[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1255 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1255

  To amend the Small Business Act to direct the Administrator of the 
 Small Business Administration to establish a pilot program to provide 
 regulatory compliance assistance to small business concerns, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 12, 2003

  Mr. Kerry (for himself, Mr. Ensign, Mr. Jeffords, Mr. Bingaman, Ms. 
     Landrieu, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Miller, Mr. Craig, and Ms. Stabenow) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
            Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Small Business Act to direct the Administrator of the 
 Small Business Administration to establish a pilot program to provide 
 regulatory compliance assistance 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 ``National Small Business Regulatory 
Assistance Act of 2003''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

    The purpose of this Act is to establish a 4-year pilot program to--
            (1) provide confidential assistance to small business 
        concerns;
            (2) provide small business concerns with the information 
        necessary to improve their rate of compliance with Federal and 
        State regulations derived from Federal law;
            (3) create a partnership among Federal agencies to increase 
        outreach efforts to small business concerns with respect to 
        regulatory compliance;
            (4) provide a mechanism for unbiased feedback to Federal 
        agencies on the regulatory environment for small business 
        concerns; and
            (5) utilize the service delivery network of Small Business 
        Development Centers to improve access of small business 
        concerns to programs to assist them with regulatory compliance.

SEC. 3. SMALL BUSINESS REGULATORY ASSISTANCE PILOT PROGRAM.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section, the following definitions shall 
apply:
            (1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the 
        Administrator of the Small Business Administration, acting 
        through the Associate Administrator for Small Business 
        Development Centers.
            (2) Association.--The term ``Association'' means the 
        association, established pursuant to section 21(a)(3)(A) of the 
        Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 648(a)(3)(A)), representing a 
        majority of Small Business Development Centers.
            (3) Participating small business development center.--The 
        term ``participating Small Business Development Center'' means 
        a Small Business Development Center participating in the pilot 
        program established under this Act.
            (4) Regulatory compliance assistance.--The term 
        ``regulatory compliance assistance'' means assistance provided 
        by a Small Business Development Center to a small business 
        concern to facilitate the concern in complying with Federal and 
        State regulatory requirements derived from Federal law.
            (5) Small business development center.--The term ``Small 
        Business Development Center'' means a Small Business 
        Development Center described in section 21 of the Small 
        Business Act (15 U.S.C. 648).
            (6) State.--The term ``State'' means each of the several 
        States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 
        Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and Guam.
    (b) Authority.--In accordance with this section, the Administrator 
shall establish a pilot program to provide regulatory compliance 
assistance to small business concerns through participating Small 
Business Development Centers.
    (c) Small Business Development Centers.--
            (1) In general.--In carrying out the pilot program 
        established under this section, the Administrator shall enter 
        into arrangements with participating Small Business Development 
        Centers under which such centers will--
                    (A) provide access to information and resources, 
                including current Federal and State nonpunitive 
                compliance and technical assistance programs similar to 
                those established under section 507 of the Clean Air 
                Act Amendments of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 7661f);
                    (B) conduct training and educational activities;
                    (C) offer confidential, free-of-charge, one-on-one, 
                in-depth counseling to the owners and operators of 
                small business concerns regarding compliance with 
                Federal and State regulations derived from Federal law, 
                provided that such counseling is not considered to be 
                the practice of law in a State in which a Small 
Business Development Center is located or in which such counseling is 
conducted;
                    (D) provide technical assistance;
                    (E) give referrals to experts and other providers 
                of compliance assistance who meet such standards for 
                educational, technical, and professional competency as 
                are established by the Administrator; and
                    (F) form partnerships with Federal compliance 
                programs.
            (2) Reports.--Each participating Small Business Development 
        Center shall transmit to the Administrator and the Chief 
        Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business Administration, as 
        the Administrator may direct, a quarterly report that 
        includes--
                    (A) a summary of the regulatory compliance 
                assistance provided by the center under the pilot 
                program;
                    (B) the number of small business concerns assisted 
                under the pilot program; and
                    (C) for every fourth report, any regulatory 
                compliance information based on Federal law that a 
                Federal or State agency has provided to the center 
                during the preceding year and requested that it be 
                disseminated to small business concerns.
    (d) Eligibility.--A Small Business Development Center shall be 
eligible to receive assistance under the pilot program established 
under this section only if such center is certified under section 
21(k)(2) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 648(k)(2)).
    (e) Selection of Participating State Programs.--
            (1) In general.--In consultation with the Association and 
        giving substantial weight to the recommendations of the 
        Association, the Administrator shall select the Small Business 
        Development Center programs of 2 States from each of the 
        following groups of States to participate in the pilot program 
        established under this section:
                    (A) Group 1: Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, 
                Connecticut, Vermont, and Rhode Island.
                    (B) Group 2: New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and 
                the Virgin Islands.
                    (C) Group 3: Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, 
                Virginia, the District of Columbia, and Delaware.
                    (D) Group 4: Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, 
                South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Kentucky, and 
                Tennessee.
                    (E) Group 5: Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, 
                Wisconsin, and Minnesota.
                    (F) Group 6: Texas, New Mexico, Arkansas, Oklahoma, 
                and Louisiana.
                    (G) Group 7: Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas.
                    (H) Group 8: Colorado, Wyoming, North Dakota, South 
                Dakota, Montana, and Utah.
                    (I) Group 9: California, Guam, American Samoa, 
                Hawaii, Nevada, and Arizona.
                    (J) Group 10: Washington, Alaska, Idaho, and 
                Oregon.
            (2) Deadline for selection.--The Administrator shall make 
        selections under this subsection not later than 60 days after 
        publication of final regulations under section 4 of this Act.
    (f) Matching Not Required.--Subparagraphs (A) and (B) of section 
21(a)(4) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 648(a)(4)) shall not 
apply to assistance made available under the pilot program established 
under this section.
    (g) Grant Amounts.--Each State program selected to receive a grant 
under subsection (e) shall be eligible to receive a grant in an 
amount--
            (1) not less than $150,000 per fiscal year; and
            (2) not to exceed $300,000 per fiscal year.
    (h) Evaluation and Report.--Not later than 30 months after the 
disbursement of the first grant under the pilot program, the General 
Accounting Office shall--
            (1) initiate an evaluation of the pilot program; and
            (2) within 6 months of the initiation of the evaluation 
        under paragraph (1), transmit, to the Administrator, the 
        Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate, 
        and the Committee on Small Business of the House of 
        Representatives, a report containing--
                    (A) the results of the evaluation under paragraph 
                (1); and
                    (B) any recommendations as to whether the pilot 
                program, with or without modification, should be 
extended to include the participation of all Small Business Development 
Centers.
    (i) Authorization of Appropriations.--
            (1) In general.--There are authorized to be appropriated to 
        carry out this section--
                    (A) $5,000,000 for the fiscal year beginning after 
                the date of enactment of this Act; and
                    (B) $5,000,000 for each of the 3 fiscal years 
                following the fiscal year authorized under subparagraph 
                (A).
            (2) Limitation on use of other funds.--The Administrator 
        may carry out the pilot program only with amounts appropriated 
        in advance specifically to carry out this section.
    (j) Termination.--The authorization to carry out the Small Business 
Regulatory Assistance Pilot Program established under this section 
shall terminate 4 years after the disbursement of the first grant.

SEC. 4. PROMULGATION OF REGULATIONS.

    After providing notice and an opportunity for comment, and after 
consulting with the Association (but not later than 180 days after the 
date of enactment of this Act), the Administrator shall promulgate 
final regulations to carry out this Act, including regulations that 
establish--
            (1) priorities for the types of assistance to be provided 
        under the pilot program;
            (2) standards relating to educational, technical, and 
        support services to be provided by participating Small Business 
        Development Centers;
            (3) standards relating to any national service delivery and 
        support function to be provided by the Association under the 
        pilot program;
            (4) standards relating to any work plan that the 
        Administrator may require a participating Small Business 
        Development Center to develop; and
            (5) standards relating to the educational, technical, and 
        professional competency of any expert or other assistance 
        provider to whom a small business concern may be referred for 
        compliance assistance under the pilot program.

SEC. 5. PRIVACY REQUIREMENTS APPLICABLE TO SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT 
              CENTERS.

    (a) Section 21(c) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 648(c)) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(9) Privacy requirements.--
                    ``(A) In general.--No Small Business Development 
                Center, consortium of Small Business Development 
                Centers, or contractor or agent of a Small Business 
                Development Center shall disclose the name, street, 
                address, or telephone number of any individual or small 
                business concern receiving assistance under this 
                section without the consent of such individual or small 
                business concern, except that--
                            ``(i) the Administrator shall require such 
                        disclosure if ordered to do so by a court in 
                        any civil or criminal enforcement action 
                        commenced by a Federal or State agency; and
                            ``(ii) if the Administrator considers it 
                        necessary while undertaking a financial audit 
                        of a Small Business Development Center, the 
                        Administrator shall require such disclosure for 
                        the sole purpose of undertaking such audit.
                    ``(B) Regulations.--The Administrator shall issue 
                regulations to establish standards for requiring 
                disclosures during a financial audit under subparagraph 
                (A)(ii).
                    ``(C) Administration use of information.--This 
                section shall not be interpreted to--
                            ``(i) restrict Administration access to 
                        program activity data; or
                            ``(ii) prevent the Administration from 
                        using client information (other than the 
                        information listed in subparagraph (A)) to 
                        conduct client surveys.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--This section shall take effect 30 days after 
the date of enactment of this Act.
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