[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4549 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 4549
To amend the Small Business Act to clarify the responsibilities of the
Office of Rural Affairs of the Small Business Administration, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 21, 2025
Ms. Goodlander (for herself, Mr. Wied, and Mr. Golden of Maine)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Small Business
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Small Business Act to clarify the responsibilities of the
Office of Rural Affairs of the Small Business Administration, 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 ``Office of Rural Affairs Enhancement
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 amending subsection (b) to read as follows:
``(b) 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.'';
(2) in subsection (c)--
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ``small business
concerns located in rural areas'' and inserting ``rural
small business concerns'';
(B) in paragraph (3)--
(i) by striking ``provide information'' and
inserting ``promote''; and
(ii) by striking ``concerning the'' and all
that follows through the semicolon at the end
and inserting the following: ``on the policies
and programs of the Administration and of other
Federal departments and agencies for assisting
rural small business concerns;'';
(C) in paragraph (4), by striking ``; and'' and
inserting a semicolon;
(D) 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
(E) by adding at the end the following new
paragraph:
``(6) host webinars and outreach events for rural small
business concerns as described in subsection (d).''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following new subsections:
``(d) 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 such webinars
and outreach events.
``(e) Report.--
``(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date
of the enactment of this subsection, and annually thereafter,
the Administrator shall submit to the Committee on Small
Business of the House of Representatives and the Committee on
Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate, and make
publicly available on a website of the Administration, a report
on the activities of the Office during the one-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 (c).
``(C) The number of webinars and outreach events
conducted by the Administration to promote policies and
programs described in paragraph (3) of subsection (c)
and to provide information described in paragraph (4)
of such subsection.
``(D) An analysis of the 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) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) Assistant administrator.--The term `Assistant
Administrator' means the Assistant Administrator of the Office
of Rural Affairs appointed under subsection (b).
``(2) Resource partners.--The term `resource partners'
means--
``(A) small business development centers;
``(B) women's business centers (described under
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
under section 32).
``(3) Rural small business concern.--The term `rural small
business concern' means a small business concern located in a
rural area (as defined in section 7(b)(16) of this Act).''.
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