payback program where, as long as they return the monies to the pension plan along with the lost earnings for participants, we won't impose any civil penalties. We worked cooperatively with the Department of Justice in developing this program and they agreed that there would not be criminal sanctions. So, again, this is intended for people, particularly small businesses, who may have run afoul of the law to encourage them to come back in and restore the assets to the plan. We want to work with them to get them back in compliance. So those are examples of the kinds of things that we're trying to do. Mrs. LOWEY. I think very-Yes? BURDEN OF ENFORCEMENT LAWS ON SMALL BUSINESSES Mr. ANDERSON. Mrs. Lowey, I would like to mention some of the things the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs has done to ease the burden of enforcement for small businesses. One is that the organization established an ombudsman in 1995, which is a person who can be called to respond to questions from small businesses, other businesses as well but mainly small businesses, if there are difficulties in the enforcement process involving compliance reviews. Secondly, the so-called CC-257 recordkeeping requirement for construction contracts was eliminated. We introduced a pilot project in Seattle for a multi-tiered compliance review. That's the type of review where if initial evidence shows that there might not be a need to have a wall-to-wall review of the entire organization, then only a part of that organization would be selected for a compliance review. The recordkeeping requirements for small businesses have been reduced for businesses with fewer than 150 employees. And finally, a technical assistance manual is now being developed to enable small businesses in particular to understand more fully the regulatory requirements for complying with Executive Order 11246. So we have had a series of efforts underway to ease the burden of compliance for small businesses. Ms. METZLER. Mrs. Lowey, we may have one more example from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. These are not all of our examples, of course. Mr. SLATE. Let me give a couple of examples and then make somewhat of a broader point. The Retirement Protection Act, which Congress passed in 1994, requires that notices of underfunding be sent whenever a pension plan is underfunded. About 4 million notices went out last year. We developed a model notice and every indication we have is that the model was used by virtually all of the people that sent out the notices. I think that really helped people. We have also shortened up our small business reporting forms substantially. A slightly broader point, and I realize this is not the forum to soapbox on it, but the administration has introduced the Retirement Savings and Security Act. It is a pension proposal and it targeted right at small businesses. Pension coverage for small businesses is really depressed relative to larger businesses. Only one in four people in small business have pensions. Every indication is that one of the major reasons is the adminstrative cost of pension plans. What this bill would do is set up a very, very simple process for small businesses to adopt pension plans and hopefully be competitive with larger businesses. Mrs. LOWEY. Thank you. I want to thank you for these examples. I would be appreciative if you can compile them and present a report, if you don't have it already, for the committee. These are good examples of this administration's common sense approach to Government. I think too often these things are done and the information doesn't get out. I think we have to articulate more clearly steps in this direction because there is a tremendous effort in this administration to use common sense in your department and in others. I appreciate that. [The information follows:] REINVENTION -- DEPARTMENT OF LABOR GETTING BACK TO BASICS An excellent example of this effort is the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Maine 200 Program. Under this program, the 200 most dangerous workplaces in Maine were identified based on worker compensation claims and each employer was asked to cooperate with OSHA to improve their workplace safety and health programs. This program has enabled OSHA to target a large number of worksites with a history of workplace injuries and to work with most of the affected employers to control workplace hazards without conducting inspections. This initiative successfully leveraged OSHA's resources to identify and abate thousands of hazards that would otherwise have contributed to worker injuries and compensation claims. To assist the mining community, in particular, small mine operators, not only achieve, but just as importantly, maintain compliance, MSHA has taken a number of steps. Because the mining environment is not static, but continually changing, mine operators need to be continually alert to hazardous conditions. For example, as mining equipment is used or moved, it can go from a state of compliance to noncompliance in a short period of time. Steps taken by MSHA include making compliance assistance visits available to more small mine operators; targeting specific compliance safety and health problems; taking training materials and programs directly to small mines with a mobile classroom vehicle; conducting evening seminars to provide information on the risks of exposure to silica, prevention measures, and compliance with MSHA's rule; and developing partnerships with mine operators who have experienced safety and health issues. These programs allow MSHA to work with miners and operators to identify and address their individual safety and health issues. IMPROVING CUSTOMER SERVICE A noteworthy example is America's Job Bank. To meet the need for a nationwide listing of jobs, the United States Employment Service worked with State Employment Security Agencies to develop a nationwide job bank of local job listings which are not filled immediately in the local labor market. The listings in America's Job Bank contain over 1,100 occupations and are available to job seekers throughout the United States. EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT OSHA redesigned its area offices through the use of a joint union-management Design Team. This has resulted in streamlining and an increase of 30-50 percent more stafftime available to develop practical solutions to underlying safety and health problems. CUTTING RED TAPE ESA's Office of Workers' Compensation Programs' Rapid Injury Response Initiative in the Oklahoma City Disaster successfully and timely responded to claims from injured workers and made payments to survivors within nine days of the event; a process that sometimes takes as long as three months. OWCP had already initiated a number of steps to improve claims processing, the Oklahoma City disaster served as a catalyst for bringing all elements together into a customer-centered program. |