II 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2834 

To enhance compliance assistance for small businesses. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 23, 2004 

Ms. SNOWE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship 

A BILL 

To enhance compliance assistance for small businesses. 

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 Com5 pliance Assistance Enhancement Act of 2004’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Small businesses represent 99.7 percent of 

9 all employers, employ half of all private sector em10 ployees, and pay 44.3 percent of total United States 

11 private payroll. 
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1 (2) Small businesses generate 60 to 80 percent 

2 of net new jobs annually over the last decade. 

3 (3) Very small firms with fewer than 20 em4 ployees spend 60 percent more per employee than 

5 larger firms to comply with Federal regulations. 

6 Small firms spend twice as much on tax compliance 

7 as their larger counterparts. Based on an analysis in 

8 2001, firms employing fewer than 20 employees face 

9 an annual regulatory burden of nearly $7,000 per 

10 employee, compared to a burden of almost $4,500 

11 per employee for a firm with over 500 employees. 

12 (4) Section 212 of the Small Business Regu13 latory Enforcement Fairness Act (5 U.S.C. 601 

14 note) requires agencies to produce small entity com15 pliance guides for each rule or group of rules for 

16 which an agency is required to prepare a final regu17 latory flexibility analysis under section 604 of title 

18 5, United States Code. 

19 (5) The Government Accountability Office has 

20 found that agencies have rarely attempted to comply 

21 with section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory 

22 Enforcement Fairness Act (5 U.S.C. 601 note). 

23 When agencies did try to comply with that require24 ment, they generally did not produce adequate com25 pliance assistance materials. 
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1 (6) The Government Accountability Office also 

2 found that section 212 of the Small Business Regu3 latory Enforcement Fairness Act (5 U.S.C. 601 

4 note) and other sections of that Act need clarifica5 tion to be effective. 

6 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are the fol7 lowing: 

8 (1) To clarify the requirement contained in sec9 tion 212 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforce10 ment Fairness Act (5 U.S.C. 601 note) for agencies 

11 to produce small entity compliance guides. 

12 (2) To clarify other terms relating to the re13 quirement in section 212 of the Small Business Reg14 ulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (5 U.S.C. 601 

15 note). 

16 (3) To ensure that agencies produce adequate 

17 and useful compliance assistance materials to help 

18 small businesses meet the obligations imposed by 

19 regulations affecting such small businesses, and 

20 thereby to increase compliance with these regula21 tions. 

22 SEC. 3. ENHANCED COMPLIANCE ASSISTANCE FOR SMALL 

23 BUSINESSES. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 212 of the Small Business 

25 Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 (5 U.S.C. 
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1 601 note) is amended by striking subsection (a) and in2 serting the following: 

3 ‘‘(a) COMPLIANCE GUIDE.— 

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For each rule for which an 

5 agency head does not make a certification under sec6 tion 605(b) of title 5, United States Code, the agen7 cy shall publish 1 or more guides to assist small en8 tities in complying with the rule, and shall entitle 

9 such publications ‘small entity compliance guides’. 

10 ‘‘(2) PUBLICATION OF GUIDES.—The publica11 tion of each guide under this subsection shall in12 clude— 

13 ‘‘(A) the posting of the guide in an easily 

14 identified location on the website of the agency; 

15 and 

16 ‘‘(B) distribution of the guide to known in17 dustry contacts, such as small entities, associa18 tions, or industry leaders affected by the rule. 

19 ‘‘(3) PUBLICATION DATE.—An agency shall 

20 publish each guide (including the posting and dis21 tribution of the guide as described under paragraph 

22 (2))— 

23 ‘‘(A) on the same date as the date of publi24 cation of the final rule (or as soon as possible 

25 after that date); and 
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1 ‘‘(B) not later than the date on which the 

2 requirements of that rule become effective. 

3 ‘‘(4) COMPLIANCE ACTIONS.— 

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each guide shall ex5 plain the actions a small entity is required to 

6 take to comply with a rule. 

7 ‘‘(B) EXPLANATION.—The explanation 

8 under subparagraph (A)— 

9 ‘‘(i) shall include a description of ac10 tions needed to meet requirements to en11 able a small entity to know when such re12 quirements are met; and 

13 ‘‘(ii) if determined appropriate by the 

14 agency, may include a description of pos15 sible procedures, such as conducting tests, 

16 that assist a small entity in meeting such 

17 requirements. 

18 ‘‘(C) PROCEDURES.—Procedures described 

19 under subparagraph (B)(ii)— 

20 ‘‘(i) shall be suggestions to assist 

21 small entities; and 

22 ‘‘(ii) shall not be additional require23 ments relating to the rule. 

24 ‘‘(5) AGENCY PREPARATION OF GUIDES.—The 

25 agency shall, in its sole discretion, taking into ac-
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1 count the subject matter of the rule and the lan2 guage of relevant statutes, ensure that the guide is 

3 written using sufficiently plain language likely to be 

4 understood by affected small entities. Agencies may 

5 prepare separate guides covering groups or classes of 

6 similarly affected small entities, and may cooperate 

7 with associations of small entities to develop and dis8 tribute such guides. An agency may prepare guides 

9 and apply this section with respect to a rule or a 

10 group of related rules.’’. 

11 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

12 Section 211(3) of the Small Business Regulatory Enforce13 ment Fairness Act of 1996 (5 U.S.C. 601 note) is amend14 ed by inserting ‘‘and entitled’’ after ‘‘designated’’. 

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