatory environment

11 for small business concerns; and

12 (5) utilize the service delivery network of Small

13 Business Development Centers to improve access of

14 small business concerns to programs to assist them

15 with regulatory compliance.

16 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

17 In this Act, the definitions set forth in section 36(a)

18 of the Small Business Act (as added by section 4 of this

19 Act) shall apply.

20 SEC. 4. SMALL BUSINESS REGULATORY ASSISTANCE PILOT

21 PROGRAM.

22 The Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637 et seq.) is

23 amended—

24 (1) by redesignating section 36 as section 37;

25 and
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1 (2) by inserting after section 35 the following

2 new section:

3 ‘‘SEC. 36. SMALL BUSINESS REGULATORY ASSISTANCE

4 PILOT PROGRAM.

5 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following

6 definitions apply:

7 ‘‘(1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘Adminis8 trator’ means the Administrator of the Small Busi9 ness Administration.

10 ‘‘(2) ASSOCIATION.—The term ‘Association’

11 means the association, established pursuant to sec12 tion 21(a)(3)(A), representing a majority of Small

13 Business Development Centers.

14 ‘‘(3) PARTICIPATING SMALL BUSINESS DEVEL15 OPMENT CENTER.—The term ‘participating Small

16 Business Development Center’ means a Small Busi17 ness Development Center participating in the pilot

18 program.

19 ‘‘(4) PILOT PROGRAM.—The term ‘pilot pro20 gram’ means the pilot program established under

21 this section.

22 ‘‘(5) REGULATORY COMPLIANCE ASSISTANCE.—

23 The term ‘regulatory compliance assistance’ means

24 assistance provided by a Small Business Develop25 ment Center to a small business concern to enable
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1 the concern to comply with Federal regulatory re2 quirements.

3 ‘‘(6) SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CEN4 TER.—The term ‘Small Business Development Cen5 ter’ means a Small Business Development Center

6 described in section 21.

7 ‘‘(7) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means each of

8 the several States, the District of Columbia, the

9 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands,

10 and Guam.

11 ‘‘(b) AUTHORITY.—In accordance with this section,

12 the Administrator shall establish a pilot program to pro13 vide regulatory compliance assistance to small business

14 concerns through participating Small Business Develop15 ment Centers, the Association, and Federal compliance

16 partnership programs.

17 ‘‘(c) SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTERS.—

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the pilot

19 program, the Administrator shall enter into arrange20 ments with participating Small Business Develop21 ment Centers under which such centers will

22 provide—

23 ‘‘(A) access to information and resources,

24 including current Federal and State nonpuni25 tive compliance and technical assistance pro-
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1 grams similar to those established under section

2 507 of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990;

3 ‘‘(B) training and educational activities;

4 ‘‘(C) confidential, free-of-charge, one-on5 one, in-depth counseling to the owners and op6 erators of small business concerns regarding

7 compliance with Federal regulations, provided

8 that such counseling is not considered to be the

9 practice of law in a State in which a Small

10 Business Development Center is located or in

11 which such counseling is conducted;

12 ‘‘(D) technical assistance; and

13 ‘‘(E) referrals to experts and other pro14 viders of compliance assistance.

15 ‘‘(2) REPORTS.—

16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each participating

17 Small Business Development Center shall trans18 mit to the Administrator a quarterly report that

19 includes—

20 ‘‘(i) a summary of the regulatory com21 pliance assistance provided by the center

22 under the pilot program; and

23 ‘‘(ii) any data and information ob24 tained by the center from a Federal agency

25 regarding regulatory compliance that the
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1 agency intends to be disseminated to small

2 business concerns.

3 ‘‘(B) ELECTRONIC FORM.—Each report re4 ferred to in subparagraph (A) shall be trans5 mitted in electronic form.

6 ‘‘(C) INTERIM REPORTS.—During any time

7 period falling between the transmittal of quar8 terly reports, a participating Small Business

9 Development Center may transmit to the Ad10 ministrator any interim report containing data

11 or information considered by the center to be

12 necessary or useful.

13 ‘‘(D) LIMITATION ON DISCLOSURE RE14 QUIREMENTS.—The Administrator may not re15 quire a Small Business Development Center to

16 disclose the name or address of any small busi17 ness concern that received or is receiving assist18 ance under the pilot program, except that the

19 Administrator shall require such a disclosure if

20 ordered to do so by a court in any civil or

21 criminal enforcement action commenced by a

22 Federal or State agency.

23 ‘‘(d) DATA REPOSITORY AND CLEARINGHOUSE.—

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the pilot

25 program, the Administrator, acting through the of-
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1 fice of the Associate Administrator for Small Busi2 ness Development Centers, shall—

3 ‘‘(A) act as the repository of and clearing4 house for data and information submitted by

5 Small Business Development Centers; and

6 ‘‘(B) transmit to the President and to the

7 Committees on Small Business of the Senate

8 and House of Representatives an annual report

9 that includes—

10 ‘‘(i) a description of the types of as11 sistance provided by participating Small

12 Business Development Centers under the

13 pilot program;

14 ‘‘(ii) data regarding the number of

15 small business concerns that contacted

16 participating Small Business Development

17 Centers regarding assistance under the

18 pilot program;

19 ‘‘(iii) data regarding the number of

20 small business concerns assisted by partici21 pating Small Business Development Cen22 ters under the pilot program;

23 ‘‘(iv) data and information regarding

24 outreach activities conducted by partici25 pating Small Business Development Cen-
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1 ters under the pilot program, including any

2 activities conducted in partnership with

3 Federal agencies;

4 ‘‘(v) data and information regarding

5 each case known to the Administrator in

6 which one or more Small Business Devel7 opment Centers offered conflicting advice

8 or information regarding compliance with a

9 Federal regulation to one or more small

10 business concerns; and

11 ‘‘(vi) any recommendations for im12 provements in the regulation of small busi13 ness concerns.

14 ‘‘(e) ELIGIBILITY.—

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A Small Business Develop16 ment Center shall be eligible to receive assistance

17 under the pilot program only if the center is certified

18 under section 21(k)(2).

19 ‘‘(2) WAIVER.—With respect to a Small Busi20 ness Development Center seeking assistance under

21 the pilot program, the Administrator may waive the

22 certification requirement set forth in paragraph (1)

23 if the Administrator determines that the center is

24 making a good faith effort to obtain such certifi25 cation.
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1 ‘‘(3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This subsection shall

2 take effect on October 1, 2000.

3 ‘‘(f) SELECTION OF PARTICIPATING CENTERS.—

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In consultation with the

5 Association and giving substantial weight to the As6 sociation’s recommendations, the Administrator shall

7 select two Small Business Development Centers

8 from each of the following groups of States to par9 ticipate in the pilot program, except that the Admin10 istrator may not select two Small Business Develop11 ment Centers from the same State:

12 ‘‘(A) Group 1: Maine, Massachusetts, New

13 Hampshire, Connecticut, Vermont, and Rhode

14 Island.

15 ‘‘(B) Group 2: New York, New Jersey,

16 Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

17 ‘‘(C) Group 3: Pennsylvania, Maryland,

18 West Virginia, Virginia, the District of Colum19 bia, and Delaware.

20 ‘‘(D) Group 4: Georgia, Alabama, North

21 Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida,

22 Kentucky, and Tennessee.

23 ‘‘(E) Group 5: Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, In24 diana, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.
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1 ‘‘(F) Group 6: Texas, New Mexico, Arkan2 sas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana.

3 ‘‘(G) Group 7: Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska,

4 and Kansas.

5 ‘‘(H) Group 8: Colorado, Wyoming, North

6 Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Utah.

7 ‘‘(I) Group 9: California, Guam, Hawaii,

8 Nevada, and Arizona.

9 ‘‘(J) Group 10: Washington, Alaska,

10 Idaho, and Oregon.

11 ‘‘(2) DEADLINE FOR SELECTION.—The Admin12 istrator shall make selections under this subsection

13 not later than 60 days after promulgation of regula14 tions under section 4.

15 ‘‘(g) MATCHING NOT REQUIRED.—Subparagraphs

16 (A) and (B) of section 21(a)(4) shall not apply to assist17 ance made available under the pilot program.

18 ‘‘(h) EVALUATION AND REPORT.—Not later than 3

19 years after the establishment of the pilot program, the

20 Comptroller General of the United States shall conduct

21 an evaluation of the pilot program and shall transmit to

22 the Administrator and to the Committees on Small Busi23 ness of the Senate and House of Representatives a report

24 containing the results of the evaluation along with any rec25 ommendations as to whether the pilot program, with or
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1 without modification, should be extended to include the

2 participation of all Small Business Development Centers.

3 ‘‘(i) LIMITATION ON USE OF FUNDS.—The Adminis4 trator may carry out the pilot program only with amounts

5 appropriated in advance specifically to carry out this sec6 tion.’’.

7 SEC. 5. PROMULGATION OF REGULATIONS.

8 After providing notice and an opportunity for com9 ment and after consulting with the Association (but not

10 later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of

11 this Act), the Administrator shall promulgate final regula12 tions to carry out this Act, including regulations that

13 establish—

14 (1) priorities for the types of assistance to be

15 provided under the pilot program;

16 (2) standards relating to educational, technical,

17 and support services to be provided by participating

18 Small Business Development Centers;

19 (3) standards relating to any national service

20 delivery and support function to be provided by the

21 Association under the pilot program; and

22 (4) standards relating to any work plan that

23 the Administrator may require a participating Small

24 Business Development Center to develop.

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