I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5999 
To enhance the ability of the Office of the National Ombudsman to assist 
small businesses in meeting regulatory requirements and develop outreach 
initiatives to promote awareness of the services the Office of the National 
Ombudsman provides, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 19, 2023 
Mr. MFUME (for himself, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr. THANEDAR, Ms. SCHOLTEN, 
Mr. MCGARVEY, Mr. LANDSMAN, and Mr. PHILLIPS) introduced the fol-
lowing bill 
OCTOBER 25, 2023 
Referred to the Committee on Small Business 
A BILL 
To enhance the ability of the Office of the National Ombuds-
man to assist small businesses in meeting regulatory 
requirements and develop outreach initiatives to promote 
awareness of the services the Office of the National 
Ombudsman provides, 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 Regu-
latory Relief Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. SBA REGULATORY ENFORCEMENT OMBUDSMAN. 
Section 30(b) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
657(b)(2)) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (2)— 
(A) in subparagraph (A)— 
(i) by striking ‘‘with each agency with 
regulatory authority’’ and inserting the fol-
lowing: ‘‘with— 
‘‘(i) each Federal agency with regu-
latory authority’’; 
(ii) by inserting ‘‘and’’ after the semi-
colon; and 
(iii) by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(ii) each Federal agency with regu-
latory authority over small business con-
cerns or that makes grants or enters into 
contracts or cooperative agreements with 
small entities to develop best practices to 
assist the Federal agency in— 
‘‘(I) establishing a program to 
assist small entities (as defined in sec-
tion 601 of title 5, United States 
Code) in meeting regulatory require-
ments imposed by that Federal agen-
cy, including by responding to inquir-
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ies under section 213 of the Small 
Business 
Regulatory 
Enforcement 
Fairness Act of 1996 (5 U.S.C. 601 
note); 
‘‘(II) educating small entities 
about the regulations of that Federal 
agency that are applicable to small en-
tities; 
‘‘(III) training small entities to 
comply with the regulations of that 
Federal agency; 
‘‘(IV) assisting small entities in 
completing forms relating to such 
grants, 
contracts, 
or 
cooperative 
agreements required by the regula-
tions of that Federal agency; 
‘‘(V) 
addressing 
any 
specific 
question or concern of small entities; 
‘‘(VI) 
evaluating 
compliance 
guides described under section 212 of 
the Small Business Regulatory En-
forcement Fairness Act of 1996 (5 
U.S.C. 601 note); 
‘‘(VII) ensuring that the compli-
ance guides described in subclause 
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(VI) are available to small business 
development centers and to other re-
source partners of the Administration; 
and 
‘‘(VIII) developing webinars re-
lating to compliance assistance for— 
‘‘(aa) recently finalized rules 
of the Federal agency; and 
‘‘(bb) rules relating to which 
the Federal agency or Ombuds-
man receives a significant num-
ber of compliance inquiries from 
small entities;’’; 
(B) in subparagraph (D), by striking 
‘‘and’’ at the end; 
(C) in subparagraph (E), by striking the 
period at the end and inserting a semicolon; 
and 
(D) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(F) in collaboration with the employee of 
a Federal agency designated by the head of the 
Federal agency as the primary point of contact 
with the Ombudsman, establish a procedure re-
lating to how the Federal agency will provide 
information— 
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‘‘(i) to small business concerns re-
garding the Ombudsman; and 
‘‘(ii) to the Ombudsman regarding the 
nature, scope, and resolution of requests to 
the Federal agency from small business 
concerns about proposed, final, or existing 
rules; 
‘‘(G) work with each Federal agency with 
regulatory authority over small business con-
cerns and with programs of the Administration 
(including the Service Corps of Retired Execu-
tives authorized under section 8(b)(1)(B), wom-
en’s business centers operating under section 
29, and small business development centers) to 
conduct a robust outreach initiative, including 
through the use of the Internet, to increase the 
visibility of the Ombudsman and promote 
awareness of the services available from the 
Ombudsman; and 
‘‘(H) make information regarding the edu-
cation, training, and compliance assistance serv-
ices of the Ombudsman readily available on the 
website of the Ombudsman.’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
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‘‘(3) PRIMARY POINT OF CONTACT.—The head 
of each Federal agency with regulatory authority 
over small business concerns or that makes grants 
or enters into contracts or cooperative agreements 
with small business concerns shall designate an em-
ployee of the Federal agency as the primary point of 
contact with the Ombudsman.’’. 
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
Section 30 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 657) 
is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 
such sums as are necessary.’’. 
Æ 
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