Small Business Regulatory Relief Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1409 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 9, 2019 Mrs. SHAHEEN 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 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- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Small Business Regu- 4 latory Relief Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:25 May 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1409.IS S1409 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 1409 IS SEC. 2. SBA REGULATORY ENFORCEMENT OMBUDSMAN. 1 Section 30(b) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 2 657(b)) is amended— 3 (1) in paragraph (2)— 4 (A) in subparagraph (A)— 5 (i) by striking ‘‘with each agency with 6 regulatory authority’’ and inserting the fol- 7 lowing: ‘‘with— 8 ‘‘(i) each Federal agency with regu- 9 latory authority’’; 10 (ii) by inserting ‘‘and’’ after the semi- 11 colon; and 12 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 13 lowing: 14 ‘‘(ii) each Federal agency with regu- 15 latory authority over small business con- 16 cerns or that makes grants or enters into 17 contracts or cooperative agreements with 18 small entities (as defined in section 601 of 19 title 5, United States Code) to develop best 20 practices to assist the Federal agency in— 21 ‘‘(I) establishing a program to 22 assist small entities in meeting regu- 23 latory requirements imposed by that 24 Federal agency, including by respond- 25 ing to inquiries under section 213 of 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:25 May 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1409.IS S1409 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 1409 IS the Small Business Regulatory En- 1 forcement Fairness Act of 1996 (5 2 U.S.C. 601 note); 3 ‘‘(II) educating small entities 4 about the regulations of that Federal 5 agency that are applicable to small en- 6 tities; 7 ‘‘(III) training small entities to 8 comply with the regulations of that 9 Federal agency; 10 ‘‘(IV) assisting small entities in 11 completing forms relating to such 12 grants, contracts, or cooperative 13 agreements required by the regula- 14 tions of that Federal agency; 15 ‘‘(V) addressing any specific 16 question or concern of small entities; 17 ‘‘(VI) evaluating compliance 18 guides described under section 212 of 19 the Small Business Regulatory En- 20 forcement Fairness Act of 1996 (5 21 U.S.C. 601 note); 22 ‘‘(VII) ensuring that the compli- 23 ance guides described in subclause 24 (VI) are available to small business 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:25 May 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1409.IS S1409 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 1409 IS development centers and to other re- 1 source partners of the Administration; 2 and 3 ‘‘(VIII) developing webinars re- 4 lating to compliance assistance for— 5 ‘‘(aa) recently finalized rules 6 of the Federal agency; and 7 ‘‘(bb) rules relating to which 8 the Federal agency or Ombuds- 9 man receives a significant num- 10 ber of compliance inquiries from 11 small entities;’’; 12 (B) in subparagraph (D), by striking 13 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 14 (C) in subparagraph (E), by striking the 15 period at the end and inserting a semicolon; 16 and 17 (D) by adding at the end the following: 18 ‘‘(F) in collaboration with the employee of 19 a Federal agency designated by the head of the 20 Federal agency as the primary point of contact 21 with the Ombudsman, establish a procedure re- 22 lating to how the Federal agency will provide 23 information— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:25 May 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1409.IS S1409 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 1409 IS ‘‘(i) to small business concerns re- 1 garding the Ombudsman; and 2 ‘‘(ii) to the Ombudsman regarding the 3 nature, scope, and resolution of requests to 4 the Federal agency from small business 5 concerns about proposed, final, or existing 6 rules; 7 ‘‘(G) work with each Federal agency with 8 regulatory authority over small business con- 9 cerns and with programs of the Administration 10 (including the Service Corps of Retired Execu- 11 tives authorized under section 8(b)(1)(B), wom- 12 en’s business centers operating under section 13 29, and small business development centers) to 14 conduct a robust outreach initiative, including 15 through the use of the Internet, to increase the 16 visibility of the Ombudsman and promote 17 awareness of the services available from the 18 Ombudsman; and 19 ‘‘(H) make information regarding the edu- 20 cation, training, and compliance assistance serv- 21 ices of the Ombudsman readily available on the 22 website of the Ombudsman.’’; and 23 (2) by adding at the end the following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:25 May 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1409.IS S1409 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 1409 IS ‘‘(3) PRIMARY POINT OF CONTACT.—The head 1 of each Federal agency with regulatory authority 2 over small business concerns or that makes grants 3 or enters into contracts or cooperative agreements 4 with small business concerns shall designate an em- 5 ployee of the Federal agency as the primary point of 6 contact with the Ombudsman.’’. 7 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 8 Section 30 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 657) 9 is amended by adding at the end the following: 10 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 11 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 12 such sums as are necessary.’’. 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:25 May 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1409.IS S1409 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS