CAPITOL HILL

Congress Approves Continuing Resolution through November 20

Congress last month passed a continuing resolution to keep the Federal government fully funded through November 20. The move virtually guarantees that lawmakers will return after the election for a lame-duck session to resolve their remaining differences over the fiscal 2005 appropriations bills. Congress has completed work on only one of the 13 spending bills – the Defense measure – and the CR was needed to fund the rest of the government beginning October 1, the first day of the new fiscal year.

During debate on the CR on September 29, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bill Young (R-FL) noted that the House has passed 12 funding bills; the Senate has passed only six. He blamed the appropriations delays on disagreements between the two chambers.

"Unfortunately, only one of those bills has actually become law, because the House and Senate must agree on legislation before it can be sent to ... the president for his signature," Young said. But House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) criticized the inability of Republicans to complete work on all 12 spending bills, saying, "Our Republican friends are waving a white flag, announcing what has become so obvious to so many – that they have surrendered to their own intransigence, that they cannot get their work done."

The House approved the CR by a 389-32 vote on September 29; the Senate approved it by unanimous consent.


Eight-Month Highway Bill Extension Approved

Congress last month officially delayed further debate on a six-year highway and mass-transit reauthorization bill until after the election. The House on September 30 approved an eight-month extension of current authority for transportation projects, lasting through May 31, and Senate action was expected by day's end.

With their action, lawmakers conceded that they were unable to reconcile calls from some senators for a highway bill costing up to $318 billion with White House demands to keep the price tag closer to $256 billion. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman James Inhofe (R-OK) tried to strike a $299 billion compromise, but he had to give up after Democrats and several GOP senators refused to support that funding level. The 1998 highway bill expired in September 2003. This week marks the sixth time that Congress has been forced to temporarily extend that law to avoid a shutdown of Federally funded transportation work around the country.

ENVIRONMENT

Idaho Man Sentenced in Paint Waste Case

The U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho last month ordered a former director and corporate secretary of Boise-based Ponderosa Paint Company to pay a $50,000 fine; an additional $40,000 in restitution for clean-up costs incurred by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; spend 30 days in home confinement; and serve six months supervised release.

Dennis D. Ellis pleaded guilty to a charge of being an accessory after-the-fact to transportation of hazardous waste without a manifest, in violation of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.

In January 2000, Ellis negotiated the sale of Ponderosa Paint to Kelly Moore Paints for $14 million. A condition of the sale was that Ellis dispose of approximately 20,000 gallons of waste oil-based paint that had accumulated at the Ponderosa facility between 1995 and 2000. Instead of paying a licensed hazardous waste disposal company to dispose of the waste paint properly, Ellis offered individuals $1 per gallon to get rid of it. Some of the paint waste was found to have been illegally transported to private property in Wilder, Idaho, and burned in a pit.


ECONOMY

G-7 Leaders Urge OPEC To Boost Oil Production

With oil having settled above $50 a barrel for the first time, petroleum executives say the industry won't be able to bring on enough extra supply in time to significantly tame prices in the short term, due to long lead times needed to launch new fields.

In Washington, finance ministers and central bankers of the so-called Group of Seven countries, the developed world's largest economies, expressed concern about oil prices damaging global economic growth prospects. They urged the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the world oil cartel, to produce more oil and consumers to moderate petroleum use.

The G-7 warning came after the U.S. benchmark light, sweet crude for November delivery settled up 48 cents on Friday at $50.12 – the first close above $50 a barrel and the highest settlement price in the 21 years that oil futures have traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange.


REGULATORY

FCC Issues Stay of Fax Ban Regulations

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has issued a new six-month stay of the proposed fax regulations. Businesses now have until July 1, 2005, before the rules are set to go into effect – time that will be used to obtain a legislative solution that restores the "established business relationship" provision so that legitimate, business-to-business and business-to-customer fax communications can continue unimpeded.

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee recently filed its report on S. 2603, which it passed July 22, meaning that the bill is now ready to move to the Senate floor for a full vote. The full House passed the companion bill, H.R. 4600, on July 20.


LEGAL

Supreme Court Declines to Hear Do-Not-Call Case

As a new term got under way, the Supreme Court turned away a challenge to the Federal do-not-call registry, ending telemarketers' bid to invoke free-speech arguments to get the popular ban on unwanted phone solicitations thrown out.

Without comment, the high court let stand a 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that upheld the registry of more than 57 million phone numbers as a reasonable government attempt to safeguard personal privacy and reduce telemarketing abuse. Under the 2003 federal law, businesses face fines of up to $11,000 if they call people who sign up for the registry – unless they have recently done business with them. Charities, pollsters and callers on behalf of politicians, however, are exempt.

Telemarketing groups had filed the appeal, arguing in filings that the registry violated First Amendment rights because it singled businesses out while exempting other groups. They also said two million of their 6.5 million workers will lose their jobs within two years if the do-not-call rules stand.


SMALL BUSINESS

Senate Proposal to Require Agencies to Publish Compliance Guides

Legislation proposed by Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee Chairman Olympia Snowe (R-ME) would require Federal agencies to provide small business with better guidance on complying with government regulations.

The Small Business Compliance Assistance Enhancement Act of 2004 would require agencies to publish compliance guides on their Web sites as soon as possible after the publication of new regulations affecting small businesses. Senator Snowe says her bill would close loopholes in a 1996 law that requires agencies to publish the how-to guides.

“Unfortunately, Federal agencies have done a poor job of meeting this basic requirement over the years,” says Snowe. “The end result is small businesses have been forced to figure out how to comply with these regulations on their own, wasting time and creating confusion.”

Complying with Federal regulations costs small businesses nearly $7,000 per employee, compared with $4,500 for larger businesses, according to the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy, which represents the interests of small businesses in the Federal rulemaking process.

Snowe’s bill “goes a long way to ensure that Federal agencies issue compliance guides that are helpful for the small business community,” says Tom Sullivan, SBA’s chief counsel for advocacy. “The bill also recognizes that small businesses often need compliance help before new rules go into effect.”


IRS Simplifies Small Business Income Tax Filing

The Internal Revenue Service will allow more than 500,000 very small business owners to file a simplified expense form with their income taxes. Small businesses with expenses of less than $5,000 will be able to use Schedule C-EZ for reporting their profits and expenses. The previous threshold for this simplified version of Schedule C was $2,500.

The IRS predicts the change will reduce the paperwork burden borne by small businesses by five million hours. “That’s five million hours they can now spend on building their businesses and creating jobs,” says House Small Business Committee Chairman Don Manzullo (R-IL).


Credit Union Participation in SBA Loan Programs to Expand

The Small Business Administration is expecting credit unions to make a lot more SBA loans next year. Recent rule changes opened SBA’s most popular loan program to all credit unions. Credit unions will make more than 700 government-guaranteed loans this year through SBA’s 7(a) program.

SBA hopes the loan number next year will reach 1,200 to 1,300. The agency believes credit unions can help aspiring small business owners who otherwise would not be able to secure a loan.

Approximately 1,500 of the nation’s 9,500 credit unions make loans to businesses, says SBA Deputy Administrator Melanie Sabelhaus. She says only 171 are currently approved for the 7(a) program.

“We haven’t come close to tapping our potential,” Sabelhaus told members of the National Association of Federal Credit Unions. “We look at you as low hanging fruit.” Objections to credit union participation in the SBA’s loan programs have been heard from banks, which don’t believe credit unions should be eligible because they don’t pay taxes.