Title: HELP for Small Businesses Act
Policy area: Commerce

Summary:
Harmless Error Lesser Penalty for Small Businesses Act or the HELP for Small Businesses Act
This bill prohibits an agency from imposing a civil fine on a small business for a first-time paperwork violation, with the exceptions that the agency may levy a fine for a violation that (1) interferes with the detection of criminal activity; (2) contravenes an internal revenue law; or (3) endangers public health, safety or interest.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2757 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2757

    To waive the imposition of a civil fine for certain first-time 
            paperwork violations by small business concerns.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 31, 2019

   Mr. Lankford (for himself, Ms. Hassan, Mr. Rubio, and Mr. Inhofe) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
        Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To waive the imposition of a civil fine for certain first-time 
            paperwork violations by small business concerns.

    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 ``Harmless Error Lesser Penalty for 
Small Businesses Act'' or the ``HELP for Small Businesses Act''.

SEC. 2. PAPERWORK VIOLATIONS BY SMALL BUSINESSES.

    (a) In General.--Section 3512 of title 44, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(c) Small Businesses.--
            ``(1) Definitions.--In this subsection:
                    ``(A) First-time violation.--The term `first-time 
                violation' means a violation by a small business 
                concern of a requirement regarding collection of 
                information by an agency, where the small business 
                concern has not previously violated any similar 
                requirement regarding collection of information by that 
                agency.
                    ``(B) Small business concern.--The term `small 
                business concern' has the meaning given the term in 
                section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632).
            ``(2) First-time violation.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Except as provided in 
                subparagraph (C), in the case of a first-time violation 
                by a small business concern of a requirement regarding 
                the collection of information by an agency, the head of 
                the agency shall not impose a civil fine on the small 
                business concern.
                    ``(B) Determination.--For purposes of determining 
                whether to impose a civil fine on a small business 
                concern under subparagraph (A), the head of an agency 
                shall not take into account any violation by the small 
                business concern of a requirement regarding collection 
                of information by another agency.
                    ``(C) Exception.--The head of an agency may impose 
                a civil fine on a small business concern for a first-
                time violation if the head of the agency determines 
                that--
                            ``(i) the violation has the potential to 
                        impede or interfere with the detection of 
                        criminal activity;
                            ``(ii) the violation is a violation of an 
                        internal revenue law or a law concerning the 
                        assessment or collection of any tax, debt, 
                        revenue, or receipt;
                            ``(iii) the violation was not corrected on 
                        or before the date that is 180 days after the 
                        date on which the head of the agency provided 
                        the small business concern with actual notice 
                        of the violation in writing; or
                            ``(iv) except as provided in paragraph (3), 
                        the violation--
                                    ``(I) presents a danger to the 
                                public health or safety; or
                                    ``(II) has the potential to cause 
                                serious harm to the public interest.
            ``(3) Danger to public health or safety or potential harm 
        to public interest.--
                    ``(A) In general.--In any case in which the head of 
                an agency determines under paragraph (2)(C)(iv) that a 
                violation presents a danger to the public health or 
                safety or has the potential to cause serious harm to 
                the public interest, the head of the agency may 
                determine not to impose a civil fine on the small 
                business concern if the violation is corrected not 
                later than 24 hours after the head of the agency 
                provides the owner of the small business concern with 
                actual notice of the violation in writing.
                    ``(B) Considerations.--In determining whether to 
                impose a civil fine under subparagraph (A), the head of 
                an agency shall take into account the nature and 
                seriousness of the violation, including--
                            ``(i) whether the violation is technical or 
                        inadvertent or involves willful or criminal 
                        conduct; and
                            ``(ii) whether the small business concern 
                        had made a good faith effort to comply with 
                        applicable laws and to remedy the violation 
                        within the 24-hour time period described in 
                        that subparagraph.''.
    (b) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--Section 3512(b) of title 
44, United States Code, is amended by striking ``this section'' and 
inserting ``subsection (a)''.
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