[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1153 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1153

To require assessment of the impact on small business concerns of rules 
         relating to internal controls, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 18, 2007

Ms. Snowe (for herself and Mr. Coleman) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, 
                           and Urban Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require assessment of the impact on small business concerns of rules 
         relating to internal controls, 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 Regulatory Review Act 
of 2007''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) a vibrant and growing small business sector is critical 
        to creating jobs in a dynamic economy;
            (2) uniform Federal regulatory and reporting requirements 
        in many instances have imposed on small business concerns and 
        other small entities unnecessary and disproportionately 
        burdensome demands, including legal, accounting, and consulting 
        costs;
            (3) since 1980, under chapter 6 of title 5, United States 
        Code (commonly known as the ``Regulatory Flexibility Act''), 
        Federal agencies have been required to recognize and take 
        account of the differences in the scale and resources of 
        regulated entities, but have failed to do so;
            (4) a recent report prepared for the Office of Advocacy of 
        the Small Business Administration found that in 2004, the per-
        employee cost of Federal regulations for firms with fewer than 
        20 employees was $7,647, 44.8 percent more than the $5,282 per-
        employee cost faced by businesses with 500 or more workers;
            (5) Federal agencies have failed to analyze and uncover 
        less costly alternative regulatory approaches, despite the fact 
        that the Regulatory Flexibility Act requires them to do so; and
            (6) the regulatory playing field for small business 
        concerns should be leveled, making it easier for them to comply 
        with complex regulations.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act--
            (1) the term ``Board'' means the Public Company Accounting 
        Oversight Board established under section 101 of the Sarbanes-
        Oxley Act of 2002 (15 U.S.C. 7211);
            (2) the term ``Commission'' means the Securities and 
        Exchange Commission; and
            (3) the term ``small business concern'' has the same 
        meaning as in section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
        632).

SEC. 4. REGULATORY FLEXIBILITY ANALYSIS REQUIRED.

    Notwithstanding any other provision of law, before the Commission 
approves any final rule of the Board in accordance with section 107(b) 
of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (15 U.S.C. 7217(b)), the Commission 
shall conduct and complete an analysis of such rule in accordance with 
section 604 of title 5, United States Code.

SEC. 5. SMALL BUSINESS COMPLIANCE GUIDE REQUIRED.

    The Commission shall publish the small business compliance guide, 
as required by section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement 
Fairness Act of 1996 (5 U.S.C. 601 note) on the same date as the date 
of publication of the final rule (or as soon as possible after that 
date) issued to carry out section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 
(15 U.S.C. 7262).

SEC. 6. STUDY AND REPORT ON EFFECTS ON SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS.

    (a) Assessment of Effects on Small Business.--
            (1) In general.--Two years after the date on which final 
        rules are published by the Board to carry out section 404 of 
        the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (15 U.S.C. 7262), the 
        Comptroller General of the United States shall conduct an 
        assessment of the impact on small business concerns of such 
        rules and prepare a report on such assessment.
            (2) Content.--The assessment and report required by this 
        section shall--
                    (A) quantify how both the regulatory requirements 
                of the Commission and the auditing requirements of the 
                Board are affecting small business concerns;
                    (B) be modeled on the investigation of the Advisory 
                Committee on Smaller Public Companies of the Commission 
                into the regulatory burdens posed by the rules of the 
                Commission;
                    (C) include an assessment of the costs and time 
                commitments imposed on small business concerns by the 
                requirements of the Commission and the Board, and an 
                estimate of whether or not such costs of compliance are 
                expected to decrease or increase in the future;
                    (D) document how the Commission and the Board 
                worked together, since issuing the final compliance 
                guide described in section 5, to help small business 
                concerns comply with their regulatory requirements; and
                    (E) include recommendations and regulatory 
                alternatives on how to simplify or improve the process 
                of compliance with Commission and Board requirements 
                for small business concerns.
    (b) Availability of Report.--Upon completion of the report required 
by this section, such report shall be--
            (1) submitted to the Committee on Small Business and 
        Entrepreneurship of the Senate, the Committee on Small Business 
        of the House of Representatives, and the Small Business 
        Administration; and
            (2) made available to the public.
                                 <all>