108TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1772
AN ACT
To improve small business advocacy, and for other
purposes.
108TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1772
AN ACT
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.
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.’’.
‘‘(3) Each such budget shall also include a statement
indicating whether the proportion of the funds requested
for the Office of Advocacy when compared to the funds
requested for the Small Business Administration has in-
creased, decreased, or stayed the same relative to the pro-
portion of the amount appropriated for the Office of Advo-
cacy for the previous fiscal year when compared to the
amount appropriated for the Small Business Administra-
tion for the previous fiscal year.’’.
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)’’.