Volume 147, No. 108 covering the 1st Session of the 107th Congress (2001 - 2002) was published by the Congressional Record.
The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS” mentioning the Environmental Protection Agency was published in the Senate section on pages S8398-S8400 on July 30, 2001.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
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 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.
``(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.''.
______
By Mr. WYDEN (for himself and Mr. Smith of Oregon):
S. 1270. A bill to designate the United States courthouse to be constructed at 8th Avenue and Mill Street in Eugene. Oregon, as the
``Wayne Lyman Morse United States Courthouse''; to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Mr. WYDEN. Madam President, I rise today to introduce legislation to name the Federal courthouse being built in downtown Eugene, OR after one of Oregon's greatest heroes, my friend and mentor, Senator Wayne Morse. Naming the Eugene courthouse in the city that Wayne Morse loved and called home would be an appropriate way to honor the independence and integrity of our former Senate colleague.
I find it especially fitting to be here today to honor one of the Senate's great independents. Without going into too much detail of the last few months of the Senate's history, the act of moving one's seat on the Senate floor is not a new concept, and Wayne Morse may have done it most famously.
In January 1953, Senator Morse walked into this very Chamber carrying a folding chair that he would place in the center of the aisle, thereby removing himself from either major party as an Independent. Again in 1956, he moved his chair to become a Democrat. He was subsequently overwhelmingly re-elected by the voters of Oregon. The independence displayed by Senator Morse throughout his 24-year service in the Senate was always rewarded by Oregonians who showed their continuing faith in his ability to truly represent their interests, no matter their party label.
It would benefit us all to follow the principles Wayne Morse lived by in politics today. Senator Morse would have had little sympathy for the world of the sound byte. Wayne Morse did not just talk; he worked on the issues that our citizens care about most: education; resources; health care; and justice for all. To paraphrase an old saying, he was
``unbought and unbossed.'' He, instead, set the bar for integrity and truly embodied the Oregon spirit. I can't imagine a better tribute to Senator Morse's independence and integrity than to name a United States courthouse to honor his legacy.
Senator Morse never forgot where he came from. He could never wait to return to his house in Eugene, at 595 Crest Drive, an address I remember well because I worked as a campaign aide for two of his Senate Campaigns. It was during this time that he got me interested in working with the elderly and started me in public service, which ultimately led me here to the Senate floor. I was given the high honor of being elected to serve in the Senate seat he had held more than 30 years after he was last reelected by the people of Oregon.
Known as the ``Tiger of the Senate'' for his eloquently outspoken and vigorously independent views, Senator Morse worked diligently on the behalf of the American family. He pushed the Senate to improve education and create a better future for American children by passing the New Frontier and Great Society bills, supporting federal aid to public schools and universities, and implementing scholarship programs for low-income students.
It is, therefore, only right that the Federal courthouse that we will build in Eugene, OR be named after Senator Morse. This courthouse will represent his respect for the law, his love for that city, and the future he envisaged for the people of his home State. Naming this courthouse after Senator Wayne Morse will promote and honor the legacy of Oregon's illustrious, maverick leader.
I am especially pleased to be joined by my colleague from Oregon, Senator Smith, in introducing this bipartisan legislation to designate the new Eugene Federal courthouse as the Wayne Lyman Morse Federal Courthouse. I urge all my colleagues to support this legislation.
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