HELP for Small Businesses Act

II Calendar No. 628 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 2757 [Report No. 116–326] 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) in- troduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com- mittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs DECEMBER 15, 2020 Reported by Mr. JOHNSON, with an amendment [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 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 Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:28 Dec 16, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2757.RS S2757 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2757 RS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Harmless Error Lesser 2 Penalty for Small Businesses Act’’ or the ‘‘HELP for 3 Small Businesses Act’’. 4 SEC. 2. PAPERWORK VIOLATIONS BY SMALL BUSINESSES. 5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 3512 of title 44, United 6 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 7 lowing: 8 ‘‘(c) SMALL BUSINESSES.— 9 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 10 ‘‘(A) FIRST-TIME VIOLATION.—The term 11 ‘first-time violation’ means a violation by a 12 small business concern of a requirement regard- 13 ing collection of information by an agency, 14 where the small business concern has not pre- 15 viously violated any similar requirement regard- 16 ing collection of information by that agency. 17 ‘‘(B) SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN.—The 18 term ‘small business concern’ has the meaning 19 given the term in section 3 of the Small Busi- 20 ness Act (15 U.S.C. 632). 21 ‘‘(2) FIRST-TIME VIOLATION.— 22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 23 subparagraph (C), in the case of a first-time 24 violation by a small business concern of a re- 25 quirement regarding the collection of informa- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:28 Dec 16, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2757.RS S2757 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 2757 RS tion by an agency, the head of the agency shall 1 not impose a civil fine on the small business 2 concern. 3 ‘‘(B) DETERMINATION.—For purposes of 4 determining whether to impose a civil fine on a 5 small business concern under subparagraph (A), 6 the head of an agency shall not take into ac- 7 count any violation by the small business con- 8 cern of a requirement regarding collection of in- 9 formation by another agency. 10 ‘‘(C) EXCEPTION.—The head of an agency 11 may impose a civil fine on a small business con- 12 cern for a first-time violation if the head of the 13 agency determines that— 14 ‘‘(i) the violation has the potential to 15 impede or interfere with the detection of 16 criminal activity; 17 ‘‘(ii) the violation is a violation of an 18 internal revenue law or a law concerning 19 the assessment or collection of any tax, 20 debt, revenue, or receipt; 21 ‘‘(iii) the violation was not corrected 22 on or before the date that is 180 days 23 after the date on which the head of the 24 agency provided the small business concern 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:28 Dec 16, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2757.RS S2757 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 2757 RS with actual notice of the violation in writ- 1 ing; or 2 ‘‘(iv) except as provided in paragraph 3 (3), the violation— 4 ‘‘(I) presents a danger to the 5 public health or safety; or 6 ‘‘(II) has the potential to cause 7 serious harm to the public interest. 8 ‘‘(3) DANGER TO PUBLIC HEALTH OR SAFETY 9 OR POTENTIAL HARM TO PUBLIC INTEREST.— 10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In any case in which 11 the head of an agency determines under para- 12 graph (2)(C)(iv) that a violation presents a 13 danger to the public health or safety or has the 14 potential to cause serious harm to the public in- 15 terest, the head of the agency may determine 16 not to impose a civil fine on the small business 17 concern if the violation is corrected not later 18 than 24 hours after the head of the agency pro- 19 vides the owner of the small business concern 20 with actual notice of the violation in writing. 21 ‘‘(B) CONSIDERATIONS.—In determining 22 whether to impose a civil fine under subpara- 23 graph (A), the head of an agency shall take into 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:28 Dec 16, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2757.RS S2757 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 2757 RS account the nature and seriousness of the viola- 1 tion, including— 2 ‘‘(i) whether the violation is technical 3 or inadvertent or involves willful or crimi- 4 nal conduct; and 5 ‘‘(ii) whether the small business con- 6 cern had made a good faith effort to com- 7 ply with applicable laws and to remedy the 8 violation within the 24-hour time period 9 described in that subparagraph.’’. 10 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 11 Section 3512(b) of title 44, United States Code, is amend- 12 ed by striking ‘‘this section’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection 13 (a)’’. 14 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 15 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Harmless Error Lesser 16 Penalty for Small Businesses Act’’ or the ‘‘HELP for Small 17 Businesses Act’’. 18 SEC. 2. PAPERWORK VIOLATIONS BY SMALL BUSINESSES. 19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 3512 of title 44, United 20 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: 21 ‘‘(c) SMALL BUSINESSES.— 22 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 23 ‘‘(A) FIRST-TIME VIOLATION.—The term 24 ‘first-time violation’ means a violation by a 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:28 Dec 16, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S2757.RS S2757 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 2757 RS small business concern of a requirement regard- 1 ing collection of information by an agency, 2 where the small business concern has not pre- 3 viously violated any similar requirement regard- 4 ing collection of information by that agency. 5 ‘‘(B) SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN.—The 6 term ‘small business concern’, with respect to a 7 calendar year, means a business concern that 8 employed an average of not more than 50 full- 9 time employees on business days during the pre- 10 ceding calendar year. 11 ‘‘(2) FIRST-TIME VIOLATION.— 12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 13 subparagraph (C), in the case of a first-time vio- 14 lation by a small business concern of a require- 15 ment regarding the collection of information by 16 an agency, the agency shall not impose a civil 17 fine on the small business concern. 18 ‘‘(B) DETERMINATION.—For purposes of de- 19 termining whether to impose a civil fine on a 20 small business concern under subparagraph (A), 21 an agency shall not take into account any viola- 22 tion by the small business concern of a require- 23 ment regarding collection of information by an- 24 other agency. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:28 Dec 16, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S2757.RS S2757 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 2757 RS ‘‘(C) EXCEPTION.—An agency may impose 1 a civil fine on a small business concern for a 2 first-time violation if the agency determines 3 that— 4 ‘‘(i) the violation has the potential to 5 impede or interfere with the detection of 6 criminal activity; 7 ‘‘(ii) the violation is a violation of an 8 internal revenue law or a law concerning 9 the assessment or collection of any tax, debt, 10 revenue, or receipt; 11 ‘‘(iii) the violation was not corrected 12 on or before the date that is 30 days after 13 the date on which the agency provided the 14 small business concern with actual notice of 15 the violation in writing; 16 ‘‘(iv) the violation presents, or has the 17 potential to present— 18 ‘‘(I) a danger to public health; 19 ‘‘(II) a danger to safety; or 20 ‘‘(III) a danger, or risk of harm, 21 to the environment; or 22 ‘‘(v) the violation has the potential to 23 cause serious harm, injury, or death. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:28 Dec 16, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S2757.RS S2757 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 2757 RS ‘‘(3) AGENCY TRACKING OF FIRST-TIME VIOLA- 1 TIONS.— 2 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall pro- 3 mulgate regulations requiring an agency to track 4 each first-time violation of a requirement regard- 5 ing the collection of information by the agency. 6 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS.—In promulgating 7 regulations under subparagraph (A), the Direc- 8 tor shall ensure that an agency— 9 ‘‘(i) does not make data compiled 10 under the regulations available to the pub- 11 lic; and 12 ‘‘(ii) maintains the data described in 13 clause (i) in a format that is consistent 14 across agencies. 15 ‘‘(4) ANNUAL REPORT.—Each year, any agency 16 that waived a civil fine under paragraph (2)(A) of 17 this subsection during the preceding year and any 18 agency (as defined in section 221 of the Small Busi- 19 ness Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 (5 20 U.S.C. 601 note; Public Law 104–121)) that waived 21 or reduced a civil penalty under section 223 of that 22 Act during the preceding year shall submit a report 23 to Congress that describes, for each such waiver or re- 24 duction— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:28 Dec 16, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S2757.RS S2757 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 2757 RS ‘‘(A) the specific requirement that was vio- 1 lated, including the provision of law that author- 2 izes the agency to impose the civil fine or civil 3 penalty for the violation; 4 ‘‘(B) the amount of the civil fine or civil 5 penalty that the agency could have imposed; and 6 ‘‘(C) the industry in which the small busi- 7 ness concern or small entity that committed the 8 violation operates. 9 ‘‘(5) RELATION TO OTHER LAWS.—In the event 10 of a conflict between section 223 of the Small Busi- 11 ness Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 (5 12 U.S.C. 601 note; Public Law 104–121) and this sub- 13 section, this subsection shall control. 14 ‘‘(6) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this 15 subsection shall be construed to relieve a small busi- 16 ness concern from the obligation to comply with all 17 legal requirements.’’. 18 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 19 (1) Section 3512(b) of title 44, United States 20 Code, is amended by striking ‘‘this section’’ and in- 21 serting ‘‘subsection (a)’’. 22 (2) Section 223(c) of the Small Business Regu- 23 latory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 (5 U.S.C. 24 601 note; Public Law 104–121) is amended— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:28 Dec 16, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S2757.RS S2757 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 2757 RS (A) by striking ‘‘Agencies shall’’ and insert- 1 ing the following: 2 ‘‘(1) INITIAL REPORT.—Agencies shall’’; and 3 (B) by adding at the end the following: 4 ‘‘(2) ANNUAL REPORT.—Agencies shall submit 5 annual reports to Congress in accordance with section 6 3512(c)(4) of title 44, United States Code.’’. 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:28 Dec 16, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S2757.RS S2757 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:28 Dec 16, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S2757.RS S2757 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS Calendar No. 628 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 2757 [Report No. 116–326] A BILL To waive the imposition of a civil fine for certain first-time paperwork violations by small business concerns. DECEMBER 15, 2020 Reported with an amendment VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:28 Dec 16, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\S2757.RS S2757 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS