II 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3919 

To assist small business concerns in complying with the Sarbanes-Oxley 

Act of 2002. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 21, 2006 

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

to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship 

A BILL 

To assist small business concerns in complying with the 

Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. 

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 Sar5 banes-Oxley Compliance Assistance Act of 2006’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act— 

8 (1) the terms ‘‘Administration’’ and ‘‘Adminis9 trator’’ mean the Small Business Administration 

10 and the Administrator thereof, respectively; 


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1 (2) the term ‘‘Commission’’ means the Securi2 ties and Exchange Commission; 

3 (3) the terms ‘‘issuer’’ and ‘‘securities’’ have 

4 the same meanings as in section 3 of the Securities 

5 Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78c); 

6 (4) the term ‘‘qualified small public company’’ 

7 means a small business concern that has either reg8 istered or applied for registration under either the 

9 Securities Act of 1933 (15 U.S.C. 77a et seq.) or 

10 the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78a 

11 et seq.) and is considered a non-accelerated filer 

12 under rule 12b–2 of the Commission; 

13 (5) the term ‘‘small business concern’’ has the 

14 same meaning as in section 3 of the Small Business 

15 Act (15 U.S.C. 632); and 

16 (6) the term ‘‘task force’’ means the task force 

17 established under section 4(a). 

18 SEC. 3. GRANTS. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator may make 

20 grants to qualified small public companies and small busi21 ness concerns for the costs of compliance with the Sar22 banes-Oxley Act of 2002 (Public Law 107–204; 116 Stat. 

23 745), subject to such rules as the Administrator may es24 tablish. 


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1 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

2 are authorized to be appropriated to the Administration 

3 to carry out this section $5,000,000 for each of fiscal 

4 years 2007 through 2011. 

5 SEC. 4. TASK FORCE. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the 

7 date of enactment of this Act, the Chief Counsel for Advo8 cacy of the Administration shall establish a task force re9 garding compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 

10 (Public Law 107–204; 116 Stat. 745) by small public 

11 companies. 

12 (b) MEMBERS.—The task force shall include officials 

13 from the Commission and appropriate bank regulatory 

14 agencies. 

15 (c) REPORT.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months 

17 after the date of enactment of this Act, and every 

18 2 years thereafter, the task force shall submit to 

19 Congress a report regarding how to assist small pub20 lic companies in complying with the Sarbanes-Oxley 

21 Act of 2002. 

22 (2) CONSIDERATION OF RULES.—In preparing 

23 a report under paragraph (1), the task force shall 

24 take into account any rules issued by the CommisVerDate Aug 31 2005 01:09 Sep 26, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3919.IS S3919

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1 sion providing additional guidance for small business 

2 concerns regarding financial reporting. 

3 (3) CONTENTS.—Each report submitted under 

4 paragraph (1) shall— 

5 (A) evaluate upgrades or technological al6 ternatives to the Electronic Data Gathering 

7 Analysis Retrieval System of the Commission 

8 for small public companies, so that such compa9 nies may submit required filings to the Com10 mission without the need for third party inter11 vention; 

12 (B) describe ways of reducing inefficiencies 

13 relating to filings by small public companies 

14 with the Commission and other Federal agen15 cies; and 

16 (C) evaluate— 

17 (i) the feasibility of synchronizing fil18 ing requirements for small public compa19 nies involving substantially similar infor20 mation, including financial statements; 

21 (ii) whether the Commission and ap22 propriate bank regulatory agencies should 

23 commit additional resources and profes24 sional staff to assist small public compa25 nies; 


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1 (iii) whether the Commission should 

2 publish guidance on reporting and legal re3 quirements aimed at assisting smaller com4 panies; and 

5 (iv) the feasibility of extending incor6 poration by reference privileges to other 

7 Government filings containing substantially 

8 equivalent information. 

Æ 


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