One Stop Shop for Small Business Compliance Act of 2021

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4877) 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 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.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 4877, the One Stop Shop for Small Business Compliance Act of 2021, which will require SBA's Office of the National Ombudsman to maintain a centralized website for regulatory compliance guides.

Federal 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.

These compliance guides are meant to explain Federal rules in easy- to-understand terms for small businesses and help them comply with Federal regulations that protect our environment, health, and consumer safety. However, small businesses do not always have the resources to navigate multiple agencies' websites to find these guides.

H.R. 4877 will ensure the Office of the National Ombudsman maintains an updated centralized website containing links to each agency's small business compliance guides and their relevant points of contact.

This simple step will significantly reduce the administrative burden on entrepreneurs, make compliance easier, and allow them to spend more time doing what they do best--running their businesses and creating jobs.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representatives Delgado and Van Duyne for working in a bipartisan manner to advance this bill to assist small businesses across the country.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Delgado).

Mr. Speaker, in closing, small employers have experienced great hardships throughout the pandemic, but today we have the opportunity to make it easier, not harder, to comply with Federal regulations.

The ombudsman's centralized website will streamline the compliance process for small businesses and ensure they have the most accurate and updated information.

I thank the committee members for their diligence in advancing this piece of legislation. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'', and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, we all know that the past couple of years have been difficult on small businesses. COVID-19 upended life as we knew it. While America is turning a corner from the perspective of public health, the pandemic's aftershocks are still raising costs, scrambling supply chains, and disrupting labor markets.

That is what I heard from folks in Cooperstown last month when I invited the SBA administrator to tour Main Street with me. That is what I heard a few days ago when I visited small businesses in Tannersville in Greene County. That is what I regularly hear from small businessowners at my townhall meetings across the district. That is why Congress should be doing everything it can to reduce burdens on small business owners. That is what my bipartisan bill, the One Stop Shop for Small Business Compliance Act, would do.

In 1996, Congress passed a law requiring Federal agencies to publish easy-to-use regulation compliance guides for small businesses; a good idea that was poorly implemented.

The problem is, these guides are housed on different agency websites, making it difficult for small businesses to find and utilize them. If you want to find something for OSHA, you have to go to the OSHA website. If you want to find FTC's compliance guide, you go look around at FTC.gov. These guides are scattered across countless government websites.

My bill is simple, it would require the Small Business Administrator's Office of the National Ombudsman to create a centralized website that houses all Federal agency compliance guides in one place.

By creating a one-stop-shop online, we make these guides more accessible for small business owners who often lack the resources to hire staff to focus on compliance issues. The platform would also list contact information for the appropriate agency staff who could provide regulatory assistance to small businesses.

Small businesses are essential elements of the economic and social fabric of upstate New York. I am proud to cosponsor this legislation which will make it easier, not harder, for folks back home to run their businesses and access resources from the Federal Government.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne for her partnership on this bipartisan, commonsense legislation. I thank Chairwoman Velazquez and Ranking Member Luetkemeyer for their support, and I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4877 the One Stop Shop for Small Business Compliance Act of 2021 to require the Small Business and Agriculture Regulatory Enforcement Ombudsman to create a website compiling small entity compliance guides and contact information for individuals who can assist small businesses with each guide.

H.R. 4877 will compile information on federal regulations that govern small business operations onto one website, making it easier for firms to educate themselves on the small business compliance guidelines.

Currently, small business compliance guides are published on several different agency websites, making it difficult for small businesses that usually don't have the time or resources to navigate the web to fully comply with their responsibilities under new laws.

The centralized website would not only accumulate small business compliance guides, but it would also provide small business owners with details regarding the appropriate agency and staff members who owners should contact regarding regulatory assistance.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau's Business Dynamics Statistics, 82 percent of firms operating in Houston have fewer than 20 employees. Together, these businesses employ just under 400,000 workers, or about 14 percent of the regional workforce.

Houston also adds more than 9,200 new startups annually.

H.R. 4877, the One Stop Shop for Small Business Compliance Act, will make it easier for thousands of Houstonian entrepreneurs and people across the country to comply with the small business compliance guides.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4877, the One Stop Shop for Small Business Compliance Act of 2021.

Federal agencies are required to publish small business compliance guides for certain regulations. Presently, these guides are housed in different agency websites making it difficult for small businesses to find and utilize.

This bipartisan legislation will create a one-stop-shop that will make it easier for small businesses to comply with Federal regulations. This bill will also require the centralized website to list contact information for the appropriate agency staff who could provide regulatory assistance to small businesses.

Mr. Speaker, I commend the gentleman from New York (Mr. Delgado) and the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Van Duyne) for working in tandem to bring this issue to the forefront.

H.R. 4877 passed out of committee by a voice vote and similar language passed the House floor in the 116th Congress. I encourage all Members to support this legislation.

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

Mr. Speaker, in closing, having the rules of the road clearly and succinctly in one location for all small business owners is instrumental. The One Stop Shop for Small Business Compliance Act of 2021 will ensure this occurs at the SBA.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Chair for advancing this legislation that better informs the Nation's small businesses, and I urge my colleagues to support it.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 4877 and that the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

I further ask that the bill be considered read a third time.

I know of no further debate on the bill.

I ask that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.