[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 81 (Tuesday, June 18, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H3622-H3632]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SMALL BUSINESS PAPERWORK RELIEF ACT OF 2002
Mrs. MYRICK. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I
call up House Resolution 444 and ask for its immediate consideration.
The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:
H. Res. 444
Resolved, That upon adoption of this resolution it shall be
in order to take from the Speaker's table 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
Senate amendments thereto, and to consider in the House,
without intervention of any point of order, a single motion
offered by the chairman of the Committee on Government Reform
or his designee that the House concur in the Senate
amendments. The Senate amendments and the motion shall be
considered as read. The motion shall be debatable for one
hour equally divided and controlled by the chairman and
ranking minority member of the Committee on Government
Reform. The previous question shall be considered as ordered
on the motion to final adoption without intervening motion or
demand for division of the question.
{time} 1315
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Bonilla). The gentlewoman from North
Carolina (Mrs. Myrick) is recognized for 1 hour.
Mrs. MYRICK. Mr. Speaker, for purposes of debate only, I yield the
customary 30 minutes to my friend, 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.
This rule provides for a single motion offered by the chairman of the
Committee on Government Reform to concur with the Senate amendments.
The rule waives all points of order against consideration of the motion
to concur with the Senate amendments, and provides for 1 hour of
general debate equally divided and controlled by the chairman and
ranking member of the Committee on Government Reform.
The purpose of this legislation is to reduce the Federal paperwork
burden on small businesses. Mr. Speaker, with the plethora of
regulatory mandates on small business growing to unprecedented levels,
so, too, is the gigantic task of filling out required paperwork. Our
Nation's 23 million small businesses spent approximately 7 billion,
billion with a ``B,'' hours filling out Federal paperwork in 1998,
according to the Office of Management and Budget. The cost associated
with this burdensome paperwork is estimated at $229 billion, again
billion with a ``B,'' and that does not take into account State and
local requirements.
As a one-time small businesswoman myself, I know the hurdles that our
entrepreneurs face: strangling red tape, burdensome regulations, and
mountains of paperwork. H.R. 327 would help to streamline small
business' paperwork burden by requiring Federal agencies to publish a
list of resources that small businesses could use for complying with
applicable paperwork requirements so they can know exactly what is
required of them.
In addition, it would require each Federal agency to establish a
liaison for small business paperwork requirements and to help small
businesses comply with their legal obligations, and it would establish
a task force to consider ways to streamline paperwork requirements even
further.
H.R. 327 is a step in the right direction. It relieves our Nation's
small businesses from an overwhelming paperwork burden that threatens
to bury them. To that end I urge my colleagues to support this rule and
to support the common-sense underlying legislation. It is a bicameral,
bipartisan agreement that the Senate has already passed.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, the gentlewoman
from North Carolina, for yielding me the customary 30 minutes, and I
yield myself such time as I may consume.
(Ms. SLAUGHTER asked and was given permission to revise and extend
her remarks.)
Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the rule and in
support of the underlying bill.
Mr. Speaker, at a time when large corporations and manufacturers are
announcing layoffs and scaling back production, more and more regions
of the country are learning what western New York already knows; that
the small business sector can be the real economic engine for our
communities. Small businesses generate the jobs that keep our cities
and towns vibrant, they generate the opportunities that anchor our sons
and daughters to family and home, and they foster the innovators who
represent the brightest hope for our future.
Last month I was pleased to host the Small Business Administration's
2002 Young Entrepreneur of the Year, a young man named Aaron Zach
Philips from Rochester, New York. Although only 25 years old, Zach has
achieved remarkable success. He is the president of Kink BMX, a
manufacturer and distributor of BMX bicycle parts and related soft
goods. Since 1999, Zach has doubled his company's growth annually with
sales reaching nearly $1 million as of March 31, 2001. Zach now does
business outside the United States and sells his product through
distributors in Europe, Canada, Australia, and Japan. On every mailing
logo, every label, every brochure or marketing tool he prints the words
``Rochester Made Means Quality Made.''
Zach embodies a growing trend that Congress must continue to foster.
Small businesses now account for approximately 75 percent of all new
jobs added to the economy and represent 99.7 percent of all employers.
Small businesses provide almost one-third of the workers with their
first jobs and initial on-the-job training in basic skills. The
important role small businesses play in keeping our Nation competitive
must not be overshadowed by corporate America's clout in this body. We
must ensure that entrepreneurs like Zach are afforded the same
attention and access to Washington that the large corporate interests
enjoy.
[[Page H3623]]
A quick look at the numbers show that small businesses form the
backbone of our economy. They account for half of our domestic products
and contribute more than 55 percent of the innovations in such sectors
as manufacturing, technology and services. During the long boom of the
1990s, small businesses forged the way for high-tech expansion and
growth. They now account for almost 40 percent of the jobs in the high-
technology sector.
One reason for this is that women and minorities are opening small
businesses in record numbers. Women-owned businesses nearly doubled
during the last decades. There are currently an estimated 6.2 million
women-owned businesses, accounting for 28 percent of all privately held
firms. These firms generate $1.15 trillion in sales and employ 9.2
million workers. The number of minority-owned enterprises nearly
quadrupled in the last decade, and they generally outstrip the national
average in business creation and receipts. Minorities now own 15
percent of American business, and 99 percent of these businesses are
small businesses.
Congress has addressed the needs of small business before. We have
passed paperwork reduction legislation, such as the Paperwork Reduction
Act, PRA, and the Small Business Regulatory 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 continues this effort to reduce unnecessary paperwork
for small businesses. I know of no opposition to this measure.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mrs. MYRICK. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the
gentleman from California (Mr. Ose), who is the Chair of the
subcommittee.
Mr. OSE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me this
time, and I am speaking today in support of the rule for a good
government bill to streamline and reduce paperwork burdens on small
businesses, H.R. 327, the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act.
The predecessor to this bill were bills introduced in the 105th and
106th Congresses by the former chairman of a subcommittee of the
Committee on Government Reform, Mr. David McIntosh, and those would
have been H.R. 3310 and H.R. 391 respectively.
In 1999, Senator Voinovich introduced and held a hearing on an
identical companion bill, which would be Senate 1378. In 1998 and 1999,
the House passed the predecessor bills by votes of 267 to 140 and 274
to 151 respectively. The Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs did
not mark up the Voinovich bill.
On January 31, 2001, the chairman of the Committee on Government
Reform, the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton), introduced H.R. 327.
This bill includes all of the substantive provisions in the predecessor
bills except those relating to the waiver of sanctions for first-time
violations by small businesses of Federal paperwork requirements. On
March 15, the House passed H.R. 327 by a resounding 418 to 0 vote.
On July 30, Senator Voinovich introduced a companion but not
identical bill, S. 1271. It also does not include any provisions
relating to the waiver of sanctions for first-time violations by small
businesses. However, it does include provisions for biennial agency
reporting on enforcement actions taken and civil penalties assessed,
including actions and assessments against small businesses.
On December 17, the Senate passed S. 1271 by unanimous consent. On
May 22 of this year, after bipartisan, bicameral staff-level meetings,
the Senate passed an agreed-upon amended version of H.R. 327 by
unanimous consent.
H.R. 327, as amended by the Senate, 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 a list of compliance assistance resources available to 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, establishment of an interagency task force to study
streamlining of paperwork requirements for small businesses, and a
requirement for two annual reports for fiscal years 2003 and 2004 from
each agency on enforcement actions taken and civil penalties assessed,
including actions and assessments against small businesses.
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 6 years, from 1996 to 2001. In
addition, OMB's April 2002 report to Congress on Federal paperwork did
not identify any interagency efforts to streamline paperwork
requirements on small businesses.
Small businesses are particularly hurt by regulatory and paperwork
burden. In an October 2001 report, the Small Business Administration
estimated that it cost large firms, those with over 500 employees,
$4,463 per employee to comply with Federal regulatory and paperwork
requirements. However, the cost to small businesses, those with fewer
than 20 employees, is nearly 60 percent higher, a staggering $6,975 per
employee.
Since introduction the staff of my subcommittee has worked with the
staff of the Committee on Small Business to address concerns by this
committee's majority and minority. As a consequence, as it did in the
105th Congress for the predecessor bill, that being H.R. 391, the
Committee on Small Business sent a letter waiving jurisdiction on H.R.
327. H.R. 327 has been endorsed by many organizations including the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers,
the National Federation of Independent Business, the National Small
Business United Organization, the Small Business Coalition for
Regulatory Relief, the Small Business Legislative Council, and the
Small Business Survival Committee.
The Congressional Budget Office provided a preliminary estimate of
the budgetary impact of H.R. 327, saying that the bill ``would result
in a minimal cost for Federal agencies each year. Because the bill
would not affect direct spending or governmental receipts, pay-as-you-
go procedures would not apply.''
I support the rule to enable the House to consider a motion to concur
with the Senate amendments to H.R. 327 and 1 hour of general debate
evenly divided. Not only are regulatory and paperwork costs higher for
small businesses, but also they are harder to absorb. Small businesses
simply cannot afford to comply with Federal requirements in the same
way that large businesses can. H.R. 327 should result in some much
needed relief for small businesses.
Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I have no request for time, and I reserve
the balance of my time.
Mrs. MYRICK. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers.
Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mrs. MYRICK. Mr. Speaker, 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.
Mr. OSE. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 444, I call up 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 Senate amendments thereto, and ask
for its immediate consideration.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
Motion Offered by Mr. Ose
Mr. OSE. Mr. Speaker, I offer a motion.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Bonilla). The Clerk will designate the
motion.
The text of the motion is as follows:
Mr. Ose moves that the House concur in the Senate
amendments, as follows:
Senate amendments:
Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert:
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Small Business Paperwork
Relief Act of 2002''.
SEC. 2. FACILITATION OF COMPLIANCE WITH FEDERAL PAPERWORK
REQUIREMENTS.
(a) Requirements Applicable to the Director of OMB.--
Section 3504(c) of title 44, United
[[Page H3624]]
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 and make available on
the Internet (in consultation with the Small Business
Administration) on an annual basis a list of the compliance
assistance resources available to small businesses, with the
first such publication occurring not later than 1 year after
the date of enactment of the Small Business Paperwork Relief
Act of 2002.''.
(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)(1) 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)).
``(2) Each point of contact described under paragraph (1)
shall be established not later than 1 year after the date of
enactment of the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of
2002.''.
(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 information collection burdens 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 information collection burden for small business concerns
with fewer than 25 employees.''.
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF TASK FORCE ON INFORMATION COLLECTION
AND DISSEMINATION.
(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 information
collection and dissemination
``(a) There is established a task force to study the
feasibility of streamlining requirements with respect to
small business concerns regarding collection of information
and strengthening dissemination of information (in this
section referred to as the `task force').
``(b)(1) The Director shall determine--
``(A) subject to the minimum requirements under paragraph
(2), the number of representatives to be designated under
each subparagraph of that paragraph; and
``(B) the agencies to be represented under paragraph
(2)(K).
``(2) After all determinations are made under paragraph
(1), the members of the task force shall be designated by the
head of each applicable department or agency, and include--
``(A) 1 representative of the Director, who shall convene
and chair the task force;
``(B) 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;
``(C) not less than 1 representative of the Environmental
Protection Agency;
``(D) not less than 1 representative of the Department of
Transportation;
``(E) not less than 1 representative of the Office of
Advocacy of the Small Business Administration;
``(F) not less than 1 representative of the Internal
Revenue Service;
``(G) not less than 2 representatives of the Department of
Health and Human Services, including 1 representative of the
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services;
``(H) not less than 1 representative of the Department of
Agriculture;
``(I) not less than 1 representative of the Department of
the Interior;
``(J) not less than 1 representative of the General
Services Administration; and
``(K) not less than 1 representative of each of 2 agencies
not represented by representatives described under
subparagraphs (A) through (J).
``(c) The task force shall--
``(1) identify ways to integrate the collection of
information across Federal agencies and programs and examine
the feasibility and desirability 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 and regulations regarding such collections of
information, 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) with synchronized reporting for information
submissions having the same frequency, such as synchronized
quarterly, semiannual, and annual reporting dates;
``(2) examine the feasibility and benefits to small
businesses of publishing a list by the Director 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--
``(A) by North American Industry Classification System
code;
``(B) by industrial sector description; or
``(C) in another manner by which small business concerns
can more easily identify requirements with which those small
business concerns are expected to comply;
``(3) examine the savings, including cost savings, and
develop recommendations for implementing--
``(A) systems for electronic submissions of information to
the Federal Government; and
``(B) interactive reporting systems, including components
that provide immediate feedback to assure that data being
submitted--
``(i) meet requirements of format; and
``(ii) are within the range of acceptable options for each
data field;
``(4) make recommendations to improve the electronic
dissemination of information collected under Federal
requirements;
``(5) recommend a plan for the development of an
interactive Governmentwide system, available through the
Internet, to allow each small business to--
``(A) better understand which Federal requirements
regarding collection of information (and, when possible,
which other Federal regulatory requirements) apply to that
particular business; and
``(B) more easily comply with those Federal requirements;
and
``(6) in carrying out this section, consider opportunities
for the coordination--
``(A) of Federal and State reporting requirements; and
``(B) among the points of contact described under section
3506(i), such as to enable agencies to provide small business
concerns with contacts for information collection
requirements for other agencies.
``(d) The task force shall--
``(1) by publication in the Federal Register, provide
notice and an opportunity for public comment on each report
in draft form; and
``(2) make provision in each report for the inclusion of--
``(A) any additional or dissenting views of task force
members; and
``(B) a summary of significant public comments.
``(e) Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of
the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2002, the task
force shall submit a report of its findings under subsection
(c) (1), (2), and (3) to--
``(1) the Director;
``(2) the chairpersons and ranking minority members of--
``(A) the Committee on Governmental Affairs and the
Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the
Senate; and
``(B) the Committee on Government Reform and the Committee
on Small Business of the House of Representatives; and
``(3) the Small Business and Agriculture Regulatory
Enforcement Ombudsman designated under section 30(b) of the
Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 657(b)).
``(f) Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of
the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2002, the task
force shall submit a report of its findings under subsection
(c) (4) and (5) to--
``(1) the Director;
``(2) the chairpersons and ranking minority members of--
``(A) the Committee on Governmental Affairs and the
Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the
Senate; and
``(B) the Committee on Government Reform and the Committee
on Small Business of the House of Representatives; and
``(3) the Small Business and Agriculture Regulatory
Enforcement Ombudsman designated under section 30(b) of the
Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 657(b)).
``(g) The task force shall terminate after completion of
its work.
``(h) 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 information collection and
dissemination.
``3521. Authorization of appropriations.''.
SEC. 4. REGULATORY ENFORCEMENT REPORTS.
(a) Definition.--In this section, the term ``agency'' has
the meaning given that term under section 551 of title 5,
United States Code.
(b) In General.--
(1) Initial report.--Not later than December 31, 2003, each
agency shall submit an initial report to--
(A) the chairpersons and ranking minority members of--
(i) the Committee on Governmental Affairs and the Committee
on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate; and
(ii) the Committee on Government Reform and the Committee
on Small Business of the House of Representatives; and
(B) the Small Business and Agriculture Regulatory
Enforcement Ombudsman designated under section 30(b) of the
Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 657(b)).
(2) Final report.--Not later than December 31, 2004, each
agency shall submit a final report to the members and officer
described under paragraph (1) (A) and (B).
(3) Content.--The initial report under paragraph (1) shall
include information with respect to the 1-year period
beginning on October 1, 2002, and the final report under
paragraph (2) shall include information with respect to the
1-year period beginning on October 1, 2003, on each of the
following:
(A) The number of enforcement actions in which a civil
penalty is assessed.
[[Page H3625]]
(B) The number of enforcement actions in which a civil
penalty is 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.
(D) The total monetary amount of the reductions or waivers
referred to under subparagraph (C).
(4) Definitions in reports.--Each report under this
subsection shall include definitions selected at the
discretion of the reporting agency of the terms ``enforcement
actions'', ``reduction or waiver'', and ``small entity'' as
used in the report.
Amend the title so as to read: ``An Act 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 information collection and dissemination,
and for other purposes.''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 444, 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).
General Leave
Mr. OSE. Mr. Speaker, 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 SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from California?
There was no objection.
Mr. OSE. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 327, the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act, was
introduced by Committee on Government Reform Chairman Burton on January
31, 2001. This good government bill continues congressional efforts to
streamline and reduce paperwork burdens on small businesses. On March
15, 2001, the House passed H.R. 327 by a 418 to 0 vote. On December 17
the Senate passed Senator Voinovich's companion bill, S. 1271, by
unanimous consent. On May 22 of this year, the Senate passed an amended
version of H.R. 327 by unanimous consent.
During the 105th and 106th Congresses, the Committee on Government
Reform reported out bills that passed the House by 267 to 140 and 274
to 151.
{time} 1330
Those bills were H.R. 3310 and H.R. 391, respectively. These earlier
bills included additional provisions relating to the waiver of
sanctions for first-time violations of small businesses of Federal
paperwork requirements. During the May 21, 2002, Senate floor debate on
the amended version of H.R. 327, Democratic cosponsor Senator Blanche
Lincoln stated, ``Our thought behind suspending fines for first-time
violators was that a majority of small business owners who neglect to
file a certain form are simply overwhelmed with paperwork and don't
realize their error. We thought that small business owners should be
given a chance to correct the problem before they were slapped with a
fine. I am disappointed that this final version does not include the
fine suspension.''
Mr. Speaker, I agree with Senator Lincoln and hope that these helpful
provisions will be enacted by Congress in the future.
The amended version of H.R. 327 before the House today 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 a list of compliance assistance
resources available to 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 having fewer than 25 employees;
Fourth, a requirement for each agency to submit two reports, each
with data for a 1-year period on enforcement actions in which a civil
penalty was assessed and the penalty amounts reduced or waived for
small businesses;
Fifth, establishment of an interagency task force to study
streamlining of paperwork requirements for small businesses.
Under the amended version of H.R. 327, this task force will identify
ways to integrate the collection of information across Federal agencies
and programs and will examine the feasibility of requiring the agencies
to consolidate reporting requirements in order that each small business
may submit all information required by the agency to one point of
contact at the agency, in a single format or using a single electronic
reporting system, and with synchronized reporting.
During the May 21 Senate floor debate on the amended version of H.R.
327, Senator Joe Lieberman inserted in the Senate record a document,
coauthored by Senator Voinovich, entitled, ``H.R. 327: Consensus
Amendment, Purposes and Summary, Section-by-Section Description, and
Legislative History.'' This document constitutes only part of the
legislative history of the amended version of H.R. 327.
The task force will also examine the benefits to small businesses of
publishing a list of information collections organized by the North
American Industrial Classification System codes or in another manner by
which small businesses can more easily identify requirements with which
they are expected to comply.
Last October, the subcommittee provided OMB with a road map for OMB
to easily prepare such a NAICS code listing, which will be printed in
the Record at the end of my statement.
In addition, later in this debate, I will engage in a colloquy with
the chairman of the Committee on Small Business, the gentleman from
Illinois (Mr. Manzullo), about the utility of a NAICS-code listing.
Additionally, the task force will develop recommendations for systems
for interactive electronic reporting. The definition of ``small
business'' in this bill is the one used in the Small Business Act at 15
USC subsection 631 et seq.
Senator Voinovich's companion bill, which passed the Senate by
unanimous consent last December, included an every-2-year reporting
requirement on the number of enforcement actions in which a civil
penalty is assessed, the number of such actions in which a civil
penalty is assessed against a small entity, the number of enforcement
actions in which the civil penalty is reduced or waived, and the total
monetary amount of reductions or waivers. Unfortunately, the amended
version of H.R. 327 today only includes a requirement for agencies to
report this information two times. However, if there is practical
utility to this information, this Federal agency reporting requirement
can and should be continued.
H.R. 327 amends the Paperwork Reduction Act, which is 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 the office of 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 7.7 billion hours annually, at a cost of $230 billion per year.
Despite the statutory requirements for annual reductions in paperwork
burden, there have actually been annual increases in paperwork in each
of the last 6 years, from 1996 to 2001. OMB's April 2002 report to
Congress entitled ``Managing Information Collection and Dissemination:
Fiscal Year 2002,'' 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 December 2001 report entitled
``Making Sense of Regulation: 2001 Report to Congress on the Costs and
Benefits of Regulations and Unfunded Mandates on State, Local, and
Tribal Entities,'' 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 United States Chamber of Commerce,
National Association of Manufacturers, National Federation of
Independent Business, National Small Business
[[Page H3626]]
United, Small Business Coalition for Regulatory Relief, Small Business
Legislative Council, Small Business Survival Committee, Academy of
General Dentistry, Agricultural Retailers Association, American Farm
Bureau Federation, American Road and Transportation Builders
Association, Associated Builders and Contractors, Associated General
Contractors, Automotive Parts and Service Alliance, Food Marketing
Institute, GrassRoots Impact, Inc., National Association of Convenience
Stores, National Automobile Dealers Association, National Business
Association, National Pest Management Association, National Restaurant
Association, Nation Roofing Contractors Association, National Tooling
and Machining Association, North American Equipment Dealers
Association, and the Society of American Florists.
Small businesses are particularly hurt by regulatory and paperwork
burden. In an October 2001 report, the Small Business Administration
estimated that it cost large firms, those with over 500 employees,
$4,463 per employee to comply with Federal regulatory and paperwork
requirements.
However, the cost to small businesses, those with fewer than 20
employees, is nearly 60 percent higher, a staggering $6,975 per
employee. Not only are such costs higher for small businesses, but they
are also much harder to absorb. Small businesses simply cannot afford
to comply with Federal requirements in the same way that large
businesses can. The high cost of such requirements often makes it
impossible for small businesses to expand; it threatens their ability
to stay afloat or prevents them from opening in the first place.
During the May 21, 2002, floor debate on the amended version of H.R.
327, Senator Lincoln stated, ``I have been told that Federal paperwork
burdens rank just behind taxes and the cost of health care as the top
problems facing members of the National Federation of Independent
Businesses.'' H.R. 327 should result in some needed relief for small
businesses.
Steps To Add NAICS Codes to OMB/OIRA's Existing Computerized Paperwork
Database
1. NAICS information. Decide what NAICS codes information
should be included in OMB/OIRA's existing computerized
paperwork database. First, examine the SF-83 (Rev. 9-80) item
#21 to see if that approach is desirable, especially since
the software was previously developed for it. This item
required agencies to indicate up to ten 3-digit SIC codes or
to check ``multiple'' or ``all.'' Besides deciding on the
approach, OMB needs to decide on the number of NAICS digits--
the first 2 digits are used for sectors, the 3rd digit is for
sub-sectors, the 4th digit is for industry group, etc.--which
would be most useful for the public to identify applicable
paperwork and for OMB and the agencies to reduce duplicative
paperwork and paperwork without any practical utility.
2. Other new information. Decide if any other information
should be added to OMB/OIRA's paperwork database so that the
agencies could be asked to provide this information for all
currently-approved information collections at the same time
as NAICS codes information. Alternatively, the agencies could
be asked to provide this information only for new agency
requests for OMB approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act.
First, examine the 16 other items on the SF-83 (Rev. 9-80)
which were deleted, including #4 (3-digit functional code,
which is used in Executive and Legislative Branch budgeting).
The software for some of these items was also previously
developed. However, some were previously only textual fields,
such as #28 (authority for agency for information
collection--indicate statute, regulation, judicial decree,
etc.). Since 1980, the Regulatory Information Service Center
(RISC) has made some progress in coding some of this
information.
3. Data specifications. After #1 and #2 are settled,
outline the data specifications for a computer contractor.
After the contractor is on-board for the project, OIRA should
work with him to design the data format and a minimum number
of data edits. For example, the contractor probably does not
need to check if each 3-digit (or whatever level is chosen)
NAICS code entered by an agency is a valid one but the
contractor probably should check that there is some NAICS
information for every data collection which significantly
impacts on small entities (OMB-83-I #5) or which affects
business or other for-profits or farms (OMB-83-I #11 b & d).
4. Output formats. OIRA and the contractor also need to
design the output formats, including: the OMB webpage which
includes NAICS information, including links to each agency's
consolidated webpage, which, at a minimum, should include
links to each of the agency's approved forms (available in
HTML or read-only PDF formats) and their accompanying
instructions; and (2) the full paper-copy listing by NAICS
code. The agency webpages could also include additional
information, such as links to the applicable regulations
underpinning the recordkeeping requirements and any non-
binding guidance documents. Unfortunately, many currently-
approved agency forms are not yet available on the Internet
so this step may require some agency effort, which is
worthwhile with or without the addition of NAICS information.
5. Availability. After consultation with the Hill and
interest groups (such as NFIB), OMB should decide if all
Federal Register publication annually makes sense or just a
Federal Register Notice of Document Availability for OMB's
full paper-copy listing.
6. Agency training. OIRA (including its Statistical Policy
experts) needs to train the agencies about NAICS. If agencies
are in doubt which NAICS codes apply, they could call a few
of their respondents since businesses all know which NAICS
code applies to them since they are routinely asked to
provide this information by various Federal agencies (e.g.,
the Census Bureau and the SEC).
7. Agency input. After OMB and the contractor have agreed
on an approach (in step #3 above) and the agencies are
trained (in step #6 above), OMB needs to ask each agency with
one or more currently approved information collections (i.e.,
including the independent regulatory commissions and the bank
regulatory agencies) to provide the new information--for each
of the 7,780 currently-approved information collections--in
the precise format which OMB will be using for all new agency
requests for OMB approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act.
OMB could ask agencies to directly input this information
electronically into the database, with the rest of the data
elements in OMB's database kept as read-only items which
cannot be changed by the agencies. Alternatively, OMB could
ask the agencies to e-mail the information (in a format
calling only for the 8-digit OMB number and then the NAICS
information) for OMB's contractor to merge into the OMB
database. OMB does not second guess the agency input for
other items (such as #11, affected public) on the OMB-83-I
(Rev. 10/95) so OMB should not be required to verify the
accuracy of agency input for NAICS information.
8. Quality control. Have the contractor perform edit checks
on the consolidated (agency-provided) new information in OMB/
OIRA's paperwork database (as determined in step #3 above)
and test each of the links from OMB's webpage to each of the
agency's webpages.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. TIERNEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the gentleman from California (Mr.
Ose), the chairman of the subcommittee, and the Senate Governmental
Affairs Committee for their willingness to negotiate the amendments to
H.R. 327 that we are considering today.
H.R. 327 is a substantial improvement over the small business
paperwork bills that were considered by the House in the last two
Congresses.
The controversial penalty provisions have been removed, and the bill
includes provisions suggested by the Democratic minority that will
reduce the paperwork burden on small businesses.
Mr. Speaker, small businesses are the backbone of the economy and are
where the new jobs are being created. However, many small and family-
opened businesses spend a great deal of their resources learning about
and complying with applicable laws.
I am pleased that we are looking at ways to make it easier for small
businesses to understand what information they are required to provide
to the government and ways to simplify and streamline the paperwork
process.
H.R. 327, as amended, requires OMB to annually produce a list of
compliance assistance resources available to small businesses. This
list must be printed in the Federal Register and posted on the
Internet. This bill also requires each agency to establish one point of
contact to act as a liaison with small businesses.
H.R. 327 requires agencies to make efforts to further reduce
paperwork required of businesses with fewer than 25 employees.
The bill establishes a task force to make recommendations for
electronic reporting and improving information dissemination. And H.R.
327 requires agencies to report on the number of enforcement actions
they take and the number of instances when they reduce and waive
penalties.
Mr. Speaker, 4 years ago we considered similar provisions when the
House considered H.R. 3310. Unfortunately, H.R. 3310 also contained
provisions that would have prohibited agencies from penalizing
businesses for most
[[Page H3627]]
first-time information-related violations. These provisions would have
removed agency discretion and created a safe haven for willful,
substantial, and long-standing violations. They were strongly opposed
by the Clinton administration, 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 the chance to implement the provisions we are
considering today. The bill was resurrected in the next Congress as
H.R. 391. The Kucinich amendment, which fixed the controversial
provisions, narrowly failed by a vote of 214-210. Again, because the
controversial provisions remained in the bill, it never became law.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to see that H.R. 327 does not include the
controversial penalty provisions, and it will likely become law. I am
pleased to say that this version of H.R. 327 includes suggestions made
by the Democratic minority of the Committee on Government Reform. For
instance, the focus of the bill is on compliance assistance. The bill
helps businesses figure out what information they need to provide to
which agencies and makes it easier for them to provide the information.
Furthermore, the task force will make recommendations for
implementing interactive systems for information collection
requirements and electronic reporting. This will allow small businesses
to identify applicable requirements over the Internet and get immediate
feedback on electronic submissions in order to help ensure that they
submit consistent and usable data.
Moreover, the task force will recommend ways to strengthen
information dissemination so that agencies can more efficiently share
the information they gather with other agencies and the public.
{time} 1345
In addition, the original bill required agencies to provide an annual
list of paperwork requirements by statistical code. However, this list
likely would not be used by small businesses, and it would merely
provide a statistical analysis of the quantity of information
regulations.
Mr. Speaker, the purpose of this bill is not to count regulations,
but to help small businesses understand and comply with the information
collection requirements. The bill directs a task force to study the
feasibility of such a list and whether such a list would actually
benefit small businesses. And the bill requires a useful annual list of
compliance assistance resources. While I understand, Mr. Speaker, that
there will be a colloquy between the chairman of the Committee on Small
Business and the gentleman from California (Mr. Ose), that information
that is shared with us is, of course, their opinion and is not part of
the legislative history.
H.R. 327 includes a provision suggested by the gentleman from Vermont
(Mr. Sanders) and adopted 4 years ago that focuses paperwork reduction
on small businesses with fewer than 25 employees. This amendment helps
direct our efforts to truly small businesses that need our help the
most. The definition of small businesses that was incorporated into
H.R. 327 originally was so broad that it included numerous businesses
that many do not consider small. It included petroleum refineries with
up to 1,500 employees, pharmaceutical companies with up to 750
employees, and banks with up to $100 million in assets. Thus, the bill
helps most businesses, not just small businesses. Therefore, I believe
it is appropriate to focus agency efforts on businesses that really are
small.
Mr. Speaker, information collection is one of the most 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 have provided similar information
to more than one source in government.
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.
I urge my colleagues to support this motion.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. OSE. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 6 minutes to the
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton), the distinguished 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. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for
yielding time.
Let me start off by thanking the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr.
Tierney), the gentleman from California (Mr. Ose) and the gentleman
from California (Mr. Waxman) who worked with me to get this piece of
legislation to the floor. This is an extremely important piece of
legislation because if there is one thing that small businesspeople
across the country are very chagrined about, it is the amount of
paperwork that they have to deal with on a regular basis. As a matter
of fact, the cost to a small businessperson runs about $7,000 per
employee to deal with the paperwork that faces them from the Federal
Government. If you have got 20 employees, that is a $140,000 burden
that you have to deal with, and it simply is not necessary.
This legislation is designed to streamline that effort to make sure
that small businesspeople do not suffer from a tidal wave of paperwork
that makes the profitability of their business almost impossible. I
think my colleagues have covered this very, very well. The gentleman
from California (Mr. Ose) has worked very hard on this. The gentleman
from Massachusetts (Mr. Tierney) has as well. I think they have covered
all of the provisions of the bill and the problems we had in getting
this bill drafted and to the floor.
I would just like to say that it is high time that we got this job
done. If there is one thing that small business and business in America
needs, it is a reduction of the amount of paperwork and regulation that
they have to deal with on a daily basis with the Federal Government. I
believe this is going to save them money, it is going to streamline the
effort to comply with government regulations, and it is a giant step in
the right direction.
All of the small businesspeople in America that may be watching this
right now, you can take heart. We are moving in the right direction.
There is a lot more that needs to be done, but this is a great first
step.
Mr. Speaker, today we have before us a piece of legislation that's
going to help small businesses navigate the maze of Federal forms that
they have to fill out.
This is a serious problem for small businesses. If you talk to any
small business owner, they'll tell you that Federal regulations,
Federal mandates, and Federal paperwork are a serious burden. It's hard
to figure out what rules have to be complied with and what forms have
to be filled out. It's time-consuming and expensive.
Last year, the Small Business Administration estimated that small
businesses spend close to $7,000 per employee on Federal paperwork.
Think about that--$7,000 per employee. For a company that has 20
employees, that's $140,000. That's a serious drain on the resources of
a small business.
When we passed the Paperwork Reduction Act many years ago, the goal
was to reduce the Federal paperwork burden. Unfortunately, it hasn't
been very successful. Over the last six years, the paperwork burden on
the American people has not shrunk--it's grown every year.
This bill isn't going to reverse that tide all by itself. But I think
it will help small businesses cope with the problems they're having. It
will give them more resources so they can get assistance when they need
it.
This bill requires every Federal agency to have a single point of
contact for small businesses. If a small businessman in Indiana or Ohio
doesn't understand what forms he has to fill out, there should be one
office in each
[[Page H3628]]
agency where he can pick up the phone and get help. This bill does
that.
It requires the Office of Management and Budget to post on its
website every year an up-to-date list of all of the resources that are
available to help small businesses with paperwork problems.
It requires every Federal agency to make additional efforts to reduce
paperwork for the smallest businesses--businesses with fewer than 25
employees.
This bill sets up an inter-agency task force. This task force will
develop a plan to consolidate reporting requirements and make them more
uniform. Many small businesses have to report the same information to
several different agencies. We should have a system that would allow a
small businessman to submit that information once, in electronic form.
That would be the job of this task force.
It would also look at whether we could have interactive reporting
systems, so businesses could get immediate feedback if there is a
problem. These things would be very valuable to small businesses around
the country.
Last but not least, this bill would require Federal agencies to
report to Congress on the penalties they impose on individuals and
small businesses. They would be required to file two annual reports on
the number of civil actions they take, the number of those actions that
were taken against small businesses, the number of times they've
reduced penalties imposed by the agency, and the number of penalties
that were reduced specifically on small businesses.
We've never had that kind of information before. We need to get a
better handle on how many penalties are being imposed on small
businesses, and for what kind of offenses. These reports will help us
do that.
When we first started working on this bill several years ago, we had
a provision that required agencies to waive first-time penalties
against small businesses for inadvertent paperwork errors. I thought
that was a very good idea. It was approved twice in the House.
Unfortunately, we couldn't get it passed in the other body. We tried
for about three years, and it just wasn't doable. So we compromised.
Nobody got everything they wanted in this bill--but it's a good
compromise. These reports on penalties being imposed on small
businesses will give us more information and help us understand what's
happening.
We've worked very hard with Members of both bodies to get to this
point. I want to thank my friends on the Government Reform Committee,
Mr. Ose, Mr. Waxman, and Mr. Tierney for working with me to get this
bill done.
I also want to thank our friends in the other body for their
assistance--particularly Senator Lieberman, Senator Voinovich and
Senator Thompson. We couldn't have gotten to this point without their
help.
Let me conclude by saying this--I was a small businessman before I
came to Congress. Mr. Ose was a small businessman before he came to
Congress. Many Members of the House ran their own businesses before
they decided to run for Congress. We understand how difficult it is to
start your own business, and to make it successful. We understand how
difficult it is to comply with Federal mandates and Federal tax laws,
and to make sure you've filled out the right forms. And we also
understand how important small businesses are to our economy. They're
the life-blood of our economy.
So any time we have an opportunity to develop legislation that will
make it a little easier to deal with the Federal bureaucracy, we should
do it. That's what this bill is meant to do. It won't make all the
problems that small businesses face go away, but it's a good start.
We're going to continue to look for opportunities to pass legislation
that will help small businessmen and women.
I urge all of my colleagues to support this good piece of
legislation.
Mr. TIERNEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the
gentleman from Maine (Mr. Baldacci).
Mr. BALDACCI. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the gentleman from
Massachusetts for his leadership on this issue and helping to bring
this very important piece of legislation to the floor. This is
something that concerns an awful lot of small businesses in the State
of Maine. I know how crucial it is. Over 97 percent of the businesses
are represented by small businesses in our State. We have over 40,000
of them in all. These enterprises face a maze of regulations and
requirements that impose a heavy burden in time and expense. The
Federal Government alone has over 7,000 forms that are required for one
activity or another. State and local regulations add a further layer of
almost equal complexity and cost. How can small businesses compete,
innovate and grow to their fullest potential when they have to devote
so much time and energy and resources just to figuring out what forms
to fill out?
I know how difficult this situation is for small businesses. I know
because I am a small business owner myself, and I have personally
experienced the frustration of trying to navigate the system. I do
believe that the innovations in this bill will make the process easier.
It will make compliance assistance resources more readily available. It
will require agencies to find ways to further reduce paperwork for
smaller businesses. And it will establish a single point of contact for
small businesses in each of the Federal agencies, something that is
sorely needed.
Mr. Speaker, this bill is a good start. I look forward to bringing
this assistance to small businesses. However, as we all know, there is
more work that we need to do. We need to find ways to help agencies to
better coordinate their efforts both at the Federal level and between
the State and local levels to make these services more seamless.
Ideally, we should have a single point of contact for all small
business so they can quickly and easily find what they need. Small
businesses do not have the resources of big corporations, but they
should have the same chance to compete.
This bill is a good step towards having a level playing field. I urge
my colleagues to support this legislation.
Mr. OSE. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Manzullo).
Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 327, the
Small Business Paperwork Relief Act as amended by the Senate. The bill
represents the first effort 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 in capital, moving the economy forward and cooking spaghetti,
which is what my brother does in his Italian restaurant. The gentleman
from Maine (Mr. Baldacci) does the same thing.
Cooks would rather make spaghetti sauce than fill out Federal forms.
One of the reasons for this bill is to allow the chefs to spend more
time cooking Italian food at our restaurants as opposed to filing all
these stupid government forms. People do not go to chef school to fill
out forms. They go there to make people happy, to present a good
balance of herbs and spices, to be able to know what is on the menu, to
be able to change the menu according to people's tastes. But when all
the chefs in the small restaurants and all the like-minded small
businesspeople in the country have to fill out papers for the Federal
Government, then they spend too much time doing that.
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 business. Dr. John Graham, who is the current Administrator of
the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, and who is doing a
great job, has begun efforts to reduce paperwork burdens. Even with
these efforts, the Federal Government still 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. These paperwork burdens
annually cost Americans at least $61 billion. Convenience stores that
sell gasoline may have to prepare as many as 46 different forms
accompanied by 250 pages of instructions. Physicians seeking to provide
service under the Medicare program send a 30-page application to CMS,
while private insurers enroll physicians after a one-page application.
We ask ourselves, is all of this information for small business
necessary? Will the government find the information useful? Can the
government obtain the necessary information in a less burdensome way?
The Small Business Paperwork Relief Act will initiate a process to help
answer these questions.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to engage in a colloquy with the gentleman
from California (Mr. Ose), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy
Policy, Natural Resources and Regulatory Affairs.
Mr. OSE. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. MANZULLO. I yield to the gentleman from California.
Mr. OSE. I am happy to engage in a colloquy with the gentleman from
Illinois, who is the distinguished chairman of the Committee on Small
Business.
[[Page H3629]]
Mr. MANZULLO. I thank the gentleman from California for agreeing to
engage in this colloquy. I think it is absolutely imperative that the
task force created by the bill obtains input from the small business
community. I am sure the gentleman from California agrees.
Mr. OSE. I concur with the gentleman from Illinois. I cannot
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. I thank the gentleman from California for clarifying
that issue. I also note that the bill would require that the Office of
Management and Budget, OMB, publish in the Federal Register and make
available on the Internet an annual listing of the compliance
assistance resources available to small businesses. I agree that this
would make the information more accessible. However, I believe that
more can be done. I think that OMB should establish a link on its
Website to each agency's single point of contact. Each agency's Website
would then have links to each relevant paperwork required for small
businesses. I would like the opinion of the gentleman from California
on this point.
Mr. OSE. I agree with the gentleman from Illinois. The bill is
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 the Office of Management and Budget's Website to
the single points of contact established by the bill. In addition, I
would expect links on the Office of Management and Budget'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 Federal agencies provide appropriate links to
this critical information.
Mr. MANZULLO. I thank the gentleman from California for clarifying
that issue. I also note that the amended bill is silent on reducing the
frequency of small business reporting which would lessen paperwork
burdens on small businesses. Since H.R. 327 is primarily intended to
reduce paperwork burdens, should not OMB, the agencies and the task
force consider reducing periodicity wherever possible?
Mr. OSE. I agree with the gentleman from Illinois that reducing
reporting frequency would be an effective way to help small businesses.
To ensure no unintended consequences under the Paperwork Reduction Act,
any proposed changes in periodicity would be subject to public notice
and comment.
Mr. MANZULLO. I thank the gentleman for entering into the colloquy.
Mr. TIERNEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume,
just to briefly say that the record should reflect, Mr. Speaker, that
that colloquy, of course, reflects the personal opinions of the two
Representatives involved and is not the opinion of the committee as a
whole or of the House, and also just to indicate that small businesses,
and this will put the gentleman's mind at ease, I think, small
businesses certainly are included in the process through the provision
for public comment of the task force draft report. This committee and
the committees over in the Senate did a lot of time negotiating out the
resulting provisions of this bill, and we are pleased with that. It has
come to a general agreement that I believe is going to pass in the form
that is printed.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Parliamentary Inquiry
Mr. OSE. Mr. Speaker, I just want to be sure that I am clear in terms
of my colloquy with the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Manzullo) in the
sense that we did enter it into the Record, and it is going to show up
in the Journal and what have you, and it will be a part of the
legislative record as a part of the recorded record that the
transcriptionists and others are taking part in, just to clarify that
point.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Bonilla). The gentleman is correct. All
of the exchange as spoken between both gentlemen will be recorded.
Mr. OSE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Illinois (Mr. Manzullo). We inadvertently left out a couple of items of
the record that we are attempting to establish here.
Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Speaker, I am sorry that I left out a point in our
colloquy that is quite important.
Finally, I would like to clarify one point. H.R. 327 as introduced
required OMB to annually publish a list of requirements applicable to
small businesses organized by North American Industrial Classification
System, NAICS, codes and industrial/sector description. In the amended
version of H.R. 327 as passed by the Senate, this requirement is
modified substantially.
{time} 1400
Instead of requiring OMB to annually publish such a listing, it
allows the task force to examine the feasibility and benefits to small
businesses of publishing lists organized by NAICS code, industrial/
sector description, or in another manner by which small businesses can
more easily identify requirements with which they are expected to
comply.
I would ask the gentleman from California (Mr. Ose), is it your
opinion that the best method for classifying the information remains by
NAICS codes because that would enable small businesses to best identify
the paperwork burdens associated with their businesses?
Mr. OSE. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. MANZULLO. I yield to the gentleman from California.
Mr. OSE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for coming back to the
podium to address this issue and for raising this critical point. I
believe that the information should be organized by NAICS codes.
Otherwise a small business searching for information on its paperwork
burdens might not find the information most applicable to its business.
By using NAICS codes, restaurants could easily find information
relevant for restaurants, not information for steel manufacturers.
In conclusion, I fully agree with the gentleman from Illinois on this
point, and I thank him for helping me make it part of the record.
Mr. TIERNEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I in no way intended to imply that this colloquy would
not appear on the Journal. However, it will not be part of the history
of this particular bill, having come through committees and
subcommittees and been negotiated.
I daresay that there was no part of that colloquy to which the
minority was privy. They were not given the courtesy of an advance copy
of that colloquy through the subcommittee. I do not know what the
reason for that was, but certainly I do not want to leave it with the
public or the Speaker the impression that that was part of the
legislative history, the negotiations between the subcommittees, the
committees, the Senate or the House, in having the bill come before us.
I would also like to clarify a point that was made by my colleagues
during their little discussion, and that is that the task force is
required to consider whether publishing a list of the information
collection requirements applicable to small businesses would actually
be feasible and would actually help small businesses. This bill does
not require publication of a list.
The task force should also consider different opinions for organizing
such a list if they find it would be feasible and beneficial to small
businesses. The bill leaves it up to the task force to consider whether
any such list should be organized by NAICS codes or in some other
manner that makes it easier for small businesses to identify applicable
requirements.
Some people are concerned that such a list will be too unwieldy for
anyone to use, and because businesses do not fit neatly into precise
categories, businesses will still have to figure out which requirements
listed for a given category actually apply to them. So we have asked
the task force to look at and see if this would be helpful and to
report back to us.
The key point here is that the bill clearly leaves it up to the task
force to consider whether publishing any such list makes sense, and, if
so, to determine what would be the best way to organize it. It would
then be up to Congress to consider the task force findings, colloquies
notwithstanding.
[[Page H3630]]
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. OSE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana
(Mr. Pence).
Mr. PENCE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Small Business Paperwork
Relief Act.
Mr. Speaker, I serve as chairman of the Subcommittee on Regulatory
Reform and Oversight of the Committee on Small Business, and I have
spent countless hours listening to small businesses of America plead
with Congress to restrain the egregious rulemaking and paperwork
requirements of Federal agencies.
Small businesses, as we all know, Mr. Speaker, are on the front lines
every day dealing with the real-world implications of overzealous
bureaucrats that seldom take into consideration the impact of their
rules on the small business sector. Despite the fact that small
businesses account for 50 percent of America's employers and two-thirds
to three-quarters of net new jobs in the United States, few people
inside the Federal Government are listening on an average day. Federal
regulation continues to balloon, costing small businesses with fewer
than 20 employees $6,975 per employee to comply.
The Small Business Paperwork Relief Act will, Mr. Speaker, help small
businesses face the regulatory burden placed upon them by requiring
that compliance assistance resources be made available on the Internet.
It will require that agencies have a single paperwork point of contact
for small businesses, and that agencies make greater strides to reduce
paperwork burdens on small businesses. H.R. 327 will also require the
establishment of a task force to study streamlining reporting
requirements for small businesses.
Mr. Speaker, nowhere is that paperwork burden more evident than in
the Environmental Protection Agency. My subcommittee recently held a
hearing on the EPA's TRI Lead rule. This was a classic case of an
executive agency subverting the regulatory reform measures that have
been put in place over the years.
For example, the EPA failed to do a proper analysis of its impact on
small businesses, they failed to do an independent peer review of the
science behind the rule, and they failed to do proper small business
outreach. All of this will result in a cost of over $80 million per
year to small businesses, and the paperwork regulation that will follow
will not in any way reduce the lead released into our environment.
This simply cannot continued. America's small business owners are
suffering death by 1,000 paper cuts. They go into work every day armed
with the entrepreneurial spirit, with the goal of building a business
that will be successful, and what they have found is one of their
largest obstacles to success is not a faulty business plan or a poor
economy, but the paperwork and reporting requirements that the Federal
Government imposes.
I urge all of my colleagues today to stand by those who make their
daily trek into work, to stand by the small business owner, and make it
today just a little bit less burdensome. Pass the Paperwork Relief Act.
Mr. TIERNEY. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. OSE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from West
Virginia (Mrs. Capito).
Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from California for
his leadership on this issue.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today and urge all of my colleagues to support
H.R. 327, the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act. This plan has the
ability to really fuel our economy to new heights by reducing the costs
and improving the levels of efficiencies for our small businesses,
thereby allowing them to expand and create new jobs.
In my home State of West Virginia, over 80 percent of our businesses
are small businesses. In our State, good jobs are at a premium, and
economic growth is our continual goal. This plan will support our State
and other States in their goal to reach for more job creation and a
stronger economy by helping small businesses thrive and perhaps even
helping a small business begin.
Mr. Speaker, small business has always been and will continue to be
the key to the American dream, but by erecting and ignoring the
government barriers that hinder the success of small business, this
slows the creation and stifles growth.
We have heard a lot of figures today, but I have a new one. According
to recent figures by the Office of Management and Budget, American
businesses spend 7.7 million hours each year complying with Federal
paperwork at an astounding cost of $230 billion a year. Just think how
many additional people could be employed or how many additional health
benefits could be afforded with that much money.
Passing the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act will free the hands
of our small business owners by removing the unnecessary regulations
that prevent them from doing things that I have mentioned, offering
expanded health benefits, employing new employees. All these things
could be done with the cost they expend on filling out the mountains of
paperwork.
We need to work quickly and pass this so that our constituents will
not be cheated and our economy will not be stifled by depriving our
businesses of many talented and capable workers. I urge my colleagues
to recognize the tremendous benefits of this plan and to pass H.R. 327.
Mr. TIERNEY. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. OSE. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 3 minutes to the
gentleman from Idaho (Mr. Otter), the vice chairman.
Mr. OTTER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman of our subcommittee for
yielding me time, and I also thank him for the leadership that he has
shown in an effort to reduce not just the paperwork, but all the
burdensome government regulations on all of our small businesses, and,
in fact, on the private sector in general.
We already know and we have heard many of the virtues and the merits
that this H.R. 327 is going to provide for the private sector. I am
hopeful, Mr. Speaker, that this is simply the first in an evolutionary
process that we will have in reducing many more of the burdensome
regulations not only on paperwork, but of the other rules and
regulations that we have on the private sector, and especially the
small businesses.
The U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy recently
issued a report called The Impact of Regulatory Costs on Small Firms.
In this report it is stated, ``To comply with Federal regulations,
Americans spent $843 billion in the year 2000. Had every household
received a portion of that bill,'' every family received a proportional
share of that bill, each household, it would have cost $8,164, each
household.
I submit, Mr. Speaker, that it did cost each and every one of those
households $8,164. Of course, that is to be added to the $19,613 that
the Federal revenuers already collect from each and every household.
Why do I say that the households themselves had to pay $8,164 each?
Because, Mr. Speaker, all you can do when you have a cost accruing from
the government to a business and to a value-added product is pass that
on to the customer. So we politicians sit down here and we pontificate
about how we are not going to tax the people, we are not going to make
the people obey the regulations, we are just going to make the
businesses do it.
And, quite frankly, businesses pay no taxes. Those that do go
bankrupt. There is all kinds of lists of those. But who does pay the
taxes are the taxpayers. They are the ones that pay the taxes, each and
every one. You want to increase the price of Idaho french fries?
Tomorrow morning I will guarantee all the french fry joints in this
great Nation of ours you will see the price of french fries go up,
because businesses have to collect those taxes.
But it is the sleight of hand. It is the shadowy little area that we
always deal in with rules and regulations and taxes in this Congress.
Let us be honest with ourselves and let us tell these folks that not
only are we giving the small businesses relief from the paperwork
burden, but we are giving the taxpayers, the purchasers, the consumers,
those who would consume the services and the value-added goods from our
small businesses in this country, we are giving them the relief as
well. I think you will see how much more competitive we can become in
[[Page H3631]]
this world marketplace for all of our products with this bill.
I would encourage all my colleagues to join the rest of us and pass
H.R. 327.
Mr. TIERNEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time. I would just like
to make a comment in closing, and that is I think we are doing the
exact right thing here today in passing this Small Business Paperwork
Relief Act. But I would be remiss if I did not respond somewhat to a
lot of the hyperbole that we have heard on the other side.
Nobody wants small businesses to be overburdened with regulations,
but certainly I think in the days of Enron and Global Crossing and Tyco
and right on down the line, we can all appreciate the damage that has
been done in the past couple of decades as we threw regulation after
regulation away or loosened them to the point where some corporations,
particularly large corporations, have sort of missed their mission and
their responsibility to the American people.
In that sense it calls upon government to have the kind of governance
that we have always had in this country, and that is a balanced
governance. It is a free market with the hand of government regulation
balancing it.
The obvious goal here is to strike that balance so it does not
overburden business, but still protects the people in the way it should
and the way they want it to protect them, whether it is about their
health, about collecting taxes that are necessary for public goods and
services or so on down the line.
The nameless or faceless bureaucrats that people take to task on the
other side of the aisle sometimes are people that are working as hard
as they can to do the best job that they can do to provide good public
services, and I think they should be commended.
The responsibility lies here. The responsibility lies in this body to
make sure that we give them the tools to work with as they craft the
regulations, that we have the kind of oversight that is necessary to
make sure that when they craft those regulations, they are, in fact, as
uncumbersome as possible and get right to the point.
That is part of what this bill is all about today. I think that is
why it will pass with an overwhelming majority. I think we have started
to do that job, take on some responsibility and give some guidance to
the people who craft those regulations and help small businesses,
because truly they do need help to have those regulations apply to help
the American people and them, but have them do so in the least onerous
way possible.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. OSE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I want to briefly note for the Record the deep
appreciation I have for the chairman of the full committee and for the
ranking member in sitting down and working out the differences that
existed on this bill and allowing it to move forward in an expeditious
fashion. To that list I would like to add my compliments to the
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Tierney), who was kind enough to host
me in his district yesterday and for which I am grateful.
{time} 1415
He has been an able advocate and a staunch supporter of trying to
bring some relief to small businesses, and I am grateful for the
opportunity to work with him in all six of these issues. I do look
forward to working with all three as this bill moves through the
process and future bills come before our committee.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, small businesses spend
millions of hours annually meeting federal paperwork and record-keeping
requirements. The time and effort spent by businesses and taxpayers to
meet paperwork demands are estimated to equal almost 10% of the
nation's Gross Domestic Product. Small businesses spend approximately 7
billion hours annually filling out federal paperwork. This paperwork
burden costs small businesses over $20 billion annually. According to
the Small business Administration, the nation's small businesses have a
disproportionate share of the regulatory burden.
H.R. 327, Small Business Paperwork Relief Act, would ease the
regulatory paperwork burdens on small businesses. The Act would
streamline the regulatory paperwork process of small business owners
and family farmers. The bill would also require the government to make
a list of compliance assistance resources available on the Internet and
would require each government agency to establish a central point of
contact for small businesses. With small businesses spending an
estimated $5,100 per employee to comply with various federally mandated
paperwork requirements, it is essential that we act on this bill.
Knowing the importance of small businesses to our economy and our
communities, I believe that Congress must support small business
expansion across America. An estimated 25.5 million small businesses a
nationwide employ more than half the country's private work force. They
create three of every four new jobs, and generate a majority of
American innovations. As the backbone of our economic well-being, all
assistance to the growth of small businesses is important to ensure our
economic development. Therefore, I urge my colleagues to support H.R.
327, Small Business Paperwork Relief Act.
Mr. OSE. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Simpson). All time for debate has
expired. Pursuant to House Resolution 444, the previous question is
ordered.
The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from
California (Mr. Ose).
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the ayes appeared to have it.
Mr. OSE. 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.
Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, following
the vote on this motion, the Chair will put the question on motions to
suspend the rules and on the approval of the Journal on which further
proceedings were postponed earlier today. Those votes will be taken in
the following order: H.R. 4794, by the yeas and nays; H.R. 4717, by the
yeas and nays; the Journal vote will be de novo.
The Chair will reduce to 5 minutes the time for any electronic vote
after the first vote in this series.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 418,
nays 0, not voting 16, as follows:
[Roll No. 233]
YEAS--418
Abercrombie
Ackerman
Aderholt
Akin
Allen
Andrews
Armey
Baca
Baird
Baker
Baldacci
Baldwin
Ballenger
Barcia
Barr
Barrett
Bartlett
Barton
Bass
Becerra
Bentsen
Bereuter
Berkley
Berman
Berry
Biggert
Bilirakis
Bishop
Blumenauer
Blunt
Boehlert
Boehner
Bonilla
Bonior
Bono
Boozman
Borski
Boswell
Boucher
Boyd
Brady (PA)
Brady (TX)
Brown (FL)
Brown (OH)
Brown (SC)
Bryant
Burr
Burton
Buyer
Callahan
Calvert
Camp
Cannon
Cantor
Capito
Capps
Capuano
Cardin
Carson (IN)
Carson (OK)
Castle
Chabot
Chambliss
Clay
Clayton
Clement
Clyburn
Coble
Collins
Combest
Condit
Cooksey
Costello
Cox
Coyne
Cramer
Crane
Crenshaw
Crowley
Cubin
Culberson
Cummings
Cunningham
Davis (CA)
Davis (FL)
Davis (IL)
Davis, Jo Ann
Davis, Tom
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
Evans
Everett
Farr
Fattah
Ferguson
Filner
Flake
Fletcher
Foley
Forbes
Ford
Fossella
Frank
Frelinghuysen
Frost
Gallegly
Ganske
Gekas
Gephardt
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
Hilleary
Hinchey
Hinojosa
Hobson
Hoeffel
Hoekstra
Holden
Holt
Honda
Hooley
Horn
Hostettler
Houghton
Hulshof
Hunter
Hyde
Inslee
Isakson
Israel
Issa
Istook
Jackson (IL)
Jackson-Lee (TX)
Jefferson
Jenkins
John
Johnson (CT)
Johnson (IL)
Johnson, E. B.
Johnson, Sam
Jones (NC)
Jones (OH)
Kanjorski
Kaptur
Keller
Kelly
Kennedy (MN)
[[Page H3632]]
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
Lynch
Maloney (CT)
Maloney (NY)
Manzullo
Markey
Mascara
Matheson
Matsui
McCarthy (MO)
McCarthy (NY)
McCollum
McCrery
McDermott
McGovern
McHugh
McInnis
McKeon
McKinney
McNulty
Meehan
Meek (FL)
Meeks (NY)
Menendez
Mica
Miller, Dan
Miller, Gary
Miller, George
Miller, Jeff
Mink
Mollohan
Moore
Moran (KS)
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)
Quinn
Radanovich
Rahall
Ramstad
Rangel
Regula
Rehberg
Reyes
Reynolds
Rivers
Rodriguez
Roemer
Rogers (KY)
Rogers (MI)
Rohrabacher
Ros-Lehtinen
Ross
Roybal-Allard
Royce
Rush
Ryan (WI)
Ryun (KS)
Sabo
Sanchez
Sandlin
Sawyer
Saxton
Schaffer
Schakowsky
Schiff
Schrock
Scott
Sensenbrenner
Serrano
Sessions
Shadegg
Shaw
Sherman
Sherwood
Shimkus
Shows
Shuster
Simmons
Simpson
Skeen
Skelton
Slaughter
Smith (MI)
Smith (NJ)
Smith (TX)
Smith (WA)
Snyder
Solis
Souder
Spratt
Stark
Stearns
Stenholm
Strickland
Stump
Stupak
Sullivan
Sununu
Sweeney
Tancredo
Tanner
Tauscher
Tauzin
Taylor (MS)
Taylor (NC)
Terry
Thomas
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Thornberry
Thune
Thurman
Tiahrt
Tiberi
Tierney
Toomey
Towns
Turner
Udall (CO)
Udall (NM)
Upton
Velazquez
Visclosky
Vitter
Walden
Walsh
Wamp
Watkins (OK)
Watson (CA)
Watt (NC)
Watts (OK)
Waxman
Weiner
Weldon (FL)
Weldon (PA)
Weller
Wexler
Whitfield
Wicker
Wilson (NM)
Wilson (SC)
Wolf
Woolsey
Wu
Wynn
Young (AK)
Young (FL)
NOT VOTING--16
Bachus
Blagojevich
Conyers
Hilliard
Hoyer
McIntyre
Millender-McDonald
Moran (VA)
Putnam
Riley
Rothman
Roukema
Sanders
Shays
Traficant
Waters
{time} 1440
So the motion was agreed to.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________