[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 108 (Monday, July 30, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8398-S8400]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. VOINOVICH (for himself, Mrs. Lincoln, and Mr. Leahy):
  S. 1271. A bill to amend chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code, 
for the purpose of facilitating compliance by small business concerns 
with certain Federal paperwork requirements, to establish a task force 
to examine the feasibility of streamlining paperwork requirements 
applicable to small business concerns, and for other purposes; to the 
Committee on Governmental Affairs.
  Mr. VOINOVICH. Madam President, I rise today to introduce 
legislation, the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2001, that will 
help lift the burden of confusing regulation on small businesses by 
helping them to be better able to understand and comply with Federal 
paperwork mandates. I am pleased to be joined by my good friend Senator 
Blanche Lincoln in putting forth this ``good government'' bill which 
continues congressional efforts to streamline and reduce paperwork 
burdens on small businesses.
  Ask any small business owner and he or she will tell you that Federal 
paperwork requirements on small businesses are impeding America's 
entrepreneurial growth. Indeed, the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) has estimated that the Federal paperwork burden is 7.2 billion 
hours annually, at a cost of $190 billion a year. The Small Business 
Administration, SBA, estimates that the cost to small businesses are 
staggering $5,100 per employee.
  While many paperwork requirements are important and necessary, the 
high costs of understanding them and complying with them can sometimes 
prevent small businesses from being able to expand, remain in business, 
or deter them from opening in the first place.
  Helping ease the burdens of regulation on small business has long 
been an interest of mine. As governor of Ohio, I pushed for passage of 
the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act on behalf of our state governments and 
was an original cosponsor of the Regulatory Improvement Act in the 
106th Congress. Last year, I worked to help pass the Congressional 
Accountability for Regulatory Information Act and the Regulatory Right 
to Know Act. Senator Lincoln and I introduced s. 1378, a bill similar 
to the one we introduce today, in the last Congress as well.
  Many Federal regulations of business are important, since they help 
protect our environment, workers' safety and the health of our 
families. However, some of these regulations are unnecessarily 
difficult for our businesses, particularly small businesses without 
large legal staffs, to understand. Our bill will help business owners 
understand and comply with federal regulations.
  The Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2001 would require each 
agency to establish a single point of contact to help answer questions 
and aid small business owners in complying with paperwork requirements. 
In addition, our bill requires the Office of Management and Budget, 
OMB, to publish annually in the Federal Register and on the Internet a 
list of each agency's Federal paperwork requirements applicable to 
their small businesses. Our bill also requires each agency to make 
further efforts to reduce paperwork requirements for small businesses 
with fewer

[[Page S8399]]

than 25 employees. Further, the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 
2001 establishes an interagency task force to study the streamlining of 
paperwork requirements for small businesses. Our legislation 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.
  Our bill also will help make government more accountable and aid 
congressional oversight of Federal agencies by requiring that each 
agency maintain information on the number of enforcement actions in 
which civil penalties were assessed; the number of such actions against 
small businesses; the number of such actions in which civil penalties 
were reduced or waived; and the monetary amount of these reductions or 
waivers.

  I believe any resulting burden on Federal agencies would be minimal, 
and would certainly be offset by the benefits to small businesses.
  Small businesses are vital to the health of our Nation's economy. 
They represent more than 90 percent of our Nation's employers, employ 
53 percent of the private workforce and create about 75 percent of this 
country's new jobs. In my own State of Ohio, there are more than 
300,000 full-time businesses. Of these, 96 percent employ fewer than 
100 people, and 75 percent employ fewer than 10 individuals. The 
National Federation of Independent Business estimates that the majority 
of new jobs in the next decade in Ohio will be created by small 
businesses. Given the prevalence of small businesses in our Nation, I 
believe we should do all within our ability to ensure that small 
business owners are not unfairly burdened, or simply overwhelmed, by 
federal paperwork requirements.
  Earlier this year, the House passed the companion bill, H.R. 327, 
unanimously, by a vote of 418-0, on March 15. I hope we can do the same 
in this body.
  This bill has been endorsed by the following groups: American Farm 
Bureau Federation, National Federation of Independent Business, The 
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Convention Stores, 
American Feed Industry Association, National Association of 
Manufacturers, National Tooling & Machining Association, National Pest 
Management Association, Academy of General Dentistry, and American Road 
& Transportation Builders Association.
  I encourage my colleagues to join Senator Lincoln and me in our 
efforts to help lessen the burden on small businesses, while helping 
them to be able to comply with federal requirements, by cosponsoring 
and supporting the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2001.
  I ask consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

                                S. 1271

       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 of 2001''.

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

       (a) Requirements Applicable to the Director of OMB.--
     Section 3504(c) 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:
       ``(6) publish in the Federal Register on an annual basis a 
     list of the collections of information applicable to small-
     business concerns (as defined in section 3 of the Small 
     Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632)), organized by North American 
     Industrial Classification System code and industrial/sector 
     description (as published by the Office of Management and 
     Budget), with the first such publication occurring not later 
     than 1 year after the date of enactment of the Small Business 
     Paperwork Relief Act of 2001; and
       ``(7) make available on the Internet, not later than 1 year 
     after the date of enactment of the Small Business Paperwork 
     Relief Act of 2001, the list of requirements described in 
     paragraph (6).''.
       (b) Establishment of Agency Point of Contact.--Section 3506 
     of title 44, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 
     end the following:
       ``(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 1 point of contact in the agency to act as a 
     liaison between the agency and small-business concerns (as 
     defined in section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
     632)).''.
       (c) Additional Reduction of Paperwork for Certain Small 
     Businesses.--Section 3506(c) of title 44, United States Code, 
     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:
       ``(4) in addition to the requirements of this chapter 
     regarding the reduction of paperwork for small-business 
     concerns (as defined in section 3 of the Small Business Act 
     (15 U.S.C. 632)), make efforts to further reduce the 
     paperwork burden for small-business concerns with fewer than 
     25 employees.''.

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

       (a) In General.--Chapter 35 of title 44, United States 
     Code, is amended--
       (1) by redesignating section 3520 as section 3521; and
       (2) by inserting after section 3519 the following:

     ``Sec. 3520. Establishment of task force on feasibility of 
       streamlining information collection requirements

       ``(a) There is established a task force to study the 
     feasibility of streamlining requirements with respect to 
     small-business concerns regarding collection of information 
     (in this section referred to as the `task force').
       ``(b) The members of the task force shall be appointed by 
     the Director, and include--
       ``(1) not less than 2 representatives of the Department of 
     Labor, including 1 representative of the Bureau of Labor 
     Statistics and 1 representative of the Occupational Safety 
     and Health Administration;
       ``(2) not less than 1 representative of the Environmental 
     Protection Agency;
       ``(3) not less than 1 representative of the Department of 
     Transportation;
       ``(4) not less than 1 representative of the Office of 
     Advocacy of the Small Business Administration;
       ``(5) not less than 1 representative of each of two 
     agencies other than the Department of Labor, the 
     Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of 
     Transportation, and the Small Business Administration; and
       ``(6) not less than 2 representatives of the Department of 
     Health and Human Services, including one representative of 
     the Health Care Financing Administration.
       ``(c) The task force shall--
       ``(1) recommend a system to clarify which small businesses 
     within particular North American Industrial Classification 
     System codes are subject to which information compliance 
     requirements; and
       ``(2) examine the feasibility of requiring each agency to 
     consolidate requirements regarding collections of information 
     with respect to small-business concerns, in order that each 
     small business concern may submit all information required by 
     the agency--
       ``(A) to 1 point of contact in the agency;
       ``(B) in a single format, such as a single electronic 
     reporting system, with respect to the agency; and
       ``(C) on the same date.
       ``(d) Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of 
     the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2001, the task 
     force shall submit a report of its findings under subsection 
     (c) to the chairpersons and ranking minority members of the 
     Committee on Governmental Affairs and the Committee on Small 
     Business of the Senate, and the Committee on Government 
     Reform and the Committee on Small Business of the House of 
     Representatives.
       ``(e) In this section, the term `small business concern' 
     has the meaning given under section 3 of the Small Business 
     Act (15 U.S.C. 632).''.
       (b) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--The table of 
     sections for chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code, is 
     amended by striking the item relating to section 3520 and 
     inserting the following:

``3520. Establishment of task force on feasibility of streamlining 
              information collection requirements.
``3521. Authorization of appropriations.''.

     SEC. 4. REGULATORY ENFORCEMENT REFORMS.

       Section 223 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement 
     Fairness Act of 1996 (5 U.S.C. 601 note) is amended by 
     striking subsection (c) and inserting:
       ``(c) Reports.--
       ``(1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
     enactment of the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2001, 
     and not later than every 2 years thereafter, each agency 
     shall submit a report to the Committee on Governmental 
     Affairs and the Committee on Small Business of the Senate, 
     and the Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Small 
     Business of the House of Representatives, that includes 
     information with respect to the applicable 1-year period or 
     2-year period covered by the report on each of the following:
       ``(A) The number of enforcement actions in which a civil 
     penalty is assessed or proposed to be assessed.
       ``(B) The number of enforcement actions in which a civil 
     penalty is assessed or proposed to be assessed against a 
     small entity.
       ``(C) The number of enforcement actions described under 
     subparagraphs (A) and (B) in which the civil penalty is 
     reduced or waived.

[[Page S8400]]

       ``(D) The total monetary amount of the reductions or 
     waivers referred to under subparagraph (C).
       ``(2) Definitions in reports.--Each report under paragraph 
     (1) shall include definitions of the terms `enforcement 
     actions', `reduction or waiver', and `small entity' as used 
     in the report.''.
                                 ______