[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 36 (Thursday, March 26, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2663-S2664]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. COLLINS:
  S. 1867. A bill to amend chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code, 
for the purpose of facilitating compliance by small businesses with 
certain Federal paperwork requirements, and to establish a task force 
to examine the feasibility of streamlining paperwork requirements 
applicable to small businesses; to the Committee on Governmental 
Affairs.


               the small business paperwork reduction act

  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, today I am introducing the Small Business 
Paperwork Reduction Act Amendments of 1998, a companion bill to 
legislation pending in the House of Representatives.
  This legislation has five components. First, it requires the Office 
of Management and Budget to publish annually in the Federal Register 
and on the Internet all of the Federal paperwork requirements imposed 
on small business. This will not only serve as a valuable tool for 
those who must comply with these mandates, but it will also make it far 
easier for policy makers to monitor, and I would hope check, the growth 
in the paperwork burden.
  Second, under the bill, each agency will have to establish one point 
of contact to act as a liaison with small businesses on paperwork 
requirements. In an era when serving the customer has become recognized 
by the private sector as critical, this is a modest step to ask of our 
government.
  Third, the legislation provides for the suspension of civil fines 
imposed on small enterprises for first-time paperwork violations, 
except under certain circumstances, such as when the violation causes 
serious harm to the public or presents an imminent danger to the public 
health or safety. In dealing with America's entrepreneurs, we need to 
move away from a culture that seems to place a higher priority on 
imposing punishment than on facilitating compliance.
  Fourth, in addition to meeting the mandates of the Paperwork 
Reduction Act, agencies will have to make further efforts to reduce the 
burden on enterprises with fewer than 25 employees. There must be some 
measure of proportionality between the size of a business and its costs 
of complying with government regulation.
  Fifth, a task force will be established to examine the feasibility of 
requiring agencies to consolidate their paperwork mandates in a manner 
that will allow small businesses to satisfy those mandates through a 
single filing, in a single format, and on the same date. By reducing 
the amount of time currently devoted to these tasks, our companies will 
have more to spend on the activities for which they were formed.
  Mr. President, all too often the relationship between the owners of 
small businesses and government is an adversial one. That benefits no 
one--not the owners of these enterprises, not the many Americans they 
employ, not

[[Page S2664]]

the government they help to support, and not the public at large.
  The problem often is not with the goals which underlie our 
regulations, but rather in how we seek to achieve those goals. We 
should not forget that we are dealing with Americans who make a great 
contribution to the prosperity of our nation. In seeking to meet our 
regulatory objectives, we should be reaching out to these entrepreneurs 
with a helping hand and not a heavy hand. That, Mr. President, is the 
purpose of this legislation.
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