Small Business Regulatory Relief Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2673 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 MAY 10, 2019 Mr. KIM (for himself and Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ) introduced the following bill; which was 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- 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’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:18 May 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2673.IH H2673 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2673 IH SEC. 2. SBA REGULATORY ENFORCEMENT OMBUDSMAN. 1 Section 30(b) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 2 657(b)(2)) 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 to develop best practices to 19 assist the Federal agency in— 20 ‘‘(I) establishing a program to 21 assist small entities (as defined in sec- 22 tion 601 of title 5, United States 23 Code) in meeting regulatory require- 24 ments imposed by that Federal agen- 25 cy, including by responding to inquir- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:18 May 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2673.IH H2673 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2673 IH ies under section 213 of the Small 1 Business Regulatory Enforcement 2 Fairness Act of 1996 (5 U.S.C. 601 3 note); 4 ‘‘(II) educating small entities 5 about the regulations of that Federal 6 agency that are applicable to small en- 7 tities; 8 ‘‘(III) training small entities to 9 comply with the regulations of that 10 Federal agency; 11 ‘‘(IV) assisting small entities in 12 completing forms relating to such 13 grants, contracts, or cooperative 14 agreements required by the regula- 15 tions of that Federal agency; 16 ‘‘(V) addressing any specific 17 question or concern of small entities; 18 ‘‘(VI) evaluating compliance 19 guides described under section 212 of 20 the Small Business Regulatory En- 21 forcement Fairness Act of 1996 (5 22 U.S.C. 601 note); 23 ‘‘(VII) ensuring that the compli- 24 ance guides described in subclause 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:18 May 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2673.IH H2673 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2673 IH (VI) are available to small business 1 development centers and to other re- 2 source partners of the Administration; 3 and 4 ‘‘(VIII) developing webinars re- 5 lating to compliance assistance for— 6 ‘‘(aa) recently finalized rules 7 of the Federal agency; and 8 ‘‘(bb) rules relating to which 9 the Federal agency or Ombuds- 10 man receives a significant num- 11 ber of compliance inquiries from 12 small entities; and’’; 13 (B) in subparagraph (D), by striking 14 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 15 (C) in subparagraph (E), by striking the 16 period at the end and inserting a semicolon; 17 and 18 (D) by adding at the end the following: 19 ‘‘(F) in collaboration with the employee of 20 a Federal agency designated by the head of the 21 Federal agency as the primary point of contact 22 with the Ombudsman, establish a procedure re- 23 lating to how the Federal agency will provide 24 information— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:18 May 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2673.IH H2673 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2673 IH ‘‘(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 01:18 May 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2673.IH H2673 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2673 IH ‘‘(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 01:18 May 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2673.IH H2673 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS