Bill > S2216

This bill, titled the Protect Small Business Jobs Act of 2014, aims to provide small businesses with a grace period before facing penalties for regulatory violations. Specifically, it mandates that before an agency can impose a sanction (a penalty) on a business for breaking a rule or as a result of an official decision (adjudication), the agency must first notify the business within 10 business days of determining a sanction might be necessary. This notice would inform a small business that they could face a penalty after a grace period. The agency would then delay further action for 15 calendar days. For small businesses, this grace period would extend to six months, with a possible three-month extension if the business can demonstrate good-faith efforts to fix the violation. After this period, the agency would re-evaluate if the small business still warrants a sanction, and if not, the sanction would be waived. This grace period generally applies only once per rule and does not apply to violations that pose an imminent danger to anyone. The bill also defines what constitutes a "small business" for these purposes, including criteria related to gross receipts, employee numbers, and whether they are considered a small business concern under the Small Business Act, and requires agencies to report on their implementation of these provisions.