(a) The director of the department of business regulation shall designate an existing staff member as a “small business regulatory enforcement ombudsperson,” who shall report to the director of business regulation. (b) The ombudsperson shall: (1) Work with each agency with regulatory authority over small businesses to ensure that small business concerns that receive or are subject to an audit, on-site inspection, compliance assistance effort, or other enforcement-related communication or contact by agency personnel are provided with a means to comment on the enforcement activity conducted by such personnel; (2) Establish means to receive comments from small business concerns regarding actions by agency employees conducting compliance or enforcement activities; (3) Within six (6) months of appointment, work with each regulating entity to develop and publish reporting policies; (4) Based on substantiated comments received from small business concerns, the ombudsperson shall annually report to the general assembly and affected agencies evaluating the enforcement activities of agency personnel, including a rating of the responsiveness of the regulatory agencies policies; (5) Coordinate and report annually on the activities, findings, and recommendations to the general assembly and the directors of affected agencies; and (6) Provide the affected agency with an opportunity to comment on reports prepared pursuant to this chapter, and include a section of the final report in which the affected agency may make such comments as are not addressed by the ombudsperson.
‹ Prev All Rhode Island sections Next ›
Lexace provides legal information, not legal advice, and no attorney–client relationship is created. Statute text is provided for general information and may not reflect the most recent amendments; verify against the official state code.