[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2390 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2390

 Entitled the ``Mentorship for American Indian Small Enterprise Act''.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

              August 15 (legislative day, August 11), 1994

 Mr. Pressler introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
              referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 Entitled the ``Mentorship for American Indian Small Enterprise Act''.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. MICROLOAN DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM AMENDMENTS.

    (a) Purposes.--Section 7(m)(1)(A)(iii) of the Small Business Act 
(15 U.S.C. 636(m)(1)(A)(iii)) is amended--
            (1) in subclause (I), by inserting ``commercial real 
        estate,'' after ``acquisition of''; and
            (2) in subclause (III), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (3) by redesignating subclause (IV) as subclause (VI); and
            (4) by inserting after subclause (III) the following new 
        subclauses:
                            ``(IV) to make grants to eligible 
                        intermediaries that, together with non-Federal 
                        matching funds, will enable such intermediaries 
                        to provide marketing, management, and technical 
                        assistance to microloan borrowers that are 
                        members of qualified Indian tribes;
                            ``(V) to make grants to institutions of 
                        higher education serving Indian lands that, 
                        together with non-Federal matching funds, will 
                        enable such institutions to provide instruction 
                        on marketing, management, and technical 
                        assistance to eligible intermediaries and to 
                        mentors, in order to enable such intermediaries 
                        and mentors to assist members of qualified 
                        Indian tribes to obtain private sector 
                        financing for their businesses, with or without 
                        loan guarantees; and''.
    (b) Establishment.--Section 7(m)(1)(B) of the Small Business Act 
(15 U.S.C. 636(m)(1)(B)) is amended--
            (1) in clause (ii), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) in clause (iii), by striking the period at the end and 
        inserting a semicolon; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new clauses:
                    ``(iv) in conjunction with loans made under clause 
                (i) and subject to the requirements of paragraph (4), 
                make grants to eligible intermediaries for the purpose 
                of providing marketing, management, and technical 
                assistance to members of qualified Indian tribes that 
                are seeking to start or enlarge their small business 
                concerns and that are borrowers under this subsection; 
                and
                    ``(v) subject to the requirements of paragraph (7), 
                make grants to institutions of higher education serving 
                Indian lands for the purpose of providing instruction 
                on marketing, management, and technical assistance to 
                eligible intermediaries and to mentors, in order to 
                enable such intermediaries and mentors to assist 
                members of qualified Indian tribes to obtain private 
                sector financing for their businesses, with or without 
                loan guarantees.''.
    (c) Intermediary Applications.--Section 7(m)(3)(A)(i) of the Small 
Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(m)(3)(A)(i)) is amended--
            (1) in subclause (VII), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) in subclause (VIII), by striking the period at the end 
        and inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new subclause:
                            ``(IX) with respect to eligible 
                        intermediaries serving Indian lands, any plan 
                        to work with--
                                    ``(aa) an institution of higher 
                                education that has received a grant 
                                under paragraph (1)(B)(v); or
                                    ``(bb) a mentor that has received 
                                training from any such institution of 
                                higher education pursuant to such a 
                                grant.''.
    (d) Additional Technical Assistance Grants for Making Certain 
Loans.--Section 7(m)(4) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(m)(4)) 
is amended in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking 
``subparagraph (B)(ii) of paragraph (1)'' and inserting ``clause (ii) 
or (iv) of paragraph (1)(B)''.
    (e) Loans From Eligible Intermediaries.--Section 7(m)(6)(A) of the 
Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(m)(6)(A)) is amended by inserting 
``commercial real estate,'' after ``acquisition of''.
    (f) Grants to Institutions of Higher Education.--Section 7(m) of 
the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(m)) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraphs (7) through (11) as 
        paragraphs (9) through (13), respectively; and
            (2) by inserting after paragraph (6) the following new 
        subparagraph:
            ``(7) Grants to institutions of higher education.--Grants 
        made in accordance with paragraph (1)(B)(v) shall be subject to 
        the following requirements:
                    ``(A) Grant amounts.--For each eligible 
                intermediary receiving a grant under paragraph 
                (1)(B)(iv), 1 grant shall be made to a qualified 
                institution of higher education serving the same tribal 
                lands as the eligible intermediary. The amount of the 
                grant to the institution of higher education shall not 
                exceed the grant amount received by the eligible 
                intermediary pursuant to paragraph (1)(B)(iv).
                    ``(B) Contribution.--As a condition of any grant 
                made under subparagraph (A), the Administration shall 
                require the institution of higher education to 
                contribute an amount equal to 25 percent of the amount 
                of the grant, obtained solely from non-Federal sources. 
                In addition to cash or other direct funding, the 
                contribution may include indirect costs or in-kind 
                contributions paid for under non-Federal programs.
                    ``(C) Indian mentor education grants.--Institutions 
                of higher education receiving grants under paragraph 
                (1)(B)(v) shall be eligible to receive grants to 
                educate owners, managers, or employees of established 
                small business concerns for purposes of providing 
                additional technical assistance to small business 
                concerns located on or near Indian lands that are 
                borrowers under this subsection, as well as to other 
                small business concerns seeking private sector 
                financing.''.
    (g) Indian Assistance.--Section 7(m) of the Small Business Act (15 
U.S.C. 636(m)) is amended by inserting after paragraph (7), as added by 
subsection (f), the following new paragraph:
            ``(8) Indian assistance.--In funding microloan programs, 
        the Administration shall ensure that not less than 10 percent 
        of the programs funded under this subsection will provide 
        microloans to small business concerns located on or near Indian 
        lands.''.
    (h) Report to Congress.--Section 7(m)(12)(F) of the Small Business 
Act (15 U.S.C. 636(m)(12)(F)), as redesignated by subsection (f), is 
amended by inserting ``and to small business concerns located on or 
near Indian lands'' immediately before the semicolon.
    (i) Definitions.--Section 7(m)(13) of the Small Business Act (15 
U.S.C. 636(m)(13)), as redesignated by subsection (f), is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (C), by striking the period at the end 
        and inserting a semicolon; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new subparagraphs:
                    ``(D) the term `Indian lands' has the same meaning 
                as in section 4(4) of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act;
                    ``(E) the term `Indian tribe' has the same meaning 
                as in section 4(e) of the Indian Self-Determination and 
                Education Assistance Act;
                    ``(F) the term `institution of higher education' 
                has the same meaning as in section 1201(a) of the 
                Higher Education Act of 1965;
                    ``(G) the term `mentor' means a business concern 
                that demonstrates, to the satisfaction of the 
                Administration, the capability to assist members of 
                qualified Indian tribes to obtain private sector 
                financing for their businesses, with or without loan 
                guarantees; and
                    ``(H) the term `qualified Indian tribe' means an 
                Indian tribe with--
                            ``(i) an employable adult population of not 
                        less than 400 persons; and
                            ``(ii) an unemployment rate of not less 
                        than 40 percent;
                based on the statistics of the Bureau of Indian 
                Affairs, Department of the Interior.''.

SEC. 2. IMPLEMENTATION.

    Not later than 270 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 
the Small Business Administration shall promulgate final regulations 
implementing the amendments made by section 1.

SEC. 3. REPORT TO CONGRESS.

    Not later than 180 days after the effective date of the regulations 
promulgated in accordance with section 2, the Small Business 
Administration shall report to the Congress regarding the effectiveness 
of the amendments made by section 1 in improving the small business 
climate and promoting business development on or near Indian lands, as 
such term is defined in section 7(m)(13) of the Small Business Act.
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