II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2216 

To provide small businesses with a grace period for a regulatory violation, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 7, 2014 

Mr. PAUL introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to 

the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To provide small businesses with a grace period for a 

regulatory violation, 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 ‘‘Protect Small Business 

5 Jobs Act of 2014’’. 

6 SEC. 2. IN GENERAL. 

7 Section 558 of title 5, United States Code, is amend8 ed by adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘(d) Before any enforcement action is taken on a 

10 sanction on a business for a violation of a rule or pursuant 


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1 to an adjudication, and subject to subsection (e) and (f), 

2 an agency shall— 

3 ‘‘(1) not later than 10 business days after the 

4 date on which the agency determines that the sanc5 tion may be imposed on the business, provide notice 

6 to the business that, if the business is a small busi7 ness, the small business may be subject to a sanction 

8 at the end of the grace period described in para9 graph (3); 

10 ‘‘(2) delay any further action relating to the 

11 sanction until the end of the 15-calendar day period 

12 beginning on the date on which the agency provides 

13 notice under paragraph (1); 

14 ‘‘(3) for a small business— 

15 ‘‘(A) delay any further action relating to 

16 the sanction until not earlier than the end of 

17 the 6-month period beginning on the date on 

18 which the agency provides notice under para19 graph (1); and 

20 ‘‘(B) upon application by the small busi21 ness demonstrating reasonable efforts made in 

22 good faith to remedy the violation or other con23 duct giving rise to the sanction, extending the 

24 period under subparagraph (A) by 3 months; 


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1 ‘‘(4) after the end of the period described in 

2 paragraph (3), redetermine whether, as of the day 

3 after the end of the period, the small business would 

4 still be subject to the sanction; and 

5 ‘‘(5) if the agency determines under paragraph 

6 (4) that the small business would not be subject to 

7 the sanction, waive the sanction. 

8 ‘‘(e) If an agency provides notice described in sub9 section (d)(1) to a business on or after the date that is 

10 11 business days after the date on which the agency deter11 mines that a sanction may be imposed on the business— 

12 ‘‘(1) if the agency determines that the same 

13 sanction may have been imposed on the business 10 

14 business days before the date of the notice, the 

15 agency shall take further action in accordance with 

16 subsection (d); and 

17 ‘‘(2) if the agency determines that the same 

18 sanction could not have been imposed on the busi19 ness 10 business days before the date of the notice, 

20 the agency shall waive the sanction and take no fur21 ther action relating to imposition of the sanction. 

22 ‘‘(f) The period during which further action is de23 layed under subsection (d)— 

24 ‘‘(1) shall apply to a business only 1 time in re25 lation to any single rule; 


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1 ‘‘(2) until the end of such period, as determined 

2 in accordance with subsection (d), shall apply to ac3 tion by the agency relating to any subsequent viola4 tion of the same rule; and 

5 ‘‘(3) shall not apply to a violation that puts any 

6 person in imminent danger, within the meaning 

7 given that term under section 13 of the Occupa8 tional Safety and Health Act (29 U.S.C. 662). 

9 ‘‘(g) Nothing in subsection (d) shall be construed to 

10 prevent a small business from appealing any sanction im11 posed in accordance with the procedures of the agency, 

12 or from seeking review under chapter 7. 

13 ‘‘(h) Any sanction imposed by an agency on a small 

14 business for any violation of a rule or pursuant to an adju15 dication, absent proof of written notice of the sanction and 

16 the date on which the agency determined that a sanction 

17 may be imposed, or in violation of subsection (d)(3), shall 

18 have no force or effect. 

19 ‘‘(i) Each Federal agency shall submit to the Om20 budsman an annual report on the implementation of sub21 section (d), including a discussion of the deferral of action 

22 relating to and waiver of sanctions on small businesses. 

23 ‘‘(j) The Ombudsman shall include in the annual re24 port to Congress required under section 30(b)(2)(C) of the 

25 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 657(b)(2)(C)) the agency 


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1 reports described by subsection (i) and a summary of the 

2 findings. 

3 ‘‘(k) For purposes of this section— 

4 ‘‘(1) the term ‘consumer price index’ means the 

5 consumer price index for all urban consumers pub6 lished by the Department of Labor; 

7 ‘‘(2) the term ‘CPI adjusted gross receipts’ 

8 means the amount of gross receipts, divided by the 

9 consumer price index for calendar year 2012, and 

10 multiplied by the consumer price index for the pre11 ceding calendar year, rounded to the nearest mul12 tiple of $100,000 (or, if midway between multiples 

13 of $100,000, to the next higher multiple of 

14 $100,000); 

15 ‘‘(3) the term ‘Ombudsman’ has the same 

16 meaning given such term in section 30(a) of the 

17 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 657(a)); and 

18 ‘‘(4) term ‘small business’ means any sole pro19 prietorship, partnership, corporation, limited liability 

20 company, or other business entity, that— 

21 ‘‘(A) had less than $10,000,000 in gross 

22 receipts in the preceding calendar year; 

23 ‘‘(B) is considered a small-business con24 cern (as defined under section 3(a) of the Small 

25 Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632(a)); 


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1 ‘‘(C) employed fewer than 200 individuals 

2 in the preceding calendar year; or 

3 ‘‘(D) had CPI adjusted gross receipts of 

4 less than $10,000,000 in the preceding calendar 

5 year.’’. 

Æ 


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