Small Business Compliance Assistance Enhancement Act of 2004 - Amends the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 to require an agency to prepare a compliance guide to assist small entities in complying with a Federal regulation whenever an agency determines that a Federal regulation will have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2834 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
108th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 2834
To enhance compliance assistance for small businesses.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
September 23, 2004
Ms. Snowe introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To enhance compliance assistance for small businesses.
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 Compliance Assistance
Enhancement Act of 2004''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
(1) Small businesses represent 99.7 percent of all
employers, employ half of all private sector employees, and pay
44.3 percent of total United States private payroll.
(2) Small businesses generate 60 to 80 percent of net new
jobs annually over the last decade.
(3) Very small firms with fewer than 20 employees spend 60
percent more per employee than larger firms to comply with
Federal regulations. Small firms spend twice as much on tax
compliance as their larger counterparts. Based on an analysis
in 2001, firms employing fewer than 20 employees face an annual
regulatory burden of nearly $7,000 per employee, compared to a
burden of almost $4,500 per employee for a firm with over 500
employees.
(4) Section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory
Enforcement Fairness Act (5 U.S.C. 601 note) requires agencies
to produce small entity compliance guides for each rule or
group of rules for which an agency is required to prepare a
final regulatory flexibility analysis under section 604 of
title 5, United States Code.
(5) The Government Accountability Office has found that
agencies have rarely attempted to comply with section 212 of
the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (5
U.S.C. 601 note). When agencies did try to comply with that
requirement, they generally did not produce adequate compliance
assistance materials.
(6) The Government Accountability Office also found that
section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement
Fairness Act (5 U.S.C. 601 note) and other sections of that Act
need clarification to be effective.
(b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are the following:
(1) To clarify the requirement contained in section 212 of
the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (5
U.S.C. 601 note) for agencies to produce small entity
compliance guides.
(2) To clarify other terms relating to the requirement in
section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement
Fairness Act (5 U.S.C. 601 note).
(3) To ensure that agencies produce adequate and useful
compliance assistance materials to help small businesses meet
the obligations imposed by regulations affecting such small
businesses, and thereby to increase compliance with these
regulations.
SEC. 3. ENHANCED COMPLIANCE ASSISTANCE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES.
(a) In General.--Section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory
Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 (5 U.S.C. 601 note) is amended by
striking subsection (a) and inserting the following:
``(a) Compliance Guide.--
``(1) In general.--For each rule for which an agency head
does not make a certification under section 605(b) of title 5,
United States Code, the agency shall publish 1 or more guides
to assist small entities in complying with the rule, and shall
entitle such publications `small entity compliance guides'.
``(2) Publication of guides.--The publication of each guide
under this subsection shall include--
``(A) the posting of the guide in an easily
identified location on the website of the agency; and
``(B) distribution of the guide to known industry
contacts, such as small entities, associations, or
industry leaders affected by the rule.
``(3) Publication date.--An agency shall publish each guide
(including the posting and distribution of the guide as
described under paragraph (2))--
``(A) on the same date as the date of publication
of the final rule (or as soon as possible after that
date); and
``(B) not later than the date on which the
requirements of that rule become effective.
``(4) Compliance actions.--
``(A) In general.--Each guide shall explain the
actions a small entity is required to take to comply
with a rule.
``(B) Explanation.--The explanation under
subparagraph (A)--
``(i) shall include a description of
actions needed to meet requirements to enable a
small entity to know when such requirements are
met; and
``(ii) if determined appropriate by the
agency, may include a description of possible
procedures, such as conducting tests, that
assist a small entity in meeting such
requirements.
``(C) Procedures.--Procedures described under
subparagraph (B)(ii)--
``(i) shall be suggestions to assist small
entities; and
``(ii) shall not be additional requirements
relating to the rule.
``(5) Agency preparation of guides.--The agency shall, in
its sole discretion, taking into account the subject matter of
the rule and the language of relevant statutes, ensure that the
guide is written using sufficiently plain language likely to be
understood by affected small entities. Agencies may prepare
separate guides covering groups or classes of similarly
affected small entities, and may cooperate with associations of
small entities to develop and distribute such guides. An agency
may prepare guides and apply this section with respect to a
rule or a group of related rules.''.
(b) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--Section 211(3) of the
Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 (5 U.S.C.
601 note) is amended by inserting ``and entitled'' after
``designated''.
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR 9/24/2004 S9613-9614)
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. (text of measure as introduced: CR 9/24/2004 S9614)
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