[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 794 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 794

 To amend the Small Business Act to authorize small business concerns 
owned and controlled by individuals with disabilities to participate in 
 business development programs established by that Act, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 3, 1993

 Mr. Ramstad introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Small Business

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Small Business Act to authorize small business concerns 
owned and controlled by individuals with disabilities to participate in 
 business development programs established by that Act, 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 ``Americans with Disabilities Business 
Development Act of 1993''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--Section 2 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 631) 
is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(i) The Congress finds that--
            ``(1) approximately 43,000,000 Americans have 1 or more 
        physical or mental disabilities, and this number is increasing 
        as the population as a whole is growing older;
            ``(2) census data, national polls, and other studies have 
        documented that individuals with disabilities, as a group, 
        occupy an inferior status in our society, and are severely 
        disadvantaged socially, vocationally, economically, and 
        educationally;
            ``(3) individuals with disabilities have faced many of the 
        same discriminatory obstacles in developing small businesses as 
        have groups previously recognized as `socially and economically 
        disadvantaged' under the Small Business Act;
            ``(4) the Nation's proper goals regarding individuals with 
        disabilities are to assure equality of opportunity, full 
        participation, independent living, and economic self-
        sufficiency for such individuals; and
            ``(5) these goals can be advanced by providing the maximum 
        practicable opportunities for the growth and development of 
        small business concerns owned and controlled by individuals 
        with disabilities.''.
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are--
            (1) to assist the legitimate business interests of small 
        business concerns owned and controlled by individuals with 
        disabilities;
            (2) to permit small business concerns owned and controlled 
        by individuals with disabilities to participate in business 
        development programs established by the Small Business Act; and
            (3) to eliminate, insofar as possible, discrimination 
        against individuals with disabilities in obtaining capital and 
        other production assistance.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    Section 3(f) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632(f)) is 
amended to read as follows:
    ``(f) Disability.--For the purposes of this Act, the term 
`disability' means a physical or mental impairment that substantially 
limits 1 or more of the major life activities of an individual, and the 
terms `with disabilities' and `with a disability' mean having 1 or more 
disabilities.''.

SEC. 4. AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES.

    (a) Policy Statement.--Section 2(f)(1)(C) of the Small Business Act 
(15 U.S.C. 631(f)(1)(C)) is amended by inserting ``Americans with 
disabilities,'' after ``Asian Pacific Americans,''.
    (b) Small Business and Capital Ownership Development Program.--
Section 8(a)(5) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(a)(5)) is 
amended by adding at the end the following new sentence: ``For the 
purposes of this subsection, individuals with disabilities shall be 
considered to be socially disadvantaged individuals.''.
    (c) Contract Clause.--The contract clause contained in section 
8(d)(3) of the Small Business Act is amended in the last sentence of 
subparagraph (C) of such clause by inserting ``Americans with 
disabilities,'' after ``Asian Pacific Americans,''.

SEC. 5. TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS TO SMALL BUSINESS ACT.

    The Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 631 et seq.) is amended--
            (1) in section 3(e)--
                    (A) by striking ``the handicapped'' and inserting 
                ``individuals with disabilities''; and
                    (B) by striking ``handicapped individuals'' each 
                place such term appears and inserting ``individuals 
                with disabilities'';
            (2) in section 7(a)(10)--
                    (A) by striking ``the handicapped'' and inserting 
                ``individuals with disabilities''; and
                    (B) by striking ``handicapped individual'' and 
                inserting ``individual with disabilities''; and
            (3) in subsection 7(h)--
                    (A) by striking ``handicapped individuals'' and 
                inserting ``individuals with disabilities'';
                    (B) by striking ``handicapped individual'' and 
                inserting ``individual with disabilities''; and
                    (C) by striking paragraph (3).

SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall take effect on 
the date of the enactment of this Act.

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