[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2922 Introduced in House (IH)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2922

 To amend the Small Business Act to provide additional grants to small 
  business development centers located in high unemployment districts.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 25, 2003

 Mr. Acevedo-Vila introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
                    the Committee on Small Business

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Small Business Act to provide additional grants to small 
  business development centers located in high unemployment districts.

    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 ``Small Business Outreach Act of 
2003''.

SEC. 2. ADDITIONAL GRANT TO ASSIST SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTERS 
              IN HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT DISTRICTS.

    (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 small business development 
        centers in high unemployment districts.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Any applicant that is funded by 
                the Administration as a Small Business Development 
                Center and that is located in a high unemployment 
                district may apply for an additional grant to be used 
                solely to promote programs of the Small Business 
                Administration and programs of other government 
                agencies that promote the growth and development of 
                small businesses.
                    ``(B) High unemployment areas.--For purposes of 
                subparagraph (A), an applicant shall be considered to 
                be located in a high unemployment district if the 
                applicant is located in a district of the Small 
                Business Administration in which the unemployment rate 
                is greater than the national average (as determined by 
                the Administrator using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' 
                most recent local area unemployment statistics or the 
                official unemployment statistics of a State 
                government).
                    ``(C) Grant applications.--An applicant for a grant 
                under subparagraph (A) shall submit to the 
                Administrator an application in the form and containing 
                the information that the Administrator requires. The 
                Administrator may establish a deadline for the 
                submission of such applications.
                    ``(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 $100,000 in grants under this 
                paragraph in a fiscal year.
                    ``(F) Priority for applicants in high unemployment 
                districts.--In selecting among applicants for grants 
                under this paragraph, the Administrator shall give 
                priority to applicants located in the districts with 
                the highest unemployment rates.
                    ``(G) Authorization of appropriations.--There is 
                authorized to be appropriated to carry out this 
                paragraph $5,000,000 for fiscal year 2003.
                    ``(H) 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.''.
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