[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2696 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2696

   To provide small businesses with a grace period for a regulatory 
                   violation, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 16, 2016

   Mr. Paul introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To provide small businesses with a grace period for a regulatory 
                   violation, 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 ``Protect Small Business Jobs Act of 
2016''.

SEC. 2. 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 a sanction on a 
business for a violation of a rule or pursuant to an adjudication, and 
subject to subsections (e) and (f), an agency shall--
            ``(1) not later than 10 business days after the date on 
        which the agency determines that the sanction may be imposed on 
        the business, provide notice to the business that, if the 
        business is a small business, 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 relating to the sanction 
        until the end of the 15-calendar day period beginning on the 
        date on which the agency provides notice under paragraph (1);
            ``(3) for a small business--
                    ``(A) delay any further action relating to the 
                sanction until not earlier than the end of the 6-month 
                period beginning on the date on which the agency 
                provides notice under paragraph (1); and
                    ``(B) upon application by the small business 
                demonstrating reasonable efforts made in good faith to 
                remedy the violation or other conduct giving rise to 
                the sanction, extend the period under subparagraph (A) 
                by 3 months;
            ``(4) after the end of the period described in paragraph 
        (3), redetermine whether, as of the day after the end of the 
        period, the small business would still be subject to the 
        sanction; and
            ``(5) if the agency determines under paragraph (4) that the 
        small business would not be subject to the sanction, waive the 
        sanction.
    ``(e) If an agency provides notice described in subsection (d)(1) 
to a business on or after the date that is 11 business days after the 
date on which the agency determines that a sanction may be imposed on 
the business--
            ``(1) if the agency determines that the same sanction may 
        have been imposed on the business 10 business days before the 
        date of the notice, the agency shall take further action in 
        accordance with subsection (d); and
            ``(2) if the agency determines that the same sanction could 
        not have been imposed on the business 10 business days before 
        the date of the notice, the agency shall waive the sanction and 
        take no further action relating to imposition of the sanction.
    ``(f) The period during which further action is delayed under 
subsection (d)--
            ``(1) shall apply to a business only 1 time in relation to 
        any single rule;
            ``(2) until the end of such period, as determined in 
        accordance with subsection (d), shall apply to action by the 
        agency relating to any subsequent violation of the same rule; 
        and
            ``(3) shall not apply to a violation that puts any person 
        in imminent danger, within the meaning given that term under 
        section 13 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (29 U.S.C. 
        662).
    ``(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.
    ``(h) Any sanction imposed 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 have no force or effect.
    ``(i) Each agency shall submit to the Ombudsman an annual report on 
the implementation of subsection (d), including a discussion of the 
deferral of action relating to and waiver of sanctions on small 
businesses.
    ``(j) The Ombudsman shall include in the annual report to Congress 
required under section 30(b)(2)(C) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
657(b)(2)(C)) the agency reports described by subsection (i) and a 
summary of the findings.
    ``(k) For purposes of this section--
            ``(1) the term `consumer price index' means the consumer 
        price index for all urban consumers published by the Department 
        of Labor;
            ``(2) the term `CPI adjusted gross receipts' means the 
        amount of gross receipts, divided by the consumer price index 
        for calendar year 2013, 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);
            ``(3) 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)); and
            ``(4) term `small business' means 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 a small business concern (as defined in 
                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 calendar year.''.
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