I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1772
To improve small business advocacy, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 11, 2003
Mr. AKIN (for himself and Mr. SCHROCK) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Small Business 
A BILL 
To improve small business advocacy, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Small Business Advo-
cacy Improvement Act of 2003’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) Excessive regulations continue to burden 
the Nation’s small businesses. 
(2) Federal agencies continue to propose regu-
lations that impose disproportionate burdens on 
small businesses.
(3) An independent office of small business ad-
vocacy will help to ensure that Federal agencies are 
responsive to small businesses and that those agen-
cies comply with their statutory obligations with re-
spect to small businesses. 
(4) The independence of an office that acts as 
an advocate for small businesses is essential to en-
sure that it can serve as an effective advocate with-
out being restricted by the views or policies of the 
Small Business Administration or any other Federal 
executive branch agency. 
(5) To be effective an office that acts as an ad-
vocate for small businesses needs sufficient resources 
to conduct creditable economic studies and research 
which are necessary for the maintenance of small 
business databases and for the accurate assessment 
of the impact of regulations on small businesses, the 
role of small business in the Nation’s economy, and 
the barriers to the growth of small businesses. 
(6) The research, information, and expertise 
provided by an independent office of small business 
advocacy will be a valuable source of information 
and advice for Congress and Federal agencies with 
which the office will work on behalf of small busi-
nesses.
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—
(1) to ensure that there exists an entity that 
has the statutory independence and adequate finan-
cial resources to effectively advocate for and on be-
half of small business; 
(2) to require that such an entity report to the 
Chairmen and Ranking Members of the Committee 
on Small Business of the House of Representatives 
and the Committee on Small Business and Entrepre-
neurship of the Senate, and to the Administrator of 
the Small Business Administration in order to keep 
them fully and currently informed about issues and 
regulations affecting small business concerns and the 
necessity for corrective action by the regulatory 
agency or Congress; 
(3) to provide a separate authorization for ap-
propriations for such an entity; and 
(4) to strengthen the role of the Small Business 
and Agriculture Regulatory Enforcement Ombuds-
man by ensuring continued cooperation between the 
Ombudsman and the Office of Advocacy of the 
Small Business Administration. 
SEC. 3. APPOINTMENT OF CHIEF COUNSEL OF ADVOCACY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 201 of Public Law 94–
305 (15 U.S.C. 634a) is amended—
(1) by inserting ‘‘(a)’’ before ‘‘There is estab-
lished’’; 
(2) by striking the second sentence; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(b) The management of the Office shall be vested 
in a Chief Counsel for Advocacy who shall be appointed 
from civilian life by the President, by and with the advice 
and consent of the Senate, and who should be appointed 
without regard to political affiliation and on the basis of 
fitness to perform the duties of the office. 
‘‘(c) No individual may be appointed under sub-
section (b) if such individual has served as an officer or 
employee of the Small Business Administration during the 
5-year period preceding the date of such individual’s ap-
pointment. 
‘‘(d) An individual serving as Chief Counsel on the 
date of the expiration of any term of the President may 
not continue to serve as Chief Counsel for more than 1 
year after such date unless such individual is reappointed 
after such date by the President, by and with the advice 
and consent of the Senate. The preceding sentence shall 
not apply in the case of the expiration of a term of an 
individual holding the office of President if such individual 
is elected to the office of President for a term successive 
to such term.’’.
(b) INCUMBENT CHIEF COUNSEL FOR ADVOCACY.—
The individual serving as the Chief Counsel for Advocacy 
of the Small Business Administration on the date of the 
enactment of this Act shall continue to serve in that posi-
tion after such date in accordance with section 201 of 
Public Law 94–305 (15 U.S.C. 634a), as amended by this 
section. 
SEC. 4. PRIMARY FUNCTIONS OF OFFICE OF ADVOCACY. 
Section 202 of Public Law 94–305 (15 U.S.C. 634b) 
is amended—
(1) in paragraph (6) by striking ‘‘to minority 
enterprises’’ and inserting ‘‘to small business con-
cerns owned and controlled by socially and economi-
cally disadvantaged individuals, to small business 
concerns owned and controlled by women, and to 
small business concerns owned and controlled by vet-
erans’’; 
(2) in paragraph (7) by striking ‘‘minority en-
terprises’’ and inserting ‘‘small business concerns 
owned and controlled by socially and economically 
disadvantaged individuals, small business concerns 
owned and controlled by women, and small business 
concerns owned and controlled by veterans’’; 
(3) in paragraph (8) by striking ‘‘minority and 
other small business enterprises’’ and inserting
‘‘small business concerns owned and controlled by 
socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, 
small business concerns owned and controlled by 
women, small business concerns owned and con-
trolled by veterans, and other small businesses’’; 
(4) in paragraph (9) by striking ‘‘complete’’ 
and inserting ‘‘compete’’; 
(5) by striking paragraph (11); 
(6) by redesignating paragraph (12) as para-
graph (11); 
(7) in paragraph (11) (as so redesignated)—
(A) by striking ‘‘serviced-disabled’’ and in-
serting ‘‘service-disabled’’; and 
(B) by striking the period at the end and 
inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(8) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(12) make such recommendations and submit 
such reports as the Chief Counsel determines appro-
priate to the President, to the Chairmen and Rank-
ing Members of the Committee on Small Business of 
the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate, 
and to the Administrator of the Small Business Ad-
ministration, with respect to issues and regulations 
affecting small businesses and the necessity for cor-
rective action by any Federal agency or by Con-
gress.’’. 
SEC. 5. ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 203 of Public Law 94–
305 (15 U.S.C. 634c) is amended—
(1) by inserting ‘‘(a)’’ before ‘‘The Office of Ad-
vocacy shall also perform’’; and 
(2) in subsection (a) (as so designated)—
(A) in paragraph (4) by striking ‘‘and’’ at 
the end; 
(B) in paragraph (5) by striking the period 
at the end and inserting a semicolon; and 
(C) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(6) maintain economic databases and make 
the information contained therein available to the 
Administrator of the Small Business Administration 
and to Congress; 
‘‘(7) carry out the responsibilities of the Chief 
Counsel under chapter 6 of title 5, United States 
Code; and 
‘‘(8) maintain a memorandum of understanding 
with the Small Business and Agriculture Regulatory 
Enforcement Ombudsman regarding methods and 
procedures for cooperation between the Ombudsman 
and the Office of Advocacy and transmit a copy of
such memorandum to the Committee on Small Busi-
ness of the House of Representatives and the Com-
mittee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of 
the Senate.’’. 
(b) APPROPRIATION REQUEST.—Section 203 of Pub-
lic Law 94–305 (15 U.S.C. 634c) is further amended by 
adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(b)(1) For each fiscal year, the Chief Counsel shall 
transmit the Office of Advocacy’s appropriation estimate 
and request to the Office of Management and Budget, the 
Committee on Small Business of the House of Representa-
tives, the Committee on Small Business and Entrepre-
neurship of the Senate, and the Committees on Appropria-
tions of the House of Representatives and the Senate. 
‘‘(2) Each budget of the United States Government 
submitted by the President shall include a separate state-
ment of the amount of appropriations requested for the 
Office of Advocacy.’’. 
SEC. 6. PRINCIPAL DEPUTY CHIEF COUNSEL AND RE-
GIONAL ADVOCATES. 
Section 204 of Public Law 94–305 (15 U.S.C. 634d) 
is amended—
(1) by inserting ‘‘(a)’’ before ‘‘In carrying out’’; 
and 
(2) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(b)(1) The Chief Counsel may appoint 1 individual 
to serve as Principal Deputy Chief Counsel. 
‘‘(2) The Principal Deputy Chief Counsel shall be 
paid at an annual rate not less than the minimum rate, 
nor more than the maximum rate, for the Senior Execu-
tive Service under chapter 53 of title 5, United States 
Code. 
‘‘(3) An individual appointed to a position under this 
subsection shall not be counted toward the limitation con-
tained in subsection (a)(1) regarding the number of indi-
viduals who may be compensated at a rate in excess of 
the lowest rate for GS–15 of the General Schedule. 
‘‘(c) The Chief Counsel may appoint regional advo-
cates within each Standard Federal Region as appro-
priate. Such regional advocates shall—
‘‘(1) assist in examining the role of small busi-
ness in the economy of the United States by identi-
fying academic and other research institutions that 
focus on small business concerns and linking these 
research resources to research activities conducted 
by the Office of Advocacy; 
‘‘(2) assist in representing the views and inter-
ests of small business concerns before Federal agen-
cies whose policies and activities may affect small 
business;
‘‘(3) assist the functioning of regional small 
business fairness boards in coordination with the 
Small Business and Agriculture Regulatory Enforce-
ment Ombudsman; 
‘‘(4) assist in enlisting the cooperation and as-
sistance of public and private agencies, businesses, 
and other organizations in disseminating information 
about the programs and services provided by the 
Federal Government that are of benefit to small 
business concerns and the means by which small 
business concerns can participate in or make use of 
such programs and services; and 
‘‘(5) carry out such duties pursuant to the mis-
sion of the Office of Advocacy as the Chief Counsel 
may assign.’’. 
SEC. 7. OVERHEAD AND ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT. 
Section 205 of Public Law 94–305 (15 U.S.C. 634e) 
is amended by inserting before ‘‘Each department’’ the 
following: 
‘‘(a) The Administrator of the Small Business Ad-
ministration shall provide the Office of Advocacy with ap-
propriate and adequate office space at central and field 
office locations of the Administration, together with such 
equipment, office supplies, communications facilities, and
personnel and maintenance services as may be necessary 
for the operation of such offices. 
‘‘(b)’’. 
SEC. 8. REPORTS. 
Section 206 of Public Law 94–305 (15 U.S.C. 634f) 
is amended by striking ‘‘The Chief Counsel may’’ and all 
that follows through ‘‘on his activities.’’ and inserting the 
following: 
‘‘(a) Not less than annually, the Chief Counsel shall 
submit to the President, the Committee on Small Business 
of the House of Representatives, the Committee on Small 
Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate, the Com-
mittee on Government Affairs of the Senate, the Com-
mittee on Government Reform of the House of Represent-
atives, and the Committees on the Judiciary of the Senate 
and the House of Representatives, and the Administrator 
of the Small Business Administration a report on agency 
compliance with chapter 6 of title 5, United States Code. 
‘‘(b) In addition to the reports required by this title, 
the Chief Counsel may prepare and publish such other re-
ports as the Chief Counsel determines appropriate. 
‘‘(c)’’. 
SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
Section 207 of Public Law 94–305 (15 U.S.C. 634g) 
is amended by striking ‘‘not to exceed $1,000,000’’ and
inserting ‘‘$10,000,000 for fiscal years 2003 and 2004, 
$12,000,000 for fiscal year 2005, and $14,000,000 for fis-
cal year 2006’’. 
SEC. 10. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 
(a) RURAL TOURISM TRAINING PROGRAM.—Section 
311 of the Small Business Administration Reauthorization 
and Amendments Act of 1990 (15 U.S.C. 653 note; 104 
Stat. 2832) is amended by striking ‘‘Chief Counsel for Ad-
vocacy’’ and inserting ‘‘Administrator’’. 
(b) SMALL BUSINESS
AND AGRICULTURE REGU-
LATORY ENFORCEMENT OMBUDSMAN.—Section 30(b)(2) 
of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 657(b)(2)) is 
amended—
(1) in subparagraph (D), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 
the end; 
(2) in subparagraph (E), by striking the period 
and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(F) maintain a memorandum of under-
standing with the Office of Advocacy regarding 
methods and procedures for cooperation be-
tween the Ombudsman and the Office of Advo-
cacy.’’.
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