By SEMA Washington, D.C., Staff
The U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee passed a bill to prohibit federal government agencies from fining small businesses for first-time paperwork violations. The Harmless Error Lesser Penalty for Small Businesses Act (HELP for Small Businesses Act), S. 2757, would apply to violations such as information collection requests. However, it would still allow government agencies to issue fines for certain violations including interfering with the detection of criminal activity, IRS debt or tax collection and endangerment of public health and safety (unless the endangerment is corrected within 24 hours of notification). The bipartisan bill has been sent to the U.S. Senate floor for consideration.
For more information, contact Eric Snyder at erics@sema.org.