In general

Section 558 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:

(d)Before any enforcement action is taken on any sanction on a business for any violation of a rule or pursuant to an adjudication an agency shall— (1)not later than 10 business days after the date on which the agency determines that a sanction may be imposed on the business, provide notice to the business that, if the business is a small business as defined in subsection (k), the small business may be subject to a sanction at the end of the grace period described in paragraph (3); (2)delay any further action for a period of 15 calendar days; (3)for any small business, defer any further action for a period of not less than 6 months, less the 15 days described in paragraph (2), which shall be extended by an additional period of 3 months on application by the small business demonstrating reasonable efforts made in good faith to remedy the violation or other conduct giving rise to the sanction; (4)make a further determination after the period described in paragraph (3) as to whether or not the small business would still be subject to the sanction as of the end of that period; (5)if the determination under paragraph (4) is that the small business would not be subject to the sanction, waive the sanction; and (6)if notice is given more than 10 business days after the date on which the agency determines that a sanction may be imposed on the business, and the agency determines that the same sanction may have been imposed on the business 10 business days prior to the date of the notice, that date of notice shall be the effective date commencing the grace period described in paragraph (3). (e)The grace period described by subsection (d) shall be applicable only once per business per rule, but shall cover subsequent violations of the same rule until it expires. (f)The grace period described by subsection (d) shall not apply to a violation that puts anyone in imminent danger, as defined by the Occupational Safety and Health Act (29 U.S.C. 662 et seq.). (g)Nothing in subsection (d) shall be construed to prevent a small business from appealing any sanction imposed in accordance with the procedures of the agency, or from seeking review under chapter 7 of this title. (h)Any sanction by an agency on a small business for any violation of a rule or pursuant to an adjudication, absent proof of written notice of the sanction and the date on which the agency determined that a sanction may be imposed, or in violation of subsection (d)(3), shall be null and void. (i)Federal agencies shall report annually to the Ombudsman on the utilization of this directive and disclose the penalty mitigation for small businesses. (j)The Ombudsman shall include in its annual report to Congress the agency reports described by subsection (i) and a summary of the findings. (k)For purposes of this section— (1)term small business is defined as any sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, limited liability company, or other business entity, that— (A)had less than $10,000,000 in gross receipts in the preceding calendar year; (B)is considered a small-business concern as such term is defined pursuant to Section 3(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632(a)); (C)employed fewer than 200 individuals in the preceding calendar year; or (D)had CPI adjusted gross receipts of less than $10,000,000 in the preceding year. (2)the term Ombudsman has the same meaning given such term in section 30(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 657(a)); (3)the term consumer price index means the consumer price index for all urban consumers published by the Department of Labor; and (4)the term CPI adjusted gross receipts means the amount of gross receipts, divided by the consumer price index for calendar year 2012, and multiplied by the consumer price index for the preceding calendar year, rounded to the nearest multiple of $100,000 (or, if midway between multiples of $100,000, to the next higher multiple of $100,000).