Small Business Roundtable Meeting update

[Natalie Roy <NatalieRoy@compuserve.com>]

Yesterday the Senate Small Business Committee held a roundtable discussion
meeting on Capitol Hill to discuss Senate Bill 2483, the" National Small
Business Regulatory Assistance Act of 2002."  The main sponsor of the bill
is Senator Max Cleland (GA).  Other senators who have signed onto the bill
include Kerry, Landrieu, Jeffords, Harkin and Bingaman.  Senator Kerry is
the Chair of the Small Business Committee and Senator Bond (MO) is the
ranking member.  Following this brief update is a copy of the remarks
submitted for the record by Ken Zarker, Chair of NPPR, from the Small
Business and Environmental Assistance Division at the Texas Natural
Resource Conservation Commission. 

NPPR asked for specific language to clarify the partnership provisions of
the bill and in effect make the language stronger so that coordination will
take place more smoothly amongst all environmental assistance providers to
small businesses.  NPPR believes this will ultimately build regulatory
assistance capacity, leverage federal funding, share information and
resources as well as create new partnerships,  

In addition to Ken Zarker and Senators Cleland. Bond and Kerry, other 
participants in the formal discussion included Don Wilson, President and
CEO of the Association for Small Business Development Centers, Jay
Benforado, Deputy Associate Administrator for Policy, Economics and
Innovation, U.S. EPA, Sam Males, State Director, Nevada Small Business
Development Center, Reno, Nevada, Mark Shanahan, Executive Director, Clean
Air Resource Center, Columbus, Ohio and Dr. Lloyd Blanchard, Cheif
Operating Officer, U.S. Small Business Adminstration (SBA). 

SBA was the only entity at the table to vocally express staunch opposition
to the legislation.  The gist of their argument was that the "bill was
redundant of existing programs and authority."  

Members interested in copies of the draft legislation NPPR submitted
recommending slight changes to improve the partnership elements of the
bill, or copies of  testimony from other participants,  please e-mail me at
natalieroy@compuserve.com. I will be happy to send whatever information I
have.
Natalie Roy
NPPR

COPY
Testimony of Ken Zarker, Chair, National Pollution Prevention Roundtable 
Manager, Pollution Prevention and Industry Assistance Section
Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission
In front of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
Roundtable Discussion meeting on Senate Bill 2483
August 1, 2002


On behalf of the Board of Directors of the National Pollution Prevention
Roundtable (NPPR), I want to thank the Committee Chairman, Senator Kerry,
Senator Bond and Senator Cleland, as well as all of the Committee members
for the opportunity to participate in this roundtable on S. 2483, the
National Small Business Regulatory Assistance Act of 2002. 

The NPPR supports the goal of S. 2483 to establish a pilot program to
provide regulatory compliance assistance to small businesses. NPPR has over
fifteen years of experience with assistance programs and has an extensive
network of members across the U.S., including representatives from
business, government, universities and nongovernmental organizations. 
Members include environmental assistance providers from state and local
Pollution Prevention Programs, Small Business Assistance Programs
established under section 507 of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990,
Small Business Development Centers, Regional Information Networks and NIST
MEP's.

The National Pollution Prevention Roundtable is the largest organization in
the United States devoted solely to promoting pollution prevention-reducing
pollution at the source.  Pollution prevention assistance offered by our
members at the local level helps small businesses comply with regulations,
reduce pollution, and save money.      

We believe S. 2483 can be a mechanism to build additional capacity at the
local level through a coordinated approach that builds partnerships among
all the service providers. 

NPPR recommends specific language be added to the bill requiring the
agreements established by the Administrator under Section 3(c)(1), include
a provision for the Small Business Development Centers to establish formal
memorandum of agreements or partnerships with existing environmental
assistance programs. We believe this will ultimately benefit our customers
- small businesses. Having a requirement in the Administrator Agreements
will help build regulatory assistance capacity, leverage federal funding,
share information and resources, and create new partnerships.   

We further recommend adding a reference to the pollution prevention
programs established under section 13104 of the Pollution Prevention Act of
1990 (42 U.S.C. 13101 and 13102).
 
Our members provide a wide range of multi-media environmental services
including pollution prevention technical assistance, compliance assistance,
and information networks. They organize training seminars, produce manuals
and guidance documents, produce on-line trainings, assist businesses with
developing Environmental Management Systems (EMS's), operate electronic
clearinghouses and resources centers, manage reference libraries, organize
conferences and workshops.  Our community has also been involved with
extensive technology transfer initiatives, ensuring that information is
disseminated to other assistance providers.  

NPPR stands ready to assist you in this effort. We believe our assistance
programs have provided a good investment of state and federal resources,
which have achieved significant results for our customers, partners and the
environment at a lower cost than traditional disposal and cleanup
approaches.  

Our members and partners on the front line, work with small businesses to
comply with environmental regulations and to prevent pollution. We look
forward to continued involvement in this important legislation. Please call
upon Ms. Natalie Roy, Executive Director at 202-299-9701 to coordinate on
any future developments. 

Thank you for this tremendous opportunity to appear before your committee
today. 





. 

. 





* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
nppr is hosted by the Great Lakes Information Network:
http://www.great-lakes.net
To unsubscribe from this list: send mail to majordomo@great-lakes.net
with the command 'unsubscribe nppr' in the body of your message. No
quotes or subject line are required.
About : http://www.great-lakes.net/lists/nppr/nppr.info
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *