[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4764 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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118th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4764
To amend the Small Business Act to enhance the Office of Rural Affairs,
and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 24, 2024
Mrs. Shaheen (for herself and Mr. Kennedy) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Small
Business and Entrepreneurship
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Small Business Act to enhance the Office of Rural Affairs,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Coordinated Support for Rural Small
Businesses Act''.
SEC. 2. OFFICE OF RURAL AFFAIRS OF THE SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION.
Section 26 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 653) is amended--
(1) by redesignating subsections (a), (b), and (c) as
subsections (b), (c), and (d), respectively;
(2) by inserting before subsection (b) the following:
``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) Assistant administrator.--The term `Assistant
Administrator' means the Assistant Administrator of the Office.
``(2) Hubzone.--The term `HUBZone' has the meaning given
the term in section 31(b).
``(3) Office.--The term `Office' means the Office of Rural
Affairs established under subsection (b).
``(4) Resource partners.--The term `resource partners'
means--
``(A) small business development centers;
``(B) women's business centers described in section
29;
``(C) chapters of the Service Corps of Retired
Executives established under section 8(b)(1)(B); and
``(D) Veteran Business Outreach Centers described
in section 32.
``(5) Rural small business concern.--The term `rural small
business concern' means a small business concern located in a
rural area.'';
(3) in subsection (b), as so redesignated--
(A) by inserting ``Establishment.--'' before
``There''; and
(B) by striking ``(hereafter in this section
referred to as the `Office')'';
(4) by amending subsection (c), as so redesignated, to read
as follows:
``(c) Appointment of Assistant Administrator.--
``(1) In general.--The Office shall be administered by an
Assistant Administrator, who shall be an employee in the
competitive service.
``(2) Qualifications.--The Assistant Administrator shall--
``(A) have education or professional experience
with, or knowledge of, rural affairs and issues
relating to small business concerns; and
``(B) have experience providing development
assistance to rural small business concerns.'';
(5) in subsection (d), as so redesignated--
(A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by
inserting ``Duties.--'' before ``The'';
(B) in paragraph (1), by striking ``small business
concerns located in rural areas'' and inserting ``rural
small business concerns'';
(C) by amending paragraph (3) to read as follows:
``(3) promote the policies and programs of the
Administration and of other Federal departments and agencies
for assisting rural small business concerns to industries,
organizations, and State and local governments;'';
(D) in paragraph (4), by striking ``; and'' and
inserting a semicolon;
(E) in paragraph (5)--
(i) by striking ``the United States Tourism
and Travel Administration'' and inserting ``the
National Travel and Tourism Office of the
Department of Commerce'';
(ii) by striking ``small businesses in
rural areas'' and inserting ``rural small
business concerns''; and
(iii) by striking the period at the end and
inserting ``; and''; and
(F) by adding at the end the following:
``(6) host webinars and outreach events for rural small
business concerns as described in subsection (e).''; and
(6) by adding at the end the following:
``(e) Outreach.--The Assistant Administrator shall--
``(1) host webinars and outreach events in various regions
of the United States for rural small business concerns; and
``(2) invite representatives from district offices of the
Administration, resource partners, Federal and State agencies,
and other interested persons to participate in the webinars and
outreach events described in paragraph (1).
``(f) Interagency Cooperation.--The Assistant Administrator shall
coordinate with the Department of Agriculture to--
``(1) conduct outreach regarding programs of the
Administration and the Department of Agriculture and to improve
awareness and utilization of the existing programs and services
of each agency; and
``(2) convene interagency working groups to address issues
including--
``(A) capital access and investment in rural areas
of the United States, which may include--
``(i) identifying synergies between the
business loan programs of the Administration
and the Department of Agriculture, including
where intermediaries, such as those under the
microloan program under section 7(m), as
defined in paragraph (11) of such section, and
the rural microentrepreneur assistance program
established under section 379E of the
Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7
U.S.C. 2008s) and the intermediary relending
program established under section 310H of that
Act (7 U.S.C. 1936b), may be able to
participate in programs at both agencies;
``(ii) assessing opportunities for the
Administration to facilitate the delivery of
programs of the Department of Agriculture to
rural communities through the district offices
of the Administration, relationships with rural
lenders, resource partners of the
Administration, and joint outreach and
marketing efforts, as well as opportunities for
the Department of Agriculture to facilitate the
delivery of programs of the Administration to
rural communities;
``(iii) improving information sharing and
discussion of best practices between the
Administration and the Department of
Agriculture;
``(iv) examining coordination between the
small business investment company program under
part A of title III of the Small Business
Investment Act of 1958 (15 U.S.C. 681 et seq.)
and related programs at the Department of
Agriculture, including the Rural Business
Investment Program of the Department of
Agriculture;
``(v) examining opportunities for
coordination between the Administration, the
Department of Agriculture, and community and
nonprofit partners in the small business
ecosystem, including resource partners,
Regional Food Business Centers, and innovation
clusters; and
``(vi) addressing barriers and examining
opportunities for cooperatives to participate
in programs and access resources of the
Administration that are similar to the
financing programs of the Department of
Agriculture that serve cooperatives; and
``(B) assisting businesses in rural areas of the
United States, which may include--
``(i) identifying overlap among the rural
markets identified by the Department of
Agriculture, HUBZones, rural census tracts
identified by the Administration, and
underserved rural communities;
``(ii) exploring opportunities to support
innovation clusters in rural areas;
``(iii) coordinating effective support
initiatives that benefit Native Americans; and
``(iv) collaborating on technical
assistance, especially with respect to
exportation and procurement.
``(g) Report.--
``(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date
of enactment of this subsection, and annually thereafter, the
Administrator shall submit to the Committee on Small Business
and Entrepreneurship of the Senate and the Committee on Small
Business of the House of Representatives, and make publicly
make available on a website of the Administration, a report on
the activities of the Office during the 1-year period
immediately preceding the date of submission of the report.
``(2) Contents.--Each report required under paragraph (1)
shall include the following:
``(A) The operational details of the Office,
including the name of the Assistant Administrator, the
budget of the Office, and the number of full-time
employees employed by or detailed to the Office.
``(B) A summary of the activities conducted under
subsection (d).
``(C) The number of webinars and outreach events
conducted by the Administration to promote policies and
programs and provide information described in
paragraphs (3) and (4), respectively, of subsection
(c).
``(D) An analysis of gaps in lending programs of
the Administration in serving the needs of rural small
business concerns.
``(E) Information gathered from any webinars and
outreach events conducted by the Administration during
the period covered by the report.
``(F) A summary of activities conducted under
subsection (f), including--
``(i) the status of any memorandum of
understanding between the Administration and
the Department of Agriculture to further the
goals of improving service delivery, advice,
and assistance for rural small business
concerns;
``(ii) a summary of outreach efforts under
subsection (f)(1);
``(iii) a summary of working groups created
under subsection (f)(2), including any
synergies identified in capital access programs
under subparagraph (A) of such subsection; and
``(iv) efforts to coordinate outreach under
subsection (f)(2)(B).''.
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