[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1271 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1271

To amend chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code, for the purpose of 
facilitating compliance by small business concerns with certain Federal 
   paperwork requirements, to establish a task force to examine the 
feasibility of streamlining paperwork requirements applicable to small 
               business concerns, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 30, 2001

Mr. Voinovich (for himself, Mrs. Lincoln, and Mr. Leahy) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                          Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code, for the purpose of 
facilitating compliance by small business concerns with certain Federal 
   paperwork requirements, to establish a task force to examine the 
feasibility of streamlining paperwork requirements applicable to small 
               business concerns, and for other purposes.

    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 Paperwork Relief Act 
of 2001''.

SEC. 2. FACILITATION OF COMPLIANCE WITH FEDERAL PAPERWORK REQUIREMENTS.

    (a) Requirements Applicable to the Director of OMB.--Section 
3504(c) of title 44, United States Code (commonly referred to as the 
``Paperwork Reduction Act''), is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (4), by striking ``; and'' and inserting a 
        semicolon;
            (2) in paragraph (5), by striking the period and inserting 
        a semicolon; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(6) publish in the Federal Register on an annual basis a 
        list of the collections of information applicable to small-
        business concerns (as defined in section 3 of the Small 
        Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632)), organized by North American 
        Industrial Classification System code and industrial/sector 
        description (as published by the Office of Management and 
        Budget), with the first such publication occurring not later 
        than 1 year after the date of enactment of the Small Business 
        Paperwork Relief Act of 2001; and
            ``(7) make available on the Internet, not later than 1 year 
        after the date of enactment of the Small Business Paperwork 
        Relief Act of 2001, the list of requirements described in 
        paragraph (6).''.
    (b) Establishment of Agency Point of Contact.--Section 3506 of 
title 44, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 
following:
    ``(i) In addition to the requirements described in subsection (c), 
each agency shall, with respect to the collection of information and 
the control of paperwork, establish 1 point of contact in the agency to 
act as a liaison between the agency and small-business concerns (as 
defined in section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632)).''.
    (c) Additional Reduction of Paperwork for Certain Small 
Businesses.--Section 3506(c) of title 44, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) in paragraph (2)(B), by striking ``; and'' and 
        inserting a semicolon;
            (2) in paragraph (3)(J), by striking the period and 
        inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(4) in addition to the requirements of this chapter 
        regarding the reduction of paperwork for small-business 
        concerns (as defined in section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 
        U.S.C. 632)), make efforts to further reduce the paperwork 
        burden for small-business concerns with fewer than 25 
        employees.''.

SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF TASK FORCE TO STUDY STREAMLINING OF PAPERWORK 
              REQUIREMENTS FOR SMALL-BUSINESS CONCERNS.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) by redesignating section 3520 as section 3521; and
            (2) by inserting after section 3519 the following:
``Sec. 3520. Establishment of task force on feasibility of streamlining 
              information collection requirements
    ``(a) There is established a task force to study the feasibility of 
streamlining requirements with respect to small-business concerns 
regarding collection of information (in this section referred to as the 
`task force').
    ``(b) The members of the task force shall be appointed by the 
Director, and include--
            ``(1) not less than 2 representatives of the Department of 
        Labor, including 1 representative of the Bureau of Labor 
        Statistics and 1 representative of the Occupational Safety and 
        Health Administration;
            ``(2) not less than 1 representative of the Environmental 
        Protection Agency;
            ``(3) not less than 1 representative of the Department of 
        Transportation;
            ``(4) not less than 1 representative of the Office of 
        Advocacy of the Small Business Administration;
            ``(5) not less than 1 representative of each of two 
        agencies other than the Department of Labor, the Environmental 
        Protection Agency, the Department of Transportation, and the 
        Small Business Administration; and
            ``(6) not less than 2 representatives of the Department of 
        Health and Human Services, including one representative of the 
        Health Care Financing Administration.
    ``(c) The task force shall--
            ``(1) recommend a system to clarify which small businesses 
        within particular North American Industrial Classification 
        System codes are subject to which information compliance 
        requirements; and
            ``(2) examine the feasibility of requiring each agency to 
        consolidate requirements regarding collections of information 
        with respect to small-business concerns, in order that each 
        small business concern may submit all information required by 
        the agency--
                    ``(A) to 1 point of contact in the agency;
                    ``(B) in a single format, such as a single 
                electronic reporting system, with respect to the 
                agency; and
                    ``(C) on the same date.
    ``(d) Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of the 
Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2001, the task force shall 
submit a report of its findings under subsection (c) to the 
chairpersons and ranking minority members of the Committee on 
Governmental Affairs and the Committee on Small Business of the Senate, 
and the Committee on Government Reform and the Committee on Small 
Business of the House of Representatives.
    ``(e) In this section, the term `small business concern' has the 
meaning given under section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
632).''.
    (b) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--The table of sections for 
chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code, is amended by striking the 
item relating to section 3520 and inserting the following:

``3520. Establishment of task force on feasibility of streamlining 
                            information collection requirements.
``3521. Authorization of appropriations.''.

SEC. 4. REGULATORY ENFORCEMENT REFORMS.

    Section 223 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness 
Act of 1996 (5 U.S.C. 601 note) is amended by striking subsection (c) 
and inserting:
    ``(c) Reports.--
            ``(1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
        enactment of the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2001, 
        and not later than every 2 years thereafter, each agency shall 
        submit a report to the Committee on Governmental Affairs and 
        the Committee on Small Business of the Senate, and the 
        Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Small Business 
        of the House of Representatives, that includes information with 
        respect to the applicable 1-year period or 2-year period 
        covered by the report on each of the following:
                    ``(A) The number of enforcement actions in which a 
                civil penalty is assessed or proposed to be assessed.
                    ``(B) The number of enforcement actions in which a 
                civil penalty is assessed or proposed to be assessed 
                against a small entity.
                    ``(C) The number of enforcement actions described 
                under subparagraphs (A) and (B) in which the civil 
                penalty is reduced or waived.
                    ``(D) The total monetary amount of the reductions 
                or waivers referred to under subparagraph (C).
            ``(2) Definitions in reports.--Each report under paragraph 
        (1) shall include definitions of the terms `enforcement 
        actions', `reduction or waiver', and `small entity' as used in 
        the report.''.
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