Title: Small Business Regulatory Relief Act of 2017
Policy area: Commerce

Summary:
Small Business Regulatory Relief Act of 2017
This bill amends the Small Business Act to revise the duties of the Office of the National Ombudsman (ONO) to include working with federal agencies that have regulatory authority over small businesses or that provide support to small businesses to develop best practices for helping small businesses comply with agency rules through training, webinars, and compliance guides.
The ONO must collaborate with each federal agency to establish a procedure relating to how the agency will provide information to: (1) small businesses regarding the ONO; and (2) the ONO regarding the nature, scope, and resolution of requests to the agency from small businesses about proposed, final, or existing rules.
The ONO must:

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1146 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1146

   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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 17, 2017

  Mrs. Shaheen (for herself and Mr. Tester) introduced the following 
   bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Small 
                     Business and Entrepreneurship

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   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.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Small Business Regulatory Relief Act 
of 2017''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act--
            (1) the term ``Ombudsman'' has the meaning given that term 
        in section 30(a) of the Small Business Act 15 U.S.C. 657(a)); 
        and
            (2) the term ``small business concern'' has the meaning 
        given that term under section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 
        U.S.C. 632).

SEC. 3. SBA REGULATORY ENFORCEMENT OMBUDSMAN.

    (a) In General.--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 
                        following: ``with--
                            ``(i) each Federal agency with regulatory 
                        authority'';
                            (ii) by inserting ``and'' after the 
                        semicolon; and
                            (iii) by adding at the end the following:
                            ``(ii) 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 to develop best practices to assist 
                        the Federal agency in--
                                    ``(I) establishing a program to 
                                assist small entities, as defined in 
                                section 601 of title 5, United States 
                                Code, in meeting regulatory 
                                requirements imposed by that Federal 
                                agency, including by responding to 
                                inquiries 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 
                                entities;
                                    ``(III) training small entities to 
                                comply with the regulations of that 
                                Federal agency;
                                    ``(IV) assisting small entities in 
                                completing forms required by the 
                                regulations 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 Enforcement 
                                Fairness Act of 1996 (5 U.S.C. 601 
                                note);
                                    ``(VII) ensuring that the 
                                compliance guides described in 
                                subclause (VI) are available to small 
                                business development centers and to 
                                other resource partners of the 
                                Administration;
                                    ``(VIII) developing webinars 
                                relating to compliance assistance for--
                                            ``(aa) recently finalized 
                                        rules of the Federal agency; 
                                        and
                                            ``(bb) rules relating to 
                                        which the Federal agency or 
                                        Ombudsman receives a 
                                        significant number of 
                                        compliance inquiries from small 
                                        business concerns; and
                                    ``(IX) conducting customer service 
                                surveys on an ongoing basis of small 
                                business concerns that interact with 
                                the Federal agency to assess the 
                                timeliness and quality of the 
                                activities of the Federal agency, which 
                                shall be conducted in a manner that 
                                allows the results of the surveys to be 
                                incorporated into the rating of the 
                                responsiveness of the Federal agency 
                                under subparagraph (C);'';
                    (B) in subparagraph (D), by striking ``and'' at the 
                end;
                    (C) in subparagraph (E), by striking the period 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 relating to how the 
                Federal agency will provide information--
                            ``(i) to small business concerns regarding 
                        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 concerns and with 
                programs of the Administration (including the Service 
                Corps of Retired Executives authorized under section 
                8(b)(1)(B), women'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 education, 
                training, and compliance assistance services of the 
                Ombudsman readily available on the website of the 
                Ombudsman.''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(3)(A) 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 employee of the Federal 
        agency as the primary point of contact with the Ombudsman.
            ``(B) The employee designated under subparagraph (A) shall 
        have the authority to make changes necessary to address 
        compliance issues raised by small business concerns.''.
    (b) Resources.--The Ombudsman shall appoint additional individuals 
to positions in which they will provide education, training, and 
compliance assistance to small business concerns.

SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    Section 30 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 657) is amended by 
adding at the end the following:
    ``(e) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section such sums as are necessary.''.
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