[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2538 Referred in Senate (RFS)]
1st Session
H. R. 2538
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
December 6, 2001
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business
and Entrepreneurship
_______________________________________________________________________
AN ACT
To amend the Small Business Act to expand and improve the assistance
provided by Small Business Development Centers to Indian tribe members,
Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians.
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 ``Native American Small Business
Development Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
(1) Approximately 60 percent of Indian tribe members and
Alaska Natives live on or adjacent to Indian lands, which
suffer from an average unemployment rate of 45 percent.
(2) Indian tribe members and Alaska Natives own more than
197,000 businesses and generate more than $34,000,000,000 in
revenues. The service industry accounted for 17 percent of
these businesses (of which 40 percent were engaged in business
and personal services) and 15.1 percent of their total
receipts. The next largest was the construction industry (13.9
percent and 15.7 percent, respectively). The third largest was
the retail trade industry (7.5 percent and 13.4 percent,
respectively).
(3) The number of businesses owned by Indian tribe members
and Alaska Natives grew by 84 percent from 1992 to 1997, and
their gross receipts grew by 179 percent in that period. This
is compared to all businesses which grew by 7 percent, and
their total gross receipts grew by 40 percent, in that period.
(4) The Small Business Development Center program is cost
effective. Clients receiving long-term counseling under the
program in 1998 generated additional tax revenues of
$468,000,000, roughly 6 times the cost of the program to the
Federal Government.
(5) Using the existing infrastructure of the Small Business
Development Center program, small businesses owned by Indian
tribe members, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians receiving
services under the program will have a higher survival rate
than the average small business not receiving such services.
(6) Business counseling and technical assistance is
critical on Indian lands where similar services are scarce and
expensive.
(7) Increased assistance through counseling under the Small
Business Development Center program has been shown to reduce
the default rate associated with lending programs of the Small
Business Administration.
(b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are as follows:
(1) To stimulate economies on Indian lands.
(2) To foster economic development on Indian lands.
(3) To assist in the creation of new small businesses owned
by Indian tribe members, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians
and expand existing ones.
(4) To provide management, technical, and research
assistance to small businesses owned by Indian tribe members,
Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians.
(5) To seek the advice of the governing bodies of Indian
tribes, corporations organized pursuant to the Alaska Native
Claims Settlement Act and other Alaska Native entities, and
Native Hawaiian organizations on where small business
development assistance is most needed.
(6) To ensure that Indian tribe members, Alaska Natives,
and Native Hawaiians have full access to existing business
counseling and technical assistance available through the Small
Business Development Center program.
SEC. 3. SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER ASSISTANCE TO INDIAN TRIBE
MEMBERS, ALASKA NATIVES, AND NATIVE HAWAIIANS.
(a) In General.--Section 21(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C.
648(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(7) Additional grant to assist indian tribe members,
alaska natives, and native hawaiians.--
``(A) In general.--Any applicant in an eligible
State that is funded by the Administration as a Small
Business Development Center may apply for an additional
grant to be used solely to provide services described
in subsection (c)(3) to assist with outreach,
development, and enhancement of small business startups
and expansions that are owned by Indian tribe members,
Alaska Natives, or Native Hawaiians and that are
located in Alaska or Hawaii, or on Indian lands in the
48 contiguous States.
``(B) Eligible states.--For purposes of
subparagraph (A), an eligible State is a State that has
a combined population of Indian tribe members, Alaska
Natives, and Native Hawaiians that comprises at least 1
percent of the State's total population, as shown by
the latest available census.
``(C) Grant applications.--An applicant for a grant
under subparagraph (A) shall submit to the Associate
Administrator an application that is in such form as
the Associate Administrator may require. The
application shall include information regarding the
applicant's goals and objectives for the services to be
provided using the grant, including--
``(i) the capability of the applicant to
provide training and services to a
representative number of Indian tribe members,
Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians;
``(ii) the location of the Small Business
Development Center site proposed by the
applicant;
``(iii) the required amount of grant
funding needed by the applicant to implement
the program; and
``(iv) the extent to which the applicant
has consulted with the governing bodies of
Indian tribes, corporations organized pursuant
to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and
other Alaska Native entities, and Native
Hawaiian organizations, as appropriate.
``(D) Applicability of grant requirements.--An
applicant for a grant under subparagraph (A) shall
comply with all of the requirements of this section,
except that the matching funds requirements of
paragraph (4)(A) shall not apply.
``(E) Maximum amount of grants.--No applicant may
receive more than $300,000 in grants under this
paragraph in a fiscal year.
``(F) Regulations.--After providing notice and an
opportunity for comment and after consulting with the
Association recognized by the Administration pursuant
to paragraph (3)(A) (but not later than 180 days after
the date of enactment of this paragraph), the
Administrator shall issue final regulations to carry
out this paragraph, including regulations that
establish--
``(i) standards relating to educational,
technical, and support services to be provided
by Small Business Development Centers receiving
assistance under this paragraph; and
``(ii) standards relating to any work plan
that the Associate Administrator may require a
Small Business Development Center receiving
assistance under this paragraph to develop.
``(G) Definitions.--In this paragraph, the
following definitions apply:
``(i) Associate administrator.--The term
`Associate Administrator' means the Associate
Administrator for Small Business Development
Centers.
``(ii) Indian lands.--The term `Indian
lands' means, in the 48 contiguous States, land
that is a `reservation' for the purposes of
section 4 of the Indian Child Welfare Act of
1978 (25 U.S.C. 1903) and land that is an
`Indian reservation' for the purposes of
section 151.2 of title 25, Code of Federal
Regulations (as in effect on the date of
enactment of this paragraph).
``(iii) Indian tribe.--The term `Indian
tribe' means a federally recognized Indian
tribe.
``(iv) Indian tribe member.--The term
`Indian tribe member' means an individual who
is a member of an Indian tribe.
``(v) Alaska Native.--The term `Alaska
Native' means an individual who is--
``(I) a `Native' for the purposes
of section 3(b) of the Alaska Native
Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C.
1602(b));
``(II) a descendent of an
individual who is a `Native' for the
purposes of section 3(b) of the Alaska
Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C.
1602(b)); or
``(III) a Tsimshian Indian who is
an enrolled member of the Metlakatla
Indian Community.
``(vi) Native hawaiian.--The term `Native
Hawaiian' means any individual who is a
descendant of the aboriginal people, who prior
to 1778, occupied and exercised sovereignty in
the area that now constitutes the State of
Hawaii.
``(H) Authorization of appropriations.--There is
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this
paragraph $7,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2002
through 2004.
``(I) Funding limitations.--
``(i) Nonapplicability of certain
limitations.--Funding under this paragraph
shall be in addition to the dollar program
limitations specified in paragraph (4).
``(ii) Limitation on use of funds.--The
Administration may carry out this paragraph
only with amounts appropriated in advance
specifically to carry out this paragraph.''.
SEC. 4. STATE CONSULTATION WITH LOCAL TRIBAL COUNCILS.
Section 21(c) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 648(c)) is
amended by adding at the end the following:
``(9) Advice of governing bodies of indian tribes, alaska
native corporations and other entities, and native hawaiian
organizations.--A State receiving grants under this section
shall request the advice of the governing bodies of Indian
tribes, corporations organized pursuant to the Alaska Native
Claims Settlement Act and other Alaska Native entities, and
Native Hawaiian organizations, as appropriate, on how best to
provide assistance to Indian tribe members, Alaska Natives, and
Native Hawaiians and where to locate satellite centers to
provide such assistance.''.
Passed the House of Representatives December 5, 2001.
Attest:
JEFF TRANDAHL,
Clerk.