[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 35 (Thursday, March 15, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H931-H942]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  SMALL BUSINESS PAPERWORK RELIEF ACT

  Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the 
Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 89 and ask for its 
immediate consideration.
  The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:

                               H. Res. 89

       Resolved, That at any time after the adoption of this 
     resolution the Speaker may, pursuant to clause 2(b) of rule 
     XVIII, declare the House resolved into the Committee of the 
     Whole House on the state of the Union for consideration of 
     the bill (H.R. 327) 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. The first reading of the bill shall be dispensed 
     with. General debate shall be confined to the bill and shall 
     not exceed one hour equally divided and controlled by the 
     chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on 
     Government Reform. After general debate the bill shall be 
     considered for amendment under the five-minute rule. It shall 
     be in order to consider as an original bill for the purpose 
     of amendment under the five-minute rule the amendment in the 
     nature of a substitute printed in the Congressional Record 
     and numbered 1 pursuant to clause 8 of rule XVIII. Each 
     section of that amendment in the nature of a substitute shall 
     be considered as read. During consideration of the bill for 
     amendment, the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole may 
     accord priority in recognition on the basis of whether the 
     Member offering an amendment has caused it to be printed in 
     the portion of the Congressional Record designated for that 
     purpose in clause 8 of rule XVIII. Amendments so printed 
     shall be considered as read. At the conclusion of 
     consideration of the bill for amendment the Committee shall 
     rise and report the bill to the House with such amendments as 
     may have been adopted. Any Member may demand a separate vote 
     in the House on any amendment adopted in the Committee of the 
     Whole to the bill or to the amendment in the nature of a 
     substitute made in order as original text. The previous 
     question shall be considered as ordered on the bill and 
     amendments thereto to final passage without intervening 
     motion except one motion to recommit with or without 
     instructions.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Washington (Mr. Hastings) 
is recognized for 1 hour.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, for purposes of debate only, 
I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. 
Slaughter), pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. 
During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for 
purposes of debate only.
  (Mr. HASTINGS of Washington asked and was given permission to revise 
and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 89 is an 
open rule providing for the consideration of H.R. 327, the Small 
Business Paperwork Relief Act.
  The rule provides for 1 hour of general debate, equally divided and 
controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee 
on Government Reform.
  The rule provides that it shall be in order to consider as an 
original bill for the purpose of amendment an amendment in the nature 
of a substitute printed in the Congressional Record and numbered 1. The 
rule further provides that the amendment in the nature of a substitute 
shall be open for amendment by section.
  Finally, the rule allows the chairman of the Committee of the Whole 
to accord priority in recognition to Members who have preprinted their 
amendments in the Congressional Record,

[[Page H932]]

and provides for one motion to recommit, with or without instructions.
  Mr. Speaker, the purpose of H.R. 327 is to facilitate 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.
  This bill is similar to legislation passed by the House in the 106th 
Congress but on which the Senate failed to act. However, this year's 
bill omits language contained in the earlier version which limited the 
imposition of civil penalties on small businesses for certain first-
time violations.
  In addition, H.R. 327 requires the director of the Office of 
Management and Budget to publish annually in the Federal Register a 
list of requirements applicable to small businesses with respect to the 
collection of information by Federal agencies, so that small businesses 
can easily inform themselves about these requirements.
  The bill also requires that all such information be made available on 
the Internet.
  H.R. 327 would require every Federal agency to establish a single 
point of contact between the agency and small businesses.
  Finally, the bill requires each Federal agency to make additional 
efforts to reduce the paperwork burdens on small businesses with fewer 
than 25 employees.
  Mr. Speaker, as a longtime small business owner myself, I can assure 
my colleagues that this is a bill whose time has come. It is hard 
enough for most small businesses to comply with the paperwork 
requirements that they know about, but it is the requirements that we 
do not know about that can really come back to haunt us.
  Large firms have in-house accounting, legal, and reporting compliance 
personnel that are beyond the means of small businesses. I know 
firsthand the costs and difficulty of wading through time-consuming, 
duplicative, and sometimes unnecessary paperwork.
  Small business men and women should not have to sacrifice 
productivity in order to complete endless forms when paperwork 
requirements can easily be streamlined.
  For years small businesses have created the largest share of new jobs 
in our economy. We should act today to reduce their paperwork burden so 
that they can continue to do so.
  Mr. Speaker, because H.R. 327 was not reported by a committee, no 
official cost estimate is available. However, the Committee on 
Government Reform did receive a preliminary estimate from the 
Congressional Budget Office which stated that the bill, and I quote, 
``would result in minimal costs for Federal agencies each year because 
the bill would not affect direct spending or governmental receipts. 
Pay-as-you-go procedures would not apply.''
  Accordingly, I urge my colleagues to support both the rule and the 
underlying legislation, H.R. 327.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this open rule and the underlying 
bill. It is noncontroversial. Concerns that were raised during 
consideration of the measure regarding civil penalties during the last 
Congress have been addressed.
  The business community has often voiced concern about the burden of 
government regulations and the resulting paperwork. In response to this 
concern, Congress has passed paperwork reduction legislation such as 
the Paperwork Reduction Act, PRA, and the Small Business Reporting 
Enforcement Fairness Act.
  Moreover, the last administration streamlined regulations by 
reinventing government and implementing many of the recommendations 
made by the White House Conference on Small Businesses.
  The measure before us today, H.R. 327, continues this effort to 
reduce unnecessary paperwork for small businesses.
  There are a number of provisions in H.R. 327 to address streamlining 
paperwork that bear mentioning. They require agencies to publish 
annually paperwork requirements on small businesses, to establish a 
small business liaison, to make efforts to reduce further the paperwork 
burden on small businesses with fewer than 25 employees, and to 
establish a task force to study the feasibility of streamlining 
paperwork requirements.
  Again, I know of no opposition to this measure.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 
minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Ose).
  Mr. OSE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak in support of the rule 
for this good government bill to streamline and reduce paperwork 
burdens on small businesses, that is, H.R. 327, the Small Business 
Paperwork Relief Act.
  H.R. 327 includes helpful provisions for small businesses, including 
a requirement for the Office of Management and Budget to annually 
publish in the Federal Register and on the Internet an identification 
of each agency's Federal paperwork requirements for small businesses; a 
requirement for each agency to establish a single point of contact for 
small businesses; a requirement for each agency to make further efforts 
to reduce paperwork for small businesses with fewer than 25 employees; 
and to establish an interagency task force to study streamlining of 
paperwork requirements for small businesses.
  CBO, as the gentleman from Washington has said, has scored this as 
having a minimal cost for Federal agencies each year. It is time for us 
to move forward on doing this. I support the open rule.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 
minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton).
  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for 
yielding time to me.
  Mr. Speaker, I think my colleagues have covered the rule very well. I 
thank the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Hastings) and the Committee on 
Rules for bringing an open rule down to the floor.
  I think the gentleman from California (Mr. Ose) and the gentlewoman 
from New York (Ms. Slaughter) and the gentleman from Washington (Mr. 
Hastings) have covered the bill rather well.
  There are 24 million small business people in this country that have 
been suffering dramatically under the burden of overregulation and 
paperwork. This bill takes a giant step toward eliminating a lot of the 
problems they face.
  This is supported strongly by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. I think 
it is a great bill. Its time has come, as the gentleman from Washington 
(Mr. Hastings) has said.
  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and 
I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests 
for time, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous 
question on the resolution.
  The previous question was ordered.
  The resolution was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Hastings of Washington). Pursuant to 
House Resolution 89 and rule XVIII, the Chair declares the House in the 
Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union for the 
consideration of the bill, H.R. 327.

                              {time}  1013


                     In the Committee of the Whole

  Accordingly, the House resolved itself into the Committee of the 
Whole House on the State of the Union for the consideration of the bill 
(H.R. 327) 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, with Mr. Fossella in the chair.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to the rule, the bill is considered as having 
been read the first time.
  Under the rule, the gentleman from California (Mr. Ose) and the 
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Tierney) each will control 30 
minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California (Mr. Ose).

[[Page H933]]

                             General Leave

  Mr. OSE. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks 
on H.R. 327.
  The CHAIRMAN. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from 
California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. OSE. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Chairman, H.R. 327, the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act was 
introduced by the gentleman from Indiana (Chairman Burton) on January 
31, 2001.
  This good government bill continues congressional efforts to 
streamline and reduce paperwork burdens on small businesses.
  During the 105th and 106th Congresses, the Committee on Government 
Reform and Oversight reported out bills H.R. 3310 and H.R. 391, 
respectively, that passed the House by votes of 267 to 140 and 274 to 
151, respectively.

                              {time}  1015

  These earlier bills included all of the substantive provisions in 
H.R. 327. However, unlike the predecessor bills, H.R. 327 does not 
include any provisions relating to the waiver of sanctions for first-
time violations by small businesses of Federal paperwork requirements.
  H.R. 327 includes the following helpful provisions for small 
businesses. First, a requirement for the Office of Management and 
Budget to annually publish in the Federal Register and on the Internet 
an identification of each agency's Federal paperwork requirements for 
small businesses.
  Second, a requirement for each agency to establish a single point of 
contact for small businesses.
  Third, a requirement for each agency to make further efforts to 
reduce paperwork for small businesses with fewer than 25 employees.
  Fourth, a requirement to establish an interagency task force to study 
streamlining of paperwork requirements for small businesses.
  H.R. 327 asks this task force to consider having each agency 
consolidate its reporting requirements for small businesses, resulting 
in reporting to the agency's single point of contact, in a single 
format or using a single electronic reporting system, and on one date.
  The definition of small business in this bill is the one used in the 
Small Business Act, 15 U.S.C., subsection 631 et seq.
  H.R. 327 amends the Paperwork Reduction Act, the successor to the 
Federal Reports Act of 1942, which began the requirement for OMB 
approval before paperwork could be imposed on nine or more members of 
the public. The 1980 Paperwork Reduction Act which established the 
office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in OMB began by stating 
``information needed by Federal agencies shall be obtained with a 
minimum burden upon business enterprises, especially small business 
enterprises, and other persons required to furnish the information and 
at a minimum cost to the government.''
  The 1995 reauthorization of the Paperwork Reduction Act set 10 
percent and 5 percent goals for paperwork reduction each year from 1996 
to 2001.
  OMB's most recent estimate of Federal paperwork burden on the public 
is 7.2 billion hours annually, at a cost of $190 billion a year. 
Despite the statutory requirements for annual reductions in paperwork 
burden, there have been annual increases, instead of annual decreases, 
in paperwork in each of the last 5 years. Those being from 1996 to 
2000.
  OMB's April 2000 report to Congress entitled the Information 
Collection Budget of the United States Government: Fiscal Year 2000 
does not identify any interagency efforts to streamline paperwork 
requirements on small businesses. Also, although Congress required OMB 
to provide an analysis of impacts of Federal regulation on small 
business, OMB's June 2000 ``Report to Congress on the Costs and 
Benefits of Federal Regulations: 2000'' devotes less than one page to 
the impact of Federal regulatory and paperwork burdens on small 
businesses.
  H.R. 327 has been endorsed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the 
National Association of Manufacturers, the National Federation of 
Independent Business, the National Small Business United, the Small 
Business Coalition for Regulatory Relief, the Small Business 
Legislative Council, the Small Business Survival Committee, the Academy 
of General Dentistry, Agriculture Retailers Association, the American 
Farm Bureau Federation, the American Road and Transportation Builders 
Association, Associated Builders and Contractors, the Associated 
General Contractors, the Automotive Parts and Service Alliance, the 
Food Marketing Institute, GrassRoots Impact Inc., the National 
Association of Convenience Stores, the National Automobile Dealers 
Association, the National Business Association, the National Pest 
Management Association, the National Restaurant Association, the 
National Roofing Contractors Association, the National Tooling and 
Machining Association, the North American Equipment Dealers 
Association, and the Society of American Florists.
  Mr. Chairman, I have introduced an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute which includes provisions requested by the Government Reform 
Minority, or the Committee on Small Business. Specifically, calling 
for, first, a clarification that was added that the annual list of 
requirements applicable to small businesses shall be organized so that 
small businesses can easily identify requirements with which they are 
expected to comply; second, the Department of Treasury was added to the 
membership of the interagency task force since the IRS accounts for 
nearly 80 percent of all paperwork burden on the public; third, a 
clarification was added that the consolidation requirements on small 
businesses shall not negatively impact the effectiveness of the 
underlying laws; fourth, the task force's report shall be submitted not 
only to Congress but also to OMB; and, fifth, a requirement was added 
to the task force to report in 2 years on recommendations for 
interactive, electronic recording with on-line editing, electronic 
dissemination and coordination across agencies so that agency single 
points of contact can provide small businesses with information from 
other agencies.
  In addition, the Small Business Committee stressed that, first, the 
interagency task force should reach out to actual small businesses for 
their views and recommendations, and that agencies should create user-
friendly Web sites for small businesses, including links to each 
agency's reporting requirements for small businesses and organized, 
where possible, by the North American Industrial Classification System 
formally known as the SIC codes.
  Small businesses are particularly hurt by regulatory and paperwork 
burden. The Small Business Administration estimates that it costs large 
firms $3,400 per employee to comply with Federal regulatory and 
paperwork requirements. However, the costs to small businesses is 50 
percent greater, a staggering $5,100 per employee. Not only are such 
costs higher for small businesses, but clearly they are also harder to 
absorb.
  Small businesses cannot afford to comply with Federal requirements in 
the same way that large businesses can. The high costs of such 
requirements often makes it impossible for small businesses to expand. 
It threatens their ability to stay afloat or it prevents them from 
opening in the first place.
  Mr. Chairman, H.R. 327 should result in needed relief for small 
businesses.
  Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. TIERNEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Ose), the 
chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy Policy, Natural Resources and 
Regulatory Affairs.
  Mr. Chairman, H.R. 327 is a substantial improvement over the small 
business paperwork bills that were considered by the House in the last 
two Congresses because in the last two Congresses, these contained 
controversial penalty provisions, and they have since been removed. 
This bill includes provisions suggested by the Democratic minority that 
will reduce the paperwork burden on truly small businesses.
  Mr. Chairman, small businesses as everyone is familiar with, are the 
backbone of the economy and, now, are where the new jobs are being 
created.

[[Page H934]]

 However, many small- and family-owned businesses spend a great deal of 
their resources learning about and complying with applicable laws.
  I am very pleased that we are looking at ways to make it easier for 
small businesses to understand what information they are required to 
provide and the ways to simplify and streamline the paperwork process.
  Mr. Chairman, H.R. 327, as amended, requires the Office of Management 
and Budget to annually produce a list of information collection 
requirements applicable to small businesses and to do that in a manner 
that is useful to small businesses. This list must be printed in the 
Federal Register and on the Internet.
  The bill also requires each agency to establish one point of contact 
to act as a liaison with small businesses.
  It requires agencies to make efforts to further reduce paperwork on 
businesses with fewer than 25 employees.
  It establishes a task force to study the feasibility of streamlining 
information collection and dissemination.
  Mr. Chairman, 3 years ago, we considered similar provisions when we 
considered H.R. 3310. Unfortunately, that bill also contained 
provisions that would have probably prohibited agencies from penalizing 
businesses for most first-time information-related violations. These 
provisions would remove agency discretion. It would have created a safe 
haven for willful, substantial, and long-standing violations.
  They were obviously strongly opposed by the prior administration, by 
labor, environmental, consumer, senior citizen, health, trade and 
firefighter groups, as well as by some State attorneys general.
  The gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kucinich) and I offered an amendment to 
address these concerns. However, the amendment failed. Because of the 
surrounding controversy, the bill was never considered in the Senate; 
and we lost a chance to implement the provisions that we are 
considering today.
  The bill was resurrected in the next Congress as H.R. 391. The 
amendment of the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kucinich), which fixed 
controversial provisions, narrowly failed by a vote of 214-210. Again, 
because the controversial provisions remained in the bill, it never 
became law.
  Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to see that H.R. 327 does not include 
those controversial penalty provisions and now there is a strong chance 
that this bill will in fact become law.
  Mr. Chairman, I am also pleased to say that the managers amendment to 
H.R. 327 includes suggestions made by the Democratic minority of this 
committee. For instance, the task force will study the feasibility of 
strengthening the dissemination so that agencies can more effectively 
share that information with other agencies and with the public.
  The task force must make recommendations for implementing an 
interactive system for information collection requirements so the small 
businesses can identify applicable requirements over the Internet.
  It will provide guidelines for developing an interactive system that 
edits the information submitted by small businesses and checks for 
consistency.
  It will make recommendations for electronic dissemination of 
collected information.
  Finally, it will make recommendations for coordinating information 
collection between the different agencies.
  Another change that was suggested by the Democratic minority 
clarifies that the annual list of information requirements will be 
produced in a manner that is useful to small businesses. The original 
bill required that the lists be made by statistical code; however, that 
list likely would not be used by small businesses, it would merely 
provide a statistical analysis of the quantity of information 
regulations.
  After all, the purpose of this bill is not to count regulations but 
to help small businesses understand and comply with the information 
collection requirements. The new language ensures that the list is 
produced in such a manner that such small business concerns can easily 
identify requirements with which they are expected to comply.
  Further, H.R. 327 includes a provision suggested by the gentleman 
from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), and it was adopted 3 years ago. And it 
focuses paperwork reduction on small businesses with fewer than 25 
employees. This amendment directs our efforts to truly small businesses 
that need our help the most.
  The definition of small businesses that was incorporated to H.R. 327 
and was so broad that it included numerous businesses that many do not 
really consider as small.
  It would have included petroleum refineries with up to 1500 
employees, pharmaceutical companies with up to 750 employees, and banks 
with up to $100 million in assets. Thus, this bill, as amended, helps 
most businesses not just small businesses, and I believe it is 
appropriate to focus the agency efforts on businesses that truly are 
small.
  Mr. Chairman, the information collection is one of the more important 
jobs of the Federal Government. It allows the government to enforce the 
law without burdening businesses with in-depth site investigations; 
nevertheless, it is difficult for small businesses to fully understand 
what is required of them. And many businesses have expressed 
frustration with the fact that they provided similar information to 
more than one source in government.
  Mr. Chairman, I believe the government should help small businesses 
understand their responsibilities and streamline the information 
collection process. This bill serves both purposes without jeopardizing 
the underlying protections. Furthermore, it should help us take 
advantage of the information age by using the Internet to gather and 
disseminate information. These changes have been suggested by numerous 
sources, including the General Accounting Office.
  Mr. Chairman, it is a bit ironic that we are considering this bill to 
help small businesses at a time when the President has proposed cutting 
funding to the Small Business Administration by over 46 percent.
  He has recommended eliminating the New Markets Venture Capital 
Program, which provides venture capital and technical assistance to 
small businesses in less prosperous areas in the country.
  The President also recommends eliminating the BusinessLINC Program 
which encourages mentoring between large and small businesses. I am 
hoping that as the session moves forward, we will be able to deal with 
those matters and to truly help small businesses there, as well as with 
this Paperwork Reduction Act.
  I am pleased that we are at least willing to consider this bill which 
would help small businesses comply with the law and encourage the 
government to take advantage of electronic reporting and reduce 
duplicative paperwork burdens. I urge your support for passage.
  Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. OSE. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Chairman, I want to thank the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. 
Tierney) for his efforts in helping us identify for small businesses 
across this country what the exact paperwork burden is that exists on 
them.
  Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from 
Indiana (Mr. Burton), my good friend and chairman of the Committee on 
Government Reform.
  (Mr. BURTON of Indiana asked and was given permission to revise and 
extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Ose), the chairman of the Subcommittee 
on Energy Policy, Natural Resources and Regulatory Affairs, for his 
hard work on this bill, and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. 
Tierney). He has worked very hard on this. I would like to thank as 
well the gentleman from California (Mr. Waxman), the minority member on 
the Committee on Government Reform.
  Mr. Chairman, this is a very, very important bill. We talk about a 
lot of bills around here, Mr. Chairman, that do not seem to be very 
significant to the American people. But this is one that probably will 
not get front page across the country but it really is important.

                              {time}  1030

  We have 24 million small business people in this country, 24 million. 
The gentleman from California (Mr. Ose) said there was 190 billion 
hours that

[[Page H935]]

are devoted to small business paperwork. The Chamber of Commerce says 
that is 229 billion hours that they have to devote to paperwork for the 
Federal Government. My figures are 232 billion. But no matter how one 
cuts it, that is an awful lot of time and money that they have to spend 
just messing with regulations and paperwork in this country.
  It costs them, as the gentleman from California (Mr. Ose) and the 
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Tierney) and others have said, on 
average $5,100 per employee to comply with these regulations each year. 
Just think how much money we could save in this country and how much 
money could be turned into capital improvements and economic expansion 
if they did not have to spend all this time and money on paperwork.
  So this bill, I think, is a very, very important bill. It will not 
be, like I said, front page, but I think everybody in this country that 
is a small business person is going to be very, very happy that we pass 
it.
  I might also state that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is very 
supportive of the bill. They have 96 percent of their members that are 
small business people across this country, 96 out of 100. I know that 
all of those people are going to be thanking the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. Tierney) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Ose) 
and hopefully me as well for helping get this terrible workload off 
their backs so that they can make more money and help make the economy 
even stronger.
  Mr. Chairman, I include the following letter from the Chamber of 
Commerce for the Record, as follows:
                                               Chamber of Commerce


                              of the United States of America,

                                   Washington, DC, March 13, 2001.
     Hon. Dan Burton,
     House of Representatives,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Representative Burton: Later this week, the full U.S. 
     House is expected to consider H.R. 327, ``The Small Business 
     Paperwork Relief Act.'' The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the 
     world's largest business federation, representing more than 
     three million businesses of every size, sector, and region. 
     More than 96 percent of the U.S. Chamber's members are small 
     businesses with 100 or fewer employees.
       With the plethora of regulatory mandates on small business 
     growing to unpredicted levels, so too is the prodigious task 
     of filling out the required paperwork. Our nation's 23 
     million small businesses spent approximately 7 billion hours 
     filling out federal paperwork in 1998, according to the 
     Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The cost associated 
     with this paperwork burden is estimated at $229 billion and 
     that does not take into account state and local requirements.
       Specifically, H.R. 327 would require each agency to 
     establish one point of contact for small businesses on 
     federal paperwork requirements. In addition, a task force 
     with representatives across federal agencies would be 
     established to examine the feasibility of requiring each 
     agency to reduce, consolidate and harmonize requirements 
     regarding collections of information with respect to small-
     business concerns.
       We urge you to support H.R. 327 and to oppose amendments 
     that would weaken the important paperwork reduction 
     requirements in the bill.
           Sincerely,
                                                  R. Bruce Josten.

  Mr. OSE. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Chairman, I would like to just make one add-on to the chairman's 
comments. He had said there were 190 billion hours. It was actually 7.2 
billion hours per year in paperwork and 190 billion per year in cost.
  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. OSE. I yield to the gentleman from Indiana.
  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Chairman, when one gets into those 
figures, it gets very confusing; but the fact of the matter is, it is 
costing small business people in this country a ton of money.
  Mr. OSE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 7 minutes to the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Manzullo), my good friend and chairman of the Committee 
on Small Business.
  (Mr. MANZULLO asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of H.R. 327, the 
Small Business Paperwork Relief Act. This bill represents an excellent 
start in reducing the paperwork burdens that are swamping millions of 
small businesses. If we can get them out from under this deluge, they 
can devote themselves to hiring workers, investing capital and moving 
the economy forward.
  Twenty years after the passage of the Paperwork Reduction Act, there 
is no evidence that the government has reduced the amount of paperwork 
on small businesses. The Federal Government requires the filing of more 
than 7,700 forms, resulting in nearly 66 million responses with a total 
burden of more than 7.5 billion man-hours.
  The Office of Management and Budget estimates that the annual cost of 
these paperwork burdens cost the American economy over $61.7 billion. 
This is a vast amount of paperwork.
  Do we know how much of this burden is imposed on small businesses? Do 
we know how much of this burden is imposed on particular classes of 
small businesses? Does the Office of Management and Budget know which 
forms apply to which businesses? If it does, has that agency considered 
whether the information is duplicated? This bill, H.R. 327, provides 
the answers to these questions.
  For example, convenience store owners that sell gasoline may have to 
prepare 46 different Federal forms. That is in addition to the basic 
forms for starting a business which are numerous, forms related to the 
sale and service of food, et cetera, et cetera. The forms and their 
associated instructions for the 46 different forms particularly 
associated with convenience stores total 250 pages of legal and 
regulatory prose. I got this information not from the Federal 
Government, which does not compile according to the function of the 
retailer or the wholesaler, but from a trade association.
  So if someone wants to start a convenience store that sells gasoline, 
he or she would have to go to seven different Federal agencies. That 
assumes that they even knew that they should be going to some of those 
agencies. The situation is simply intolerable. H.R. 327 corrects this 
problem.
  The bill requires the Office of Management and Budget to classify 
forms by business category, mandates that OMB put the information on 
the Internet in a user-friendly manner for small businesses, forces 
Federal agencies to create a single point of contact for small 
businesses to obtain information concerning paperwork requirements, and 
creates an interagency task force to consider ways to reduce and 
streamline the paperwork burdens now facing small businesses.
  As the chairman of the Committee on Small Business, I would like to 
thank the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton) and the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Ose) for moving H.R. 327. I look forward to working 
with the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton) and the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Ose) on improving the Paperwork Reduction Act to ensure 
that the Federal Government reduces paperwork burdens on America's 
small businesses.
  Mr. Chairman, the first thing the bill does is require that the OMB 
identify by North American Industrial Classification or other 
appropriate industry identification, the forms that every small 
business must fill out. In essence, a chart would be created that can 
be reviewed to determine the total number of forms that each agency 
imposes on each type of small business. OMB could then utilize this 
identification process to estimate the total burdens imposed on small 
businesses in each industrial classification. This is vital information 
that OMB does not yet estimate. OMB should be able to use this 
information in its internal management of approving existing and new 
information collection requests under the Paperwork Reduction Act.
  There seems to be some concern about using industrial classifications 
because small businesses do not know their industrial classification. 
First, any small business that contracts with the Federal Government 
must know its industrial classification because the Federal Government 
classifies contracts using the North American Industrial 
Classification. The Securities and Exchange Commission requires the use 
of the North American Industrial Classification in all of its filings. 
So there are many small businesses that already know there industrial 
classification. And I would expect that OMB would provide a website 
link to the North American Industrial Classification system so small 
business owners could actually check their classification. I also would 
expect that the agency would put the title of the industrial 
classification in the data it collects for ease of reference in any 
event.
  By itself, that single step would prove valuable to the Federal 
Government management

[[Page H936]]

of paperwork burdens and to the small business community. But H.R. 327, 
as amended, does more than that. It makes the information available to 
the small business community in a user-friendly manner. H.R. 327, as 
amended, requires the agencies to establish a single point of contact 
within each agency where small businesses can go to obtain information 
on the paperwork requirements associated with the agency. My colleagues 
are well aware that within a single Federal agency are numerous 
subagencies. I see no reason that a small business owner has to 
negotiate among this multitude in order to find out a simple question--
what forms do I need to fill out to comply with the law. The structure 
of Federal agencies has made this a game. If a small business owner 
guesses correctly, they might find out what forms they need to fill 
out; if they guess incorrectly, they might not find out. That is just 
plain stupid.
  H.R. 327 would correct that problem by appointing one person in each 
agency to act as a central point of contact for small businesses to 
obtain information on the paperwork requirements associated with its 
small business. Small businesses then would be able to obtain the 
appropriate forms from this point of contact. I also would expect that 
the point of contact would create a website where all of the agency's 
forms are located for easy downloading by small businesses.
  The bill also would establish an interagency task force to address 
ways to reduce burdens on small businesses. For example, the task 
force, armed with identification of all appropriate forms identified by 
industry, could begin to examine processes to improve interagency 
sharing information so that similar information would not have to be 
filed with multiple agencies. Or agencies might share knowledge about 
how to make forms more user-friendly and thereby reduce the time that 
small businesses expend in completing forms.
  Mr. Chairman, I would like to enter into a colloquy with the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Ose).
  Mr. OSE. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. MANZULLO. Yes, I yield to the gentleman from California.
  Mr. OSE. Mr. Chairman, I will be happy to engage in a colloquy with 
the gentleman from Illinois.
  Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from California for 
agreeing to engage in a colloquy. I think it is absolutely imperative 
on the task force created by the bill to obtain input from the small 
business community. Does the gentleman from California concur?
  Mr. OSE. Mr. Chairman, if the gentleman will yield, I concur with the 
gentleman from Illinois. I certainly would not understand how a task 
force that is designed to reduce the paperwork burdens on small 
businesses could accomplish its goal without obtaining input from the 
small businesses that are buried by Federal reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements.
  Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from California for 
clarifying that issue.
  I also note that the bill would require the Office of Management and 
Budget place the information on small business paperwork burdens on the 
Internet. I agree that this would make the information more accessible.
  However, I believe more can be done. I think that OMB should 
establish a link on its website to the agency point of contact 
established by the bill. Each agency's website then would have links to 
the relevant paperwork required for small business. I would like the 
opinion of the gentleman from California on this point.
  Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Ose).
  Mr. OSE. Mr. Chairman, I agree with the gentleman from Illinois. The 
bill was intended to make information available in a user-friendly 
format, which means making it easy for small businesses to find the 
relevant paperwork requirements on the Internet. That would include 
providing appropriate links on OMB's website to the single points of 
contact established by the bill. In addition, I would expect links on 
OMB's website to other general access points, such as the FirstGov 
website and the Small Business Administration's website.
  I look forward to working with the distinguished gentleman from 
Illinois to ensure that the Federal agencies provide appropriate links 
to this critical information.
  Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Chairman, finally, I would like to clarify one 
point. The bill as introduced required that the information be 
organized by the North American Industrial Classification System. The 
amendment would modify that requirement by leaving it up to the 
discretion of OMB.
  Is it the opinion of the gentleman from California (Mr. Ose) that the 
best method of classifying the information remains the North American 
Industrial Classification System because that would enable small 
businesses to best identify the paperwork burdens associated with the 
particular businesses?
  Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Ose).
  Mr. OSE. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for raising that 
critical point. I believe that OMB should classify the information 
using the North American Industrial Classification System. Otherwise, a 
small business searching for information on its paperwork burdens might 
not find the information most applicable to its business. By using the 
North American Industrial Classification System, it would ensure that 
restaurants find information relevant for restaurants and not 
information for steel manufacturers.
  In conclusion, I fully agree with the gentleman from Illinois on this 
point.
  Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from California 
(Mr. Ose).
  Mr. TIERNEY. Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Chairman, I understand the desire that the task force address 
concerns of the small business community. It is my understanding that 
is why the task force in fact includes someone from the Small Business 
Office of Advocacy. That is what they do. So I should not think we 
would all be surprised about that. I think that should continue and we 
support that.
  But I think it is also important that the task force obtain input 
from the environmental, public health and the labor communities as 
well. Because the study, in fact, is looking at the feasibility of 
streamlining paperwork without negatively impacting underlying 
protections.
  I think, as much as we can all rail here about the need for paperwork 
reduction and streamlining, we all believe that is a good goal. I think 
few of us would argue that the regulations in fact are there for a 
purpose. While we are achieving our goal for this bill, we want to make 
sure we do not undercut the purposes of those regulations that are so 
important.
  I would also like to clarify a point made by the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Ose). I understand his preference of the Office of 
Management and Budget to use the North American Industrial 
Classification System. However, I want to ensure that he understands 
the bill has changed. The bill now states that the information should 
be organized in such a manner that such small business concerns can 
easily identify requirements by which they are expected to comply.
  If the North American Industrial Classification System is the 
easiest, then I think that is obviously the one OMB will select. But we 
should all know that the NAIC categories are used for census purposes 
and for compiling statistics. OMB may not find that to be the most 
significant or most proper way to do that, in which case they will use 
another way of presenting the information.
  I thank the chairman for that.
  Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Baca).
  (Mr. BACA asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. BACA. Mr. Chairman, I stand in support of this legislation, H.R. 
327. If we are not choking small businesses with overburdensome 
regulations, we are choking them with paperwork.
  Today small business owners have to contend with an increased 
competition with big businesses who are merging and consolidating and 
putting a squeeze on the little guy. Then they have big government come 
in, squeezing the little guy with tons of regulations and paperwork. 
This is why this country is heading into a recession.
  Small business is the engine of the economic growth in this country. 
The biggest employer is the Inland Empire in my area with the largest 
growth of small businesses.
  What we have done is we have stalled the engine. I state we have 
stalled the engine. We have forced small businessmen and women to spend 
hours filling out forms. These are hours they cannot

[[Page H937]]

spend with customers, their families, vendors, civic organizations.
  Time is money. As a former small business owner, I know how tough it 
can be to keep up with small regulations and forms. I wanted to be a 
good businessman, not a good form-filler-outer.
  For those of us who are in small businesses, we understand what is 
going on in the world around us and the kind of competition that we are 
faced with as well. We want to be just as competitive as anybody else. 
But we also want to spend our time wisely. The way to do that is to get 
rid of some of the burdens that we have in the filling out of the 
paperwork.
  In addition, I am also concerned that the President's budget cuts 
Small Business Administration almost in half from its level of 2000 and 
that the President's tax plan does not allow for specific tax relief 
for small businesses.
  Small businesses deserve our support and help. They need financing 
programs. They deserve specific tax relief measures. They need less 
burdensome regulations and less paperwork.
  Let us unharness small business owners and get the engine going 
again. I ask for support for H.R. 327.
  Mr. OSE. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Chairman, I find myself thanking the gentleman from Massachusetts 
(Mr. Tierney) often, which is good. I want to thank the gentleman from 
Massachusetts for bringing up the very valid suggestion that the task 
force should visit with labor and environmental groups in particular. I 
think that is an excellent point that needs to be in the Record.
  Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. 
Pence).
  (Mr. PENCE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. PENCE. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from California for 
yielding me the time.
  Mr. Chairman, I am grateful for this opportunity to come to the floor 
this morning to urge my colleagues to support the Small Business 
Paperwork Reduction Act. I specifically thank the gentleman from 
California (Chairman Ose) and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. 
Tierney) for their efforts in this regard.
  My good friends, the gentleman from Indiana (Chairman Burton) and the 
gentleman from Illinois (Chairman Manzullo), have introduced and worked 
with these gentlemen to introduce an important bill to help the new 
administration protect small business from an ever-expanding regulatory 
burden.
  As the new chairman of the Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform and 
Oversight, I am especially pleased to pick up the regulatory reform 
mantle from the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Kelly) and my good 
friend and predecessor David McIntosh. They did a tremendous job as 
advocates for small business, and I hope to continue to fight 
regulatory excess and burdensome paperwork that acts as such an 
impediment to economic growth and expansion.
  In fact, Mr. Chairman, reducing this burden is as important to small 
businesses as tax relief, because filling out forms competes directly 
with the business manager's principal goal, growing his or her 
business. This mountain of paperwork has been the enemy.
  In spite of the importance of small business to the success of our 
economy, small businesses face serious hurdles. One of the hardships 
that I have heard over and over again in east central Indiana from 
small business leaders in my district is the burden of paperwork and 
Federal red tape.
  The Office of Management and Budget estimates the Federal paperwork 
burden at 7.2 billion hours. What does this mean, Mr. Chairman? It 
means that it takes an army of 3.5 million workers working 40 hours a 
week, 52 weeks of the year to simply fill out all of the paperwork the 
Federal Government requires each year. According to the Office of 
Management and Budget, this costs the American public $190 billion a 
year.

                              {time}  1045

  Much of the information that is gathered in this paperwork is 
important, sometimes even crucial for the government to function. 
However, too often the paperwork is duplicative and sometimes 
unnecessary.
  Unfortunately, past efforts to fix the paperwork problem have not 
worked. In 1995, Congress passed amendments to the Paperwork Reduction 
Act. The goal of the act was to annually reduce the requirements of the 
Federal Government. These annual reductions in paperwork, however, have 
not been achieved. In fact, paperwork burdens have increased over the 
past 5 years.
  As my colleagues know, the regulatory burden that the Federal 
Government imposes on business is staggering. According to the Small 
Business Administration, it costs large firms $3,400 per employee to 
comply with Federal regulations. However, the cost to small businesses 
is 50 percent greater, a staggering, $5,100 per employee; and for small 
businesses, nearly $2,000 of this cost is for paperwork alone. H.R. 327 
starts to deal with these paperwork issues.
  Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to support the Small Business 
Paperwork Relief Act.
  Mr. TIERNEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Waxman), the able ranking member of the Committee on 
Government Reform.
  Mr. WAXMAN. Mr. Chairman, I rise to urge my colleagues to support 
passage of H.R. 327, the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act. As my 
colleagues may recall, similar legislation was on the House floor 
during the 105th and the 106th Congresses, which I did not support. 
H.R. 327, however, does not contain the controversial provisions as in 
the past years that would have condoned violations of important health 
and safety laws.
  In addition to stripping the bill of the egregious language regarding 
violations, the majority worked with us to add new provisions that call 
for agencies to make it easier for small businesses to learn what is 
expected of them and improve the dissemination of regulatory 
information to the public. This bill calls on agencies to work together 
to create a way for a small business person to be able to contact one 
agency for information instead of multiple agencies as is currently 
required.
  I especially want to highlight one provision which calls on agencies 
to work toward an interactive computer system which will allow small 
businesses to electronically identify information collection 
requirements. A small business person should be able to go online and 
determine what are the government requirements with which the business 
needs to comply.
  Just this week the General Accounting Office released a report, 
Regulatory Management: Communication About Technology-Based Innovations 
Can Be Improved, drafted at my request and the request of Senators 
Lieberman and Thompson. It demonstrates how information technology can 
and should be used by agencies when they interact with the public to 
accomplish their missions. The report explains that increased use of 
information technology in regulatory management has the potential to 
yield significant benefits, including reducing burden on regulated 
entities; and I believe the changes to this bill start us on the right 
track.
  Mr. Chairman, of course this bill's attempt to help small businesses 
should not obscure what this Congress has done to hurt small 
businesses. This Republican Congress began down the wrong path earlier 
this month when it included anti-small business provisions in the 
bankruptcy bill it passed. One such provision created an inflexible 
trigger which requires a court to order liquidation even if the small 
business is still viable.
  Similarly, the President's budget recently submitted to Congress 
funding cuts of the Small Business Administration by 46.4 percent. 
Specifically, the budget eliminates the New Markets Venture Capital 
program, which provides venture capital and technical assistance to 
small businesses in less prosperous areas of the country.
  In addition, it eliminates the business link program which encourages 
mentoring between large and small businesses.
  Mr. Chairman, although there were a number of additional provisions 
that I would have liked to see in this bill, because this bill no 
longer has the violations sections and because some of the Democratic 
suggestions were included, I urge passage of H.R. 327.

[[Page H938]]

  In closing, I would like to commend the gentleman from California 
(Mr. Ose), the subcommittee chairman; the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. 
Burton), the full committee chairman; and the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. Tierney), the subcommittee ranking member. They have 
worked together to produce a bill that deserves our support.
  Mr. OSE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Idaho 
(Mr. Otter).
  (Mr. OTTER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. OTTER. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of H.R. 327, the 
Small Business Paperwork Relief Act. The Office of Management and 
Budget estimates that small businesses spend 7.2 billion man-hours to 
fill out Federal Government paperwork. This means it takes an army of 
3.5 million workers, working 8 hours a day, 260 days a year, to fill 
out the paperwork that the Federal Government requires. Think now, how 
many government employees it takes to read, file, store, analyze, and 
then answer this same paperwork.
  For the hard-working American people who own and operate small 
businesses, we must stop these regulations now; and by doing so, we 
create an opportunity for them to become more efficient, drive down 
costs, stimulate the economy, and let them spend more time of that 7.2 
billion hours with their families and keeping their businesses 
competitive. It is the American consumer that buys the products from 
these companies that pays the bill.
  Mr. Chairman, once again I thank the gentleman from California for 
yielding me this time.
  Mr. OSE. Mr. Chairman, may I inquire how much time remains?
  The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from California (Mr. Ose) has 9 minutes 
remaining.
  Mr. OSE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to one of our newest Members, 
the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Putnam).
  Mr. PUTNAM. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this 
time.
  Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of H.R. 327, the Small Business 
Paperwork Relief Act. In my State of Florida, 98.9 percent of the 
businesses are small businesses, and 84 percent of the jobs in Florida 
come from firms having 25 or fewer employees.
  Small business ownership is the great gateway to the middle class for 
many minorities in my State. In Florida, there are over 40,000 small 
businesses owned by African Americans and over 118,000 Hispanic-owned 
small businesses. In my home county there are about 9,300 business 
establishments, 86 percent of which the employment comes from firms 
employing fewer than 20.
  Small business is truly the lifeblood of our economy. Bureaucracy and 
its attendant costs, however, have invaded nearly every aspect of our 
economic life. Nowhere does the growing burden of Federal regulation 
fall more heavily than on small business.
  Among the early victories of the Reagan years was the passage of the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980. The Paperwork Reduction Act targeted 
several classes of the public for relief, especially the small business 
community. Unfortunately, since that time, the burden of Federal 
regulation has once again reared its ugly head. Mr. Chairman, that 
means that 86 percent of the employment is burdened by this hidden tax 
of $2,000 per employee.
  Mr. Chairman, I urge the passage of H.R. 327.
  Mr. OSE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Grucci).
  Mr. GRUCCI. Mr. Chairman, I thank my colleague, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Ose), for yielding me this time.
  Mr. Chairman, during my career, both in the private sector as a small 
family businessman, and in the public sector, when I served as 
supervisor of the largest town in Suffolk County, on Long Island, I 
have always been a proponent of streamlining the costly bureaucracies 
that hinder the success of small businesses and stifle the 
entrepreneurial spirit.
  When I ran my family business, I experienced firsthand how 
encyclopedia-sized applications discouraged owners from competing on 
government projects. I had to hire additional attorneys, accountants, 
and consultants just to fill out the basic paperwork. These 
requirements place unnecessary burdens on the backbone of our Nation's 
economy, the entrepreneur and the small business owner.
  As a local town supervisor, I streamlined and enhanced the planning 
and review process so small businesses could obtain permits at a faster 
pace. By streamlining the process, small businesses open faster, expand 
at a greater rate, create additional jobs, protect our environment, and 
provide the improvement for the quality of life of all Americans.
  This commonsense measure aims to ease the unnecessary burdensome 
paperwork by requiring public electronic disclosure of all Federal 
paperwork requirements and establishing a one-stop shop.
  Mr. Chairman, I ask that my colleagues join me in passing this 
resolution.
  Mr. TIERNEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for 
yielding me this time and for his leadership. I also thank the 
committee for its leadership and thank the chairman as well.
  Mr. Chairman, I wanted to come to the floor to suggest to my 
colleagues that I wish that we could be doing more. I happen to be a 
member of the House Committee on Science, and during my tenure on that 
committee I have often said that small business is the backbone, the 
infrastructure, of America, along with science. Science is the work of 
America. In many instances, small businesses are engaged in activities 
that generate research and improvements in our quality of life.
  I believe the backbone of this legislation is the idea of providing 
access to small businesses as relates to our Federal agencies. So I am 
certainly supportive of the aspects that would require Federal agencies 
to reduce paperwork requirements for very small businesses; and 
certainly I am very supportive of establishing single points of 
contacts for information on paperwork requirements and the fact that we 
are publishing each year a list of all paperwork requirements on small 
businesses and establishing a task force to study the feasibility of 
streamlining small business reporting requirements.
  But I would like to see us continue outreach activities to small 
businesses. I think the concept promoted in the last administration of 
the U.S. General Store, where there was a central point where small 
businesses could access the Federal agencies and find out how to market 
products to the Federal agencies and how to work with the Federal 
agencies, is a concept that this Congress should take up again.
  I think this Congress should be looking at how we can lower the cost 
of health care for our smaller businesses in a manner that provides 
health care to their employees in an economical way. I think this 
Congress should be looking at how we can address the energy crisis so 
that the high cost of fuel is not putting our small businesses out of 
business. And I would hope that this Congress could as well look at the 
mobile concerns around the Nation, because it is the employees of small 
businesses that most suffer in terms of mobility. In particular, my 
city of Houston is fighting for a light rail system to assist in our 
mobility and air-quality issues.
  So though I come and support this legislation, inasmuch as I believe 
the economy is driven by small businesses, I think that we will do well 
to spend a great deal of our legislative agenda in helping to address 
the questions that really drive small businesses, which is bringing 
down their health care costs, providing them with regional mobility, 
and ensuring that they have the kind of lower costs in energy and 
overhead costs that will keep them strong and vibrant.
  With that, Mr. Chairman, I support the legislation and ask my 
colleagues to continue their work.

                              {time}  1100

  Mr. OSE. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I want to compliment the gentlewoman from Texas. I look forward to 
working with her on further relieving the burden on the small 
businesses

[[Page H939]]

that exist in all of our districts. I thought her remarks were right on 
point.
  Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from West Virginia 
(Ms. Capito).
  Ms. CAPITO. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to urge all of my colleagues 
to support the small business paperwork relief act, H.R. 327. Many who 
have spoken have cited the various benefits of this bill to small 
businesses: reduced costs, greater efficiency and new jobs. But I would 
like to highlight yet another benefit of this bill, greater business 
opportunities for women and more women-owned businesses.
  Women have made great strides in the workplace, especially as 
entrepreneurs. Between the years of 1987 and 1997, the number of women-
owned businesses has increased by 89 percent. In my State of West 
Virginia, small business is 80 percent of the businesses in West 
Virginia. In February of this year, six of my constituents received 
Small Business Administration loans. Four of these business owners were 
women. All of them are happy to receive the financial support, but they 
would be even happier if the government would remove some of the 
unnecessary regulations and paperwork that prevent them from doing such 
things as offering expanded health insurance policies or creating new 
jobs, all these things that could be done with the costs they expend on 
filling out large amounts of Federal paperwork.
  As leaders entrusted with the responsibility to preserve the ideas 
that this country was founded on, we need to be constantly vigilant, 
recognizing these needless barriers that unduly burden small business. 
We need to be constantly aware and unwilling to tolerate the 
unnecessary obstacles that prevent all Americans, men and women, from 
achieving the American dream. If we fail our country and our 
constituents of this responsibility, then we cheat our national economy 
of many talented and capable workers and potential commercial assets.
  I cannot help but wonder how many more women or minority 
entrepreneurs we could have if we made starting and running a small 
business a little bit easier. I urge my colleagues today to recognize 
this. Today we have the opportunity to preserve and extend the idea of 
the American dream to millions more women who think that when it comes 
to starting and running a business it is just too hard. Send them a 
message that the true entrepreneurial spirit is available to them.
  I urge support of H.R. 327, the small business paperwork relief act.
  Mr. OSE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Ferguson).
  (Mr. FERGUSON asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. FERGUSON. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong support of small 
business owners and of common sense. I ask my colleagues to support 
H.R. 327, the small business paperwork relief act. Despite the 
importance of small businesses to our economy, they face serious 
regulatory hurdles. The single most costly type of regulation is 
paperwork compliance. The Office of Management and Budget estimates the 
Federal paperwork burden at 7.2 billion man hours and $190 billion each 
year. These small businesses are drowning in a sea of red tape. The 
time and money required to keep up with government paperwork prevents 
small businesses from securing their first priority, growing and 
creating new jobs.
  According to the Small Business Administration, it costs large firms 
$3,400 per employee to comply with Federal regulations. But the cost to 
small business is 50 percent higher, a staggering $5,100 per employee. 
This common sense legislation would help ease the paperwork burden by 
establishing a central Internet site listing all the Federal paperwork 
requirements for small businesses, allowing small businesses to 
anticipate the otherwise unknown paperwork hurdles that they must clear 
in launching new businesses.
  As a former small business owner, I have personally witnessed the 
tremendous strain that paperwork places on small business owners. In 
fact, in my district in Fanwood, New Jersey, Mary Ellen Cagnassola's 
small business provides work for my constituents who make the popular 
scented soaps at Mary Ellen's Sweet Soaps. Mary Ellen is one of 
thousands of small business owners across the country who employ more 
than 50 percent of our country's workforce and face a 50 percent higher 
cost than larger business owners in regulatory paperwork.
  I ask my colleagues to support this bill which takes an important 
first step in trying to lift the paperwork burden that the Federal 
Government imposes every year on America's small business owners.
  Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of small business owners--and 
common sense--and ask my colleagues to support H.R. 327, the ``Small 
Business Paperwork Relief Act.''
  Despite the importance of small businesses to our economy, they face 
serious regulatory hurdles. The single most costly type of regulation 
is paperwork compliance. The Office of Management and Budget estimates 
the federal paperwork burden at 7.2 billion man-hours and $190 billion 
a year.
  But these small businesses are drowning in a sea of redtape. The time 
and money required to keep up with government paperwork prevents small 
businesses from securing their first priority--growing and creating new 
jobs.
  According to the Small Business Administration, it costs large firms 
$3,400 per employee to comply with federal regulations. But the cost to 
small business is 50 percent greater--a staggering $5,100 per employee.
  This commonsense legislation would help ease the paperwork burden by 
establishing a central Internet site listing all the federal paperwork 
requirements for small businesses--allowing small businesses to 
anticipate the otherwise unknown paperwork hurdles they must clear in 
launching new business.
  In addition, it directs each agency to provide a contact for small 
businesses on paperwork requirements.
  As a former small business owner I have personally witnessed the 
tremendous strain that paperwork places on small business owners.
  I have also had the opportunity to speak with other small business 
owners on this issue. Small businesses are the backbone of our nation's 
economy. In my district, in Fanwood, NJ, Mary Ellen Cagnassola's small 
business provides work for my constituents who make the popular scented 
soaps at ``Mary Ellen's Sweet Soaps''. Mary Ellen is one of thousands 
of small business owners across the country who employ more than 50 
percent of the country's workforce and face a 50-percent greater cost 
than larger businesses in regulatory paperwork.
  Small businesses are responsible for 47 percent of all sales and 51 
percent of the private gross domestic product.
  But small businesses provide more than just jobs and sales. They 
offer most initial on-the-job training. And, even more importantly, 
they are more likely to employ younger and older workers, former 
welfare recipients and women, many of whom prefer or are able to work 
only on a part-time basis.
  In addition to being centers for training, small businesses are also 
laboratories of innovation and entrepreneurship. Small businesses give 
women and minority's a chance to build on their dreams and enhance the 
communities they live in.
  A great source of American strength has always been the dream of 
economic growth, equal opportunity and upward mobility. Small 
businesses enable millions, especially women, to access that American 
dream.
  I ask my colleagues to support this bill, which takes an important 
first step in trying to lift the paperwork burden that the federal 
government imposes every year on America's small business owners.
  Mr. OSE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Schrock).
  Mr. SCHROCK. Mr. Chairman, America's small business owners 
collectively spend thousands of hours and billions of dollars each year 
filling out government paperwork. A friend of mine, Kent Winquist, is a 
small business owner in Virginia Beach and Norfolk. He tells me that 
every week he must maintain and update tax forms, Social Security 
forms, immigration forms, health care forms and many other mandatory 
Federal forms just to comply with Federal regulations, or face stiff 
penalties. Small business owners like Kent are stuck in back offices 
filling out forms and meeting Federal deadlines instead of training new 
employees and expanding their businesses. Federal regulatory agencies 
will continue to hold back small business from thriving in their 
communities unless we take action.
  Mr. Chairman, I believe that less government involvement in our lives 
will allow us to give more to our communities, our families and our 
economy. It is time for us to give small businesses back their time so 
that they

[[Page H940]]

continue to be the engine that drives our economy. I urge my colleagues 
to support H.R. 327, the small business paperwork relief act which will 
give small business owners more time to invest in their businesses and 
share with their families.
  Mr. OSE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Toomey).
  (Mr. TOOMEY asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. TOOMEY. Mr. Chairman, I have been a small business owner for 
about 10 years. Like many of us, I am sure, I know many hundreds of 
small business owners across my district, the Lehigh valley of 
Pennsylvania. There is no question that small business is the critical 
engine of economic growth and the critical creator of jobs. It is also, 
I would point out, an amazing source of the charitable contributions in 
our communities, of volunteer work that goes to improve the quality of 
life in our communities.
  It is a thrill to own a small business if you are fortunate enough to 
have a successful one. There is a great satisfaction in creating a 
business from scratch and employing people and seeing that become 
productive. But it is also an enormous challenge. There is a great deal 
of worry, whether you are going to make that payroll every Friday, 
whether you are going to have the funds to make that bank payment that 
is coming due next week, how are you going to figure out how to 
innovate and stay alive in business.
  What we in government ought to be doing is we ought to be finding 
ways to reduce the obstacles that we impose on the small businesspeople 
of America who achieve this great success. The two big things we can do 
is we can relieve the tax burden, the enormous tax burden that small 
business owners contend with every day. We can support the President's 
proposal and in fact expand on the President's proposal for tax relief 
and do wonders for small business. The other thing we can do is reduce 
the regulatory burden. H.R. 327 clearly does that. This is a very 
constructive step to give small business owners the time and energy to 
be able to spend productively improving their business, creating more 
jobs and more opportunity. That is what we ought to be doing here.
  I urge my colleagues to vote for H.R. 327. I congratulate the members 
of the committee who have made this possible.
  Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong 
support of H.R. 327, the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2001.
  It is estimated that small business owners spend at least a billion 
hours each year filling out government paperwork at a cost of $100 
billion. For companies with fewer than 20 employees, paperwork 
regulations cost $2,017 per employee per year. For those with 20 to 499 
employees, paperwork regulations cost $1,931 per employee per year. 
This is simply unacceptable.
  Although there have been attempts to mitigate this burden in the 
past, they are clearly not working. In fact, the Office of Management 
and Budget's FY 2000 Information Collection Budget shows that there 
have been increases in paperwork in each of the last 5 years. Such 
figures reinforce the notion that the Federal Government is simply a 
regulatory beast, better suited to imposing complex rules and creating 
extra work for the American people than being a source of assistance.
  This has to stop. Every effort must be made to make it as easy as 
possible for small businesses to conduct business with, and abide by 
the rules of, the Federal Government. H.R. 327 goes a long way toward 
making this a reality, and I commend Chairman Burton for his leadership 
in bringing this bill before the House so early in this Congress. H.R. 
327 makes it easy for small businesses to find out their paperwork 
obligations by requiring that a comprehensive, annual list be published 
on the Internet and in the Federal Register. It also requires every 
agency to establish a single point of contact to act as a liaison to 
small businesses. Finally, it requires every agency to make special 
efforts to reduce paperwork for businesses with fewer than 25 
employees, and establishes a task force to study the feasibility of 
streamlining reporting requirements for all small businesses.
  Small businesses have a hard enough time trying to survive in the 
competitive marketplace. There is no reason not to minimize the amount 
of resources that they must divert from conducting business to 
complying with the Federal Government. I urge my colleagues to fully 
support this bill.
  Mr. OTTER. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of H.R. 327, the 
``Small Business Paperwork Relief Act.''
  The Office of Management and Budget estimates that small businesses 
spend 7.2 billion man hours to fill out federal paperwork.
  This means it takes an army of 3.5 million workers, working 40 hours 
a week, 52 weeks a year, to fill out the paperwork the Federal 
Government requires. Think now, how many government employees it takes 
to read, file, store, analyze, and answer the same paper.
  And according to the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, this 
burden costs the American public $229 billion per year, and this does 
not take into account state and local requirements.
  For the hard-working Americans who own and operate small businesses 
we must ease these regulations.
  By doing so, we create an opportunity for them to become more 
efficient, drive costs down, stimulate the economy, and let them spend 
more of that 7.2 billion hours of paperwork with their family and 
keeping their business competitive.
  As most of my colleagues know, it costs money to comply with the 
regulations the federal government requires. According to the Small 
Business Administration it costs large firms $3,400 per employee to 
comply with federal regulations. However, it costs small businesses 50 
percent more--an amazing $5,100 per employee.
  How can we sit here and continue to justify this burden on our 
friends and neighbors who are just trying to fill out mandated 
paperwork.
  Let me just tell you about redundant paperwork. In Idaho we have a 
small business, Land Mark Promotions, who every now and then ships 
items overseas.
  In order to compete internationally they are required to fill out a 
shipper export declaration, a certificate of origin, maintain a 
harmonized export number, and have four to five copies of of the 
invoice, I think we can do better than that and abolish the duplication 
process in these type of regulations.
  In a time where our economy is slowing down, let us free up small 
business so they can work on job training, innovations, and 
productivity.
  And if anyone can tell me how 7.2 billion hours of bureaucratic 
paperwork is productive, I have some ocean front property in Idaho.
  Mr. Chairman, let us get back to common sense, streamline the 
requirements for small business, get the monkey off the back of small 
business owners so they can help this economy grow, and support the 
``Small Business Paperwork Relief Act.''
  Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon. Mr. Chairman, anyone who's ever been to Oregon 
knows that the backbone of our local economy are small businesses and 
family farms.
  Unfortunately, the time and money required to keep up with government 
paperwork prevents them from growing and creating new jobs.
  For example, I recently heard from a local funeral home owner whose 
business has been in his family for three generations--and was 
astounded to learn of the increasing mountain of paperwork that he's 
had to deal with over that time period.
  And according to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), this 
individual isn't alone--paperwork counts for one-third of all total 
federal regulatory costs (over $230 billion a year).
  I think it would be great if we could get more agencies to work with 
small businesses to solve their differences instead of immediately 
taking an adversarial relationship with them.
  That's why I support the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act, because 
it gives Oregon's entrepreneurs some much-needed relief from federal 
redtape.
  Specifically, it would put on the Internet a comprehensive list of 
all the Federal paperwork requirements for small businesses organized 
by industry, and it would establish a paperwork czar in each agency who 
is the point of contact for small businesses on paperwork requirements.
  Finally, it would establish a task force, including representatives 
from the major regulatory agencies, to study how to streamline 
reporting requirements for small businesses.
  I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 391.
  Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong support of the Small 
Business Paperwork Relief Act. Small business is the backbone of our 
Nation's economy. In fact small businesses are the largest employer in 
the State of Missouri. 96 percent of all businesses have fewer than 100 
employees in Missouri. For Missourians the success and prosperity of 
our State quite literally depends on the success and prosperity of our 
small businesses. Which is why I am an ardent supporter of the Small 
Business Paperwork Relief Act. This act works to reduce the 
overwhelming paperwork requirements imposed on small businesses by 
federal agencies.
  Mr. Chairman, I would like to give you an idea of the total 
requirements that the Federal Government forces on small businesses: 
For firms with fewer than 20 employees, paperwork regulations cost 
$2,017 per employee

[[Page H941]]

per year. This is the single most costly type of regulation.
  I spoke with Jim Oldebeken, a constituent in my district, and he 
stated that in order to be in compliance with OSHA's paperwork 
requirements, small business owners must know and understand the entire 
OSHA code--which happens to be longer than the Bible--both New and Old 
Testament. On average, Small business owners spend more time reading, 
filling out, and filing paperwork than they spend on protecting their 
employees and making their workplace safe. Another constituent of mine, 
Bruce Copsey, who owns Hollaway Telephone Co. in Maitland, MO, 
estimates that he spends three times as much time filing out paperwork 
today than he did when he opened his business in 1988.
  Mr. Chairman, I believe these small businessmen share the same 
concerns as many of my constituents and small business people across 
the country. It is not that they do not want to comply with government 
standards; they just do not want the act of compliance and the art of 
filling out paperwork to become their job. Small businesses are vital 
to the economic success of our nation, and they provide millions of 
good jobs across this nation. The Paperwork Relief Act will streamline 
the regulatory paperwork process for small business owners. As we 
deliberate in this body how best to stimulate our economy and insure 
that there is an abundance of good jobs available, there will be few 
bills that have the potential to have the sort of impact that this 
legislation will have on the job providers of our nation. Without 
regulatory reform and a reduction in the unnecessary regulations and 
paperwork, our small business people and the jobs that they create will 
be placed in jeopardy unnecessarily. This bill recognizes the 
importance of our small business community and the detrimental effect 
that unnecessary redtape and regulations has on our small businesses. 
Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues today to join me in supporting our 
small businessmen and women across the country by passing the Small 
Business Paperwork Relief Act.
  Mr. TIERNEY. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Ose) for the leadership he has shown on this bill, and I yield back the 
balance of my time.
  Mr. OSE. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts, who 
has been a gentleman in this entire process, and I yield back the 
balance of my time.
  The CHAIRMAN. All time for general debate has expired.
  Pursuant to the rule, the amendment in the nature of a substitute 
printed in the Congressional Record and numbered 1 shall be considered 
by section as an original bill for the purpose of amendment and each 
section is considered read.
  During consideration of the bill for amendment, the Chair may accord 
priority in recognition to a Member offering an amendment that he has 
printed in the designated place in the Congressional Record. Those 
amendments will be considered read.
  The Clerk will designate section 1.
  The text of section 1 is as follows:

                                H.R. 327

       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''.

  The CHAIRMAN. Are there any amendments to section 1?
  The Clerk will designate section 2.
  The text of section 2 is as follows:

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

       (a) Requirements Applicable to the Director of OMB.--
     Section 3504(c) of chapter 35 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 new paragraphs:
       ``(6) publish in the Federal Register on an annual basis--
       ``(A) a list of the requirements applicable to small-
     business concerns (within the meaning of section 3 of the 
     Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 631 et seq.)) with respect to 
     collection of information by agencies, organized in such a 
     manner that such small-business concerns can easily identify 
     requirements with which they are expected to comply (e.g., 
     organized by North American Industrial Classification System 
     code and industrial/sector description (as published by the 
     Office of Management and Budget)); and
       ``(B) the agency that issued each such requirement and the 
     website address for such agency; and
       ``(7) make available on the Internet the information 
     described in paragraph (6).''.
       (b) Establishment of Agency Point of Contact.--Section 3506 
     of such chapter 35 is amended by adding at the end the 
     following new subsection:
       ``(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 one point of contact in the agency to act as a 
     liaison between the agency and small-business concerns 
     (within the meaning of section 3 of the Small Business Act 
     (15 U.S.C. 631 et seq.)).''.
       (c) Additional Reduction of Paperwork for Certain Small 
     Businesses.--Section 3506(c) of such chapter 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 new paragraph:
       ``(4) in addition to the requirements of this Act regarding 
     the reduction of paperwork for small-business concerns 
     (within the meaning of section 3 of the Small Business Act 
     (15 U.S.C. 631 et seq.)), make efforts to further reduce the 
     paperwork burden for small-business concerns with fewer than 
     25 employees.''.
       (d) Effective Date Regarding Publication of Requirements.--
     The Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall 
     publish the first list of requirements required under 
     paragraph (6) of section 3504(c) of title 44, United States 
     Code (as added by subsection (a)), and make such list 
     available on the Internet as required by paragraph (7) of 
     such section (as added by subsection (a)), not later than the 
     date that is one year after the date of the enactment of this 
     Act.

  The CHAIRMAN. Are there any amendments to section 2?
  The Clerk will designate section 3.
  The text of section 3 is as follows:

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

       (a) In General.--Chapter 35 of title 44, United States 
     Code, is further amended by adding at the end of subchapter I 
     the following new section:

     ``Sec. 3521. Establishment of task force on feasibility of 
       streamlining information collection requirements and 
       dissemination

       ``(a) There is hereby established a task force (in this 
     section referred to as the `task force') to study the 
     feasibility of streamlining requirements with respect to 
     small-business concerns regarding collection of information 
     and strengthening dissemination of information.
       ``(b) The members of the task force shall be appointed by 
     the Director, and shall include the following:
       ``(1) At least two representatives of the Department of 
     Labor, including one representative of the Bureau of Labor 
     Statistics and one representative of the Occupational Safety 
     and Health Administration.
       ``(2) At least one representative of the Environmental 
     Protection Agency.
       ``(3) At least one representative of the Department of 
     Transportation.
       ``(4) At least one representative of the Department of the 
     Treasury.
       ``(5) At least one representative of the Office of Advocacy 
     of the Small Business Administration.
       ``(6) At least one representative of each of two agencies 
     other than the Department of Labor, the Environmental 
     Protection Agency, the Department of Transportation, the 
     Department of the Treasury, and the Small Business 
     Administration.
       ``(7) At least two representatives of the Department of 
     Health and Human Services, including one representative of 
     the Health Care Financing Administration.
       ``(c) The task force shall examine the feasibility of 
     requiring each agency to consolidate requirements regarding 
     collections of information with respect to small-business 
     concerns within and across agencies without negatively 
     impacting the effectiveness of underlying laws regarding such 
     collections of information, in order that each small-business 
     concern may submit all information required by an agency--
       ``(1) to one point of contact in the agency;
       ``(2) in a single format, or using a single electronic 
     reporting system, with respect to the agency; and
       ``(3) on the same date.
       ``(d)(1) Not later than one year after the date of the 
     enactment of the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act, the 
     task force shall submit a report of its findings under 
     subsection (c) to--
       ``(A) the chairmen and ranking minority members of the 
     Committee on Government Reform and the Committee on Small 
     Business of the House of Representatives, and the Committee 
     on Governmental Affairs and the Committee on Small Business 
     of the Senate; and
       ``(B) the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
       ``(2) Not later than two years after the date of the 
     enactment of such Act, the task force shall submit to the 
     individuals described in paragraph (1) a report examining 
     strengthening dissemination of information and including--
       ``(A) recommendations for implementing an interactive 
     system for the requirements in section 3504(c)(6) that would 
     allow small-business concerns to identify information 
     collection requirements electronically;

[[Page H942]]

       ``(B) guidelines for each agency for developing interactive 
     reporting systems that include a component that edits the 
     information submitted by a small-business concern for 
     consistency;
       ``(C) recommendations for electronic dissemination of such 
     information; and
       ``(D) recommendations, created in consultation with the 
     Chief Information Officers Council (established pursuant to 
     Executive Order 13011, issued July 16, 1996), for the 
     coordination of information among the points of contact 
     described in section 3506(i), so that those points of contact 
     can provide small-business concerns with information 
     collection requirements from other agencies.
       ``(e) As used in this section, the term `small-business 
     concern' has the meaning given that term under section 3 of 
     the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 631 et seq.).''.
       (b) Conforming Amendment.--The table of sections at the 
     beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting after the 
     item relating to section 3520 the following new item:

``3521. Establishment of task force on feasibility of streamlining 
              information collection requirements and dissemination.''.

  The CHAIRMAN. Are there any amendments to section 3?
  If not, the question is on the amendment in the nature of a 
substitute.
  The amendment in the nature of a substitute was agreed to.
  The CHAIRMAN. Under the rule, the Committee rises.
  Accordingly, the Committee rose; and the Speaker pro tempore (Mr. 
LaHood) having assumed the chair, Mr. Fossella, Chairman of the 
Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, reported that 
that Committee, having had under consideration the bill (H.R. 327) 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, pursuant to House Resolution 89, he reported the bill back 
to the House with an amendment adopted by the Committee of the Whole.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the rule, the previous question is 
ordered.
  The question is on the amendment in the nature of a substitute.
  The amendment in the nature of a substitute was agreed to.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the engrossment and third 
reading of the bill.
  The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time, and was 
read the third time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the passage of the bill.
  The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that 
the ayes appeared to have it.
  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the 
ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a 
quorum is not present.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Evidently a quorum is not present.
  The Sergeant at Arms will notify absent Members.
  The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 418, 
nays 0, not voting 14, as follows:

                             [Roll No. 50]

                               YEAS--418

     Abercrombie
     Aderholt
     Akin
     Allen
     Andrews
     Armey
     Baca
     Bachus
     Baird
     Baker
     Baldacci
     Baldwin
     Ballenger
     Barcia
     Barr
     Barrett
     Bartlett
     Barton
     Bass
     Becerra
     Bentsen
     Bereuter
     Berkley
     Berman
     Berry
     Biggert
     Bilirakis
     Bishop
     Blagojevich
     Blumenauer
     Blunt
     Boehlert
     Boehner
     Bonilla
     Bonior
     Bono
     Borski
     Boswell
     Boucher
     Brady (PA)
     Brady (TX)
     Brown (FL)
     Brown (OH)
     Brown (SC)
     Bryant
     Burr
     Burton
     Buyer
     Callahan
     Calvert
     Camp
     Cantor
     Capito
     Capps
     Capuano
     Cardin
     Carson (IN)
     Carson (OK)
     Castle
     Chabot
     Chambliss
     Clay
     Clayton
     Clement
     Clyburn
     Coble
     Collins
     Combest
     Condit
     Conyers
     Cooksey
     Costello
     Cox
     Coyne
     Cramer
     Crane
     Crenshaw
     Crowley
     Cubin
     Culberson
     Cummings
     Cunningham
     Davis (CA)
     Davis (FL)
     Davis (IL)
     Davis, Jo Ann
     Deal
     DeFazio
     DeGette
     Delahunt
     DeLauro
     DeLay
     DeMint
     Deutsch
     Diaz-Balart
     Dicks
     Dingell
     Doggett
     Dooley
     Doolittle
     Doyle
     Dreier
     Duncan
     Dunn
     Edwards
     Ehlers
     Ehrlich
     Emerson
     Engel
     English
     Eshoo
     Etheridge
     Everett
     Farr
     Fattah
     Ferguson
     Filner
     Flake
     Fletcher
     Foley
     Ford
     Fossella
     Frank
     Frelinghuysen
     Frost
     Gallegly
     Gekas
     Gibbons
     Gilchrest
     Gillmor
     Gilman
     Gonzalez
     Goode
     Goodlatte
     Gordon
     Goss
     Graham
     Granger
     Graves
     Green (TX)
     Green (WI)
     Greenwood
     Grucci
     Gutierrez
     Gutknecht
     Hall (OH)
     Hall (TX)
     Hansen
     Harman
     Hart
     Hastings (FL)
     Hastings (WA)
     Hayes
     Hayworth
     Hefley
     Herger
     Hill
     Hilliard
     Hinchey
     Hinojosa
     Hobson
     Hoeffel
     Holden
     Holt
     Honda
     Hooley
     Horn
     Hostettler
     Houghton
     Hoyer
     Hulshof
     Hunter
     Hutchinson
     Hyde
     Inslee
     Isakson
     Israel
     Issa
     Istook
     Jackson (IL)
     Jackson-Lee (TX)
     Jefferson
     Jenkins
     John
     Johnson (CT)
     Johnson (IL)
     Johnson, E. B.
     Johnson, Sam
     Jones (OH)
     Kanjorski
     Kaptur
     Kelly
     Kennedy (MN)
     Kennedy (RI)
     Kerns
     Kildee
     Kilpatrick
     Kind (WI)
     King (NY)
     Kingston
     Kirk
     Kleczka
     Knollenberg
     Kolbe
     Kucinich
     LaFalce
     LaHood
     Lampson
     Langevin
     Lantos
     Larsen (WA)
     Larson (CT)
     Latham
     LaTourette
     Leach
     Lee
     Levin
     Lewis (CA)
     Lewis (GA)
     Lewis (KY)
     Linder
     Lipinski
     LoBiondo
     Lofgren
     Lowey
     Lucas (KY)
     Lucas (OK)
     Luther
     Maloney (CT)
     Maloney (NY)
     Manzullo
     Markey
     Mascara
     Matheson
     Matsui
     McCarthy (MO)
     McCarthy (NY)
     McCollum
     McCrery
     McDermott
     McGovern
     McHugh
     McInnis
     McIntyre
     McKeon
     McKinney
     McNulty
     Meehan
     Meek (FL)
     Meeks (NY)
     Menendez
     Mica
     Millender-McDonald
     Miller (FL)
     Miller, Gary
     Miller, George
     Mink
     Mollohan
     Moore
     Moran (KS)
     Moran (VA)
     Morella
     Murtha
     Myrick
     Nadler
     Napolitano
     Neal
     Nethercutt
     Ney
     Northup
     Norwood
     Nussle
     Oberstar
     Obey
     Olver
     Ortiz
     Osborne
     Ose
     Otter
     Owens
     Oxley
     Pallone
     Pascrell
     Pastor
     Paul
     Payne
     Pelosi
     Pence
     Peterson (MN)
     Peterson (PA)
     Petri
     Phelps
     Pickering
     Pitts
     Platts
     Pombo
     Pomeroy
     Portman
     Price (NC)
     Pryce (OH)
     Putnam
     Quinn
     Radanovich
     Rahall
     Ramstad
     Rangel
     Regula
     Rehberg
     Reyes
     Reynolds
     Riley
     Rivers
     Rodriguez
     Roemer
     Rogers (KY)
     Rogers (MI)
     Rohrabacher
     Ros-Lehtinen
     Ross
     Rothman
     Roukema
     Roybal-Allard
     Royce
     Rush
     Ryan (WI)
     Ryun (KS)
     Sabo
     Sanchez
     Sanders
     Sandlin
     Sawyer
     Saxton
     Scarborough
     Schakowsky
     Schiff
     Schrock
     Scott
     Sensenbrenner
     Serrano
     Sessions
     Shadegg
     Shaw
     Shays
     Sherman
     Sherwood
     Shimkus
     Shows
     Simmons
     Simpson
     Sisisky
     Skeen
     Skelton
     Slaughter
     Smith (MI)
     Smith (NJ)
     Smith (TX)
     Smith (WA)
     Snyder
     Solis
     Souder
     Spence
     Spratt
     Stark
     Stearns
     Stenholm
     Strickland
     Stump
     Stupak
     Sununu
     Sweeney
     Tancredo
     Tanner
     Tauscher
     Tauzin
     Taylor (MS)
     Taylor (NC)
     Terry
     Thomas
     Thompson (CA)
     Thompson (MS)
     Thornberry
     Thune
     Thurman
     Tiahrt
     Tiberi
     Tierney
     Toomey
     Towns
     Traficant
     Turner
     Udall (CO)
     Udall (NM)
     Upton
     Velazquez
     Visclosky
     Vitter
     Walden
     Walsh
     Wamp
     Waters
     Watkins
     Watt (NC)
     Watts (OK)
     Waxman
     Weiner
     Weldon (FL)
     Weldon (PA)
     Weller
     Wexler
     Whitfield
     Wicker
     Wilson
     Wolf
     Woolsey
     Wu
     Wynn
     Young (AK)
     Young (FL)

                             NOT VOTING--14

     Ackerman
     Boyd
     Cannon
     Davis, Tom
     Evans
     Ganske
     Gephardt
     Hilleary
     Hoekstra
     Jones (NC)
     Keller
     Largent
     Moakley
     Schaffer

                              {time}  1135

  So the bill was passed.
  The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________