To amend the Small Business Act to require the Small Business and Agriculture Regulatory Enforcement Ombudsman to create a centralized website for compliance guides, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2142) to amend the Small Business Act to require the Small Business and Agriculture Regulatory Enforcement Ombudsman to create a centralized website for compliance guides, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the measure under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise today in support of my bill, H.R. 2142, which eases regulatory compliance for small businesses.

Agencies are required by the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act to publish small entity compliance guides for each rule requiring a regulatory flexibility analysis. That guide is supposed to be posted and accessible to the public no later than the day a rulemaking becomes effective.

Yet, our committee continually hears from small business owners that they have great difficulty locating the guides. In our own investigation, we found that Federal agencies are inconsistent in their compliance with this rule.

Small businesses don't always have the resources to navigate multiple agency websites to understand their responsibilities under new laws. Instead, they are worried about meeting payroll, hiring talented workers, and running day-to-day operations of their small firms.

This bill provides a centralized location at the SBA's Office of the National Ombudsman to make it easier for business owners to find agency regulatory compliance guides and contact information. The SBA's Office of the National Ombudsman was created to help the small business community overcome regulatory barriers and ensure that agency actions are fair and reasonable. Centralizing various agency compliance guides in this office is a logical step to provide transparency and clarity for small businesses.

I want to thank Dr. Joyce for working with me to identify this issue and find a bipartisan solution to ensure America's small firms have a one-stop shop for regulatory assistance.

I ask my fellow Members to support the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, we know that small business owners don't necessarily have the resources and time to navigate multiple websites to fully understand their responsibilities with Federal laws. My bill is an important step toward reversing these problems. H.R. 2142 will make it easier, not harder, to comply with Federal regulations by providing them one location for compliance assistance.

The ombudsman already maintains a site for guidance, but this bill goes one step further by requiring that they not just provide agency contacts, but also keep a regular, updated page of compliance guides readily accessible to the public. My legislation renews our commitment towards small business growth and success by creating transparency and accountability of Federal agencies.

Again, I want to thank Dr. Joyce for cosponsoring this bill and putting our small businesses first.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2142. H.R. 2142 is a commonsense bill to ease the burden that Federal regulations place on small businesses.

As a small business owner myself, I can personally attest to the daunting feelings that are associated with new regulations. Navigating the bureaucracy of the Federal Government can be

incredibly intimidating, and I want to thank my colleague, Mr. Delgado, for his leadership on this issue.

Small businesses account for 99.6 percent of the businesses in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. These businesses are truly the backbone of the American economy, which is why I was proud to introduce this legislation with my colleague from New York. This legislation takes a simple, yet important, step to reduce the strain that the Federal regulations place on small businesses and provide much-needed transparency.

Any time a Federal agency is required to produce a final regulatory flexibility analysis on a rule, the agency is also required by section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act to publish one or more guides to assist small entities in complying with the rule.

This legislation makes already available information more easily accessible to small businesses by requiring the Small Business and Agriculture Regulatory Enforcement Ombudsman to create a public website to publish these compliance guides and list contact information for persons who can help small entities comply with these rules. Making this information publicly available on a centralized website is a commonsense way to ease the regulatory burden on small firms that are looking for assistance to comply with the Federal regulations.

I again would like to thank Mr. Delgado for bringing this issue to my attention and the chairwoman and Ranking Member Chabot from Ohio for their commitment to advancing this bipartisan solution.

I ask each of my colleagues to support this measure.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise in support of H.R. 2142. This legislation offered by committee members Mr. Delgado of New York and Dr. Joyce of Pennsylvania make important changes to the SBA Office of the National Ombudsman that will make it easier for small businesses to comply with Federal regulations.

Congress established the Office of the National Ombudsman in 1996 to assist small businesses, small government entities, and small nonprofits when they are subject to excessive enforcement by a Federal agency. Excessive enforcement may include repetitive audits or investigations, excessive fines, penalties, threats, retaliation, or other unfair enforcement action.

This simple and commonsense bill would require the ombudsman to create a public website to provide the compliance guides required by section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act, or SBREFA. Mr. Speaker, these compliance guides help small firms better understand how to comply with the most onerous Federal regulations. Housing them at one spot on the ombudsman's website is an easy way to save a small business a significant amount of time.

It is a good bill. I urge my colleagues to support it, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Joyce), the ranking member of our Rural Development, Agriculture, Trade, and Entrepreneurship Subcommittee.

Mr. Speaker, this is yet another example of how our committee continues to work across the aisle for the benefit of America's small businesses. We do it in a bipartisan manner, and I want to thank Mr. Delgado and the doctor, as well, for their leadership on this.

I urge the bill's adoption, and I yield back the balance of my time.