I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 205
To amend the Small Business Act to direct the Administrator of the Small 
Business Administration to establish a program to provide regulatory 
compliance assistance to small business concerns, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 7, 2003
Mr. SWEENEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Small Business 
A BILL 
To amend the Small Business Act to direct the Adminis-
trator of the Small Business Administration to establish 
a program to provide regulatory compliance assistance 
to small business concerns, 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 ‘‘National Small Busi-
ness Regulatory Assistance Act of 2003’’. 
SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 
The purpose of this Act is to establish a program 
to—
(1) provide confidential assistance to small 
business concerns; 
(2) provide small business concerns with the in-
formation necessary to improve their rate of compli-
ance with Federal and State regulations; 
(3) create a partnership among Federal agen-
cies to increase outreach efforts to small business 
concerns with respect to regulatory compliance; 
(4) provide a mechanism for unbiased feedback 
to Federal agencies on the regulatory environment 
for small business concerns; and 
(5) utilize the service delivery network of Small 
Business Development Centers to improve access of 
small business concerns to programs to assist them 
with regulatory compliance. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act, the definitions set forth in section 36(a) 
of the Small Business Act (as added by section 4 of this 
Act) shall apply. 
SEC. 4. SMALL BUSINESS REGULATORY ASSISTANCE PRO-
GRAM. 
The Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637 et seq.) is 
amended—
(1) by redesignating section 36 as section 37; 
and
(2) by inserting after section 35 the following 
new section: 
‘‘SEC. 36. SMALL BUSINESS REGULATORY ASSISTANCE PRO-
GRAM. 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following 
definitions apply: 
‘‘(1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘Adminis-
trator’ means the Administrator of the Small Busi-
ness Administration, acting through the Associate 
Administrator for Small Business Development Cen-
ters. 
‘‘(2) ASSOCIATION.—The term ‘Association’ 
means the association recognized by the Adminis-
trator of the Small Business Administration under 
section 21(a)(3)(A). 
‘‘(3) PARTICIPATING SMALL BUSINESS DEVEL-
OPMENT
CENTER.—The term ‘participating Small 
Business Development Center’ means a Small Busi-
ness Development Center participating in the pro-
gram. 
‘‘(4) PROGRAM.—The term ‘program’ means 
the regulatory assistance program established under 
this section. 
‘‘(5) REGULATORY COMPLIANCE ASSISTANCE.—
The term ‘regulatory compliance assistance’ means
assistance provided by a Small Business Develop-
ment Center to a small business concern to enable 
the concern to comply with Federal regulatory re-
quirements. 
‘‘(6) SMALL
BUSINESS
DEVELOPMENT
CEN-
TER.—The term ‘Small Business Development Cen-
ter’ means a Small Business Development Center 
described in section 21. 
‘‘(7) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means each of 
the several States, the District of Columbia, the 
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, 
and Guam. 
‘‘(b) AUTHORITY.—In accordance with this section, 
the Administrator shall establish a program to provide 
regulatory compliance assistance to small business con-
cerns through participating Small Business Development 
Centers, the Association, and Federal compliance partner-
ship programs. 
‘‘(c) SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTERS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the pro-
gram, the Administrator shall enter into arrange-
ments with participating Small Business Develop-
ment Centers under which such centers will pro-
vide—
‘‘(A) access to information and resources, 
including current Federal and State nonpuni-
tive compliance and technical assistance pro-
grams similar to those established under section 
507 of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990; 
‘‘(B) training and educational activities; 
‘‘(C) confidential, free-of-charge, one-on-
one, in-depth counseling to the owners and op-
erators of small business concerns regarding 
compliance with Federal and State regulations, 
provided that such counseling is not considered 
to be the practice of law in a State in which a 
Small Business Development Center is located 
or in which such counseling is conducted; 
‘‘(D) technical assistance; and 
‘‘(E) referrals to experts and other pro-
viders of compliance assistance who meet such 
standards for educational, technical, and profes-
sional competency as are established by the Ad-
ministrator. 
‘‘(2) REPORTS.—
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Each participating 
Small Business Development Center shall trans-
mit to the Administrator a quarterly report that 
includes—
‘‘(i) a summary of the regulatory com-
pliance assistance provided by the center 
under the program; and 
‘‘(ii) any data and information ob-
tained by the center from a Federal agency 
regarding regulatory compliance that the 
agency intends to be disseminated to small 
business concerns. 
‘‘(B) ELECTRONIC FORM.—Each report re-
ferred to in subparagraph (A) shall be trans-
mitted in electronic form. 
‘‘(C) INTERIM REPORTS.—A participating 
Small Business Development Center may trans-
mit to the Administrator such interim reports 
as the center considers appropriate. 
‘‘(D) LIMITATION
ON
DISCLOSURE
RE-
QUIREMENTS.—The Administrator may not re-
quire a Small Business Development Center to 
disclose the name or address of any small busi-
ness concern that received or is receiving assist-
ance under the program, except that the Ad-
ministrator shall require such a disclosure if or-
dered to do so by a court in any civil or crimi-
nal action. 
‘‘(d) DATA REPOSITORY AND CLEARINGHOUSE.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the pro-
gram, the Administrator shall—
‘‘(A) act as the repository of and clearing-
house for data and information submitted by 
Small Business Development Centers; and 
‘‘(B) transmit to the President, the Com-
mittee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship 
of the Senate, and the Committee on Small 
Business of the House of Representatives an 
annual report that includes—
‘‘(i) a description of the types of as-
sistance provided by participating Small 
Business Development Centers under the 
program; 
‘‘(ii) data regarding the number of 
small business concerns that contacted 
participating Small Business Development 
Centers regarding assistance under the 
program; 
‘‘(iii) data regarding the number of 
small business concerns assisted by partici-
pating Small Business Development Cen-
ters under the program; 
‘‘(iv) data and information regarding 
outreach activities conducted by partici-
pating Small Business Development Cen-
ters under the program, including any ac-
tivities conducted in partnership with Fed-
eral agencies; 
‘‘(v) data and information regarding 
each case known to the Administrator in 
which one or more Small Business Devel-
opment Centers offered conflicting advice 
or information regarding compliance with a 
Federal or State regulation to one or more 
small business concerns; 
‘‘(vi) any recommendations for im-
provements in the regulation of small busi-
ness concerns; and 
‘‘(vii) a list of regulations identified 
by the Administrator, after consultation 
with the Small Business and Agriculture 
Regulatory Enforcement Ombudsman, as 
being most burdensome to small business 
concerns, and recommendations to reduce 
or eliminate the burdens of such regula-
tions. 
‘‘(e) ELIGIBILITY.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A Small Business Develop-
ment Center shall be eligible to receive assistance
under the program only if the center is certified 
under section 21(k)(2). 
‘‘(2) WAIVER.— With respect to a Small Busi-
ness Development Center seeking assistance under 
the program, the administrator may waive the cer-
tification requirement set forth in paragraph (1) if 
the Administrator determines that the center is 
making a good faith effort to obtain such certifi-
cation. 
‘‘(3) EFFECTIVE
DATE.—The restriction de-
scribed in paragraph (1) shall not apply to any 
Small Business Development Center before October 
1, 2003. 
‘‘(f) SELECTION
OF PARTICIPATING STATE PRO-
GRAMS.—
‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.—In con-
sultation with the Association and giving substantial 
weight to the Association’s recommendations, the 
Administrator shall select the Small Business Devel-
opment Center programs of 2 States from each of 
the following groups of States to participate in the 
program: 
‘‘(A) Group 1: Maine, Massachusetts, New 
Hampshire, Connecticut, Vermont, and Rhode 
Island.
‘‘(B) Group 2: New York, New Jersey, 
Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. 
‘‘(C) Group 3: Pennsylvania, Maryland, 
West Virginia, Virginia, the District of Colum-
bia, and Delaware. 
‘‘(D) Group 4: Georgia, Alabama, North 
Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, 
Kentucky, and Tennessee. 
‘‘(E) Group 5: Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, In-
diana, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. 
‘‘(F) Group 6: Texas, New Mexico, Arkan-
sas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. 
‘‘(G) Group 7: Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, 
and Kansas. 
‘‘(H) Group 8: Colorado, Wyoming, North 
Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Utah. 
‘‘(I) Group 9: California, Guam, Hawaii, 
Nevada, and Arizona. 
‘‘(J) Group 10: Washington, Alaska, 
Idaho, and Oregon. 
‘‘(2) DEADLINE
FOR
INITIAL
SELECTIONS.—
The Administrator shall make selections under para-
graph (1) not later than 60 days after promulgation 
of regulations under section 5 of the National Small 
Business Regulatory Assistance Act of 2003.
‘‘(3) ADDITIONAL
SELECTIONS.—Not earlier 
than the date 3 years after the date of the enact-
ment of this paragraph, the Administrator may se-
lect Small Business Development Center programs 
of States in addition to those selected under para-
graph (1). The Administrator shall consider the ef-
fect on the programs selected under paragraph (1) 
before selecting additional programs under this 
paragraph. 
‘‘(4) COORDINATION
TO
AVOID
DUPLICATION 
WITH
OTHER
PROGRAMS.—In selecting programs 
under this subsection, the Administrator shall give a 
preference to Small Business Development Center 
programs that have a plan for consulting with Fed-
eral and State agencies to ensure that any assist-
ance provided under this section is not duplicated by 
an existing Federal or State program. 
‘‘(g) MATCHING
NOT REQUIRED.—Subparagraphs 
(A) and (B) of section 21(a)(4) shall not apply to assist-
ance made available under the program. 
‘‘(h) DISTRIBUTION OF GRANTS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-
graph (2), each State program selected to receive a 
grant under subsection (f) in a fiscal year shall be
eligible to receive a grant in an amount not to ex-
ceed the product obtained by multiplying—
‘‘(A) the amount made available for grants 
under this section for the fiscal year; and 
‘‘(B) the ratio that—
‘‘(i) the population of the State; bears 
to 
‘‘(ii) the population of all the States 
with programs selected to receive grants 
under subsection (f) for the fiscal year. 
‘‘(2) 
MINIMUM
AMOUNT.—The 
minimum 
amount that a State program selected to receive a 
grant under subsection (f) shall be eligible to receive 
under this section for any fiscal year shall be 
$200,000. The Administrator shall reduce the 
amount described in paragraph (1) as appropriate to 
carry out the purposes of this paragraph and sub-
section (j)(2). 
‘‘(i) EVALUATION AND REPORT.—Not later than 3 
years after the establishment of the program, the Comp-
troller General of the United States shall conduct an eval-
uation of the program and shall transmit to the Adminis-
trator, the Committee on Small Business and Entrepre-
neurship of the Senate, and the Committee on Small Busi-
ness of the House of Representatives a report containing
the results of the evaluation along with any recommenda-
tions as to whether the program, with or without modifica-
tion, should be extended to include the participation of all 
Small Business Development Centers. 
‘‘(j) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section $5,000,000 for 
fiscal year 2003 and each fiscal year thereafter. 
‘‘(2) LIMITATION ON USE OF OTHER FUNDS.—
The Administrator may carry out the program only 
with amounts appropriated in advance specifically to 
carry out this section.’’. 
SEC. 5. PROMULGATION OF REGULATIONS. 
After providing notice and an opportunity for com-
ment and after consulting with the Association (but not 
later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of 
this Act), the Administrator shall promulgate final regula-
tions to carry out this Act, including regulations that es-
tablish—
(1) priorities for the types of assistance to be 
provided under the program; 
(2) standards relating to educational, technical, 
and support services to be provided by participating 
Small Business Development Centers;
‘‘(i) the Administrator shall require 
such disclosure if ordered to do so by a 
court in any civil or criminal action; and 
‘‘(ii) if the Administrator considers it 
necessary while undertaking a financial 
audit of a Small Business Development 
Center, the Administrator shall require 
such disclosure for the sole purpose of un-
dertaking such audit. 
‘‘(B) REGULATIONS.— The Administrator 
shall issue regulations to establish standards for 
requiring disclosures during a financial audit 
under subparagraph (a)(ii).’’.
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