The Guidelines Subcommittee is one of six subcommittees created by the
National Steering Committee resulting from discussions on the future of the 507
programs at the 2002 SBO/SBAP National Conference held in Chicago, Illinois.
Overall Mission
Current
Status
Future
Plans
Subcommittee Members
Resources
Guidelines Survey Results
(2003)
Guidelines for the
Implementation of Section 507 of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments
Next conference call:
To be determined.
Overall Mission
The mission of the subcommittee is to explore the usability and
relevance of EPA’s guidelines for implementation of Section 507 of the 1990
Clean Air Act Amendments throughout the SBEAP/SBO network. Once the
relevance and usability are determined, the subcommittee will strive to create a
dialogue with EPA to discuss modifications.
Current Status
During the 2002 National Conference
Working Session, the following questions were posed to three groups of
attendees:
- Are the 507 programs working as intended in the Clean Air Act?
- Are the eight EPA guidelines for the 507 programs realistic and still
applicable or are they outdated? (Are they
being followed and, if so, how?, Are additional guidelines needed and, if so,
what would they be?)
- Do the 507 programs need a formal review to
become more standardized? (If so, what would the standards be?,
Examples: having a minimum commitment of resources the states must give to the
program; a requirement for becoming a multimedia program, etc.)
In response to the working
session results during the 2002 conference in Chicago, the Guidelines
Subcommittee was created. The subcommittee began by developing a set of
questions based on the Clean Air Act requirements and EPA’s Guidelines to
determine the usability and relevance of the guidelines. Guidelines
Subcommittee members collaborated with EPA and Concurrent Technologies
Corporation (CTC) to post the survey to the Small Business Environmental
Home Page. After extended negotiations with EPA, the survey was posted
online and was available to be completed shortly after
the 2003 Baltimore Conference.
During the working session of the 2003 conference in Baltimore, participants
reviewed the guidelines and discussed the relevancy of various provisions to
their program’s functions, activities, and organizational structure. This
created a focus group exercise that helped validate the survey. Efforts
focused on determining the validity of the survey. The surveys have
now been completed and the subcommittee is in the process of analyzing the
data.
Future Plans
The Guidelines Subcommittee is currently analyzing the survey data.
Due to the amount and complexity of the data, this is expected to take many
months. The
Subcommittee gladly welcomes anyone who would like to participate in this
review. Once the analysis is complete, the subcommittee will begin
discussing survey findings with EPA and the National Steering Committee to
determine next steps.
Subcommittee Members
The following are current members of the Guidelines Subcommittee.
For more information or to get involved, please contact Richard Rasmussen.
Resources
Below are minutes from conference calls, working session notes, and subcommittee report.
6/04 Guidelines
Subcommittee Report (Sacramento, CA)
4/03 Guidelines Subcommittee
Report (Baltimore, MD)
1/15/03 Conference Call
Minutes
11/21/02 Conference Call
Minutes
10/23/02 Conference Call
Minutes
7/02 Working Session Notes
(Chicago, IL)
