[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1611 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1611

      To amend the Small Business Act to improve the 8(a) program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 20, 2007

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
      To amend the Small Business Act to improve the 8(a) program.

    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 ``8(a) Modernization Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) when the 8(a) program was implemented in 1968, the 
        thresholds for noncompetitive contracts were $3,000,000 and 
        $5,000,000 (for manufacturing), and today those thresholds have 
        risen to only $3,500,000 and $5,500,000, respectively, a rate 
        of growth far overtaken by inflation; and
            (2) when the 8(a) program was implemented in 1968, the net 
        worth limit was $250,000, and today that limit is exactly the 
        same.

SEC. 3. IMPROVEMENTS TO 8(A) PROGRAM.

    Section 8(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(a)) is 
amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)(D)(i)(II)--
                    (A) by striking ``$5,000,000'' and inserting 
                ``$12,000,000''; and
                    (B) by striking ``$3,000,000'' and inserting 
                ``$10,000,000''; and
            (2) in paragraph (6) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(F) the Administrator shall establish, for each 
                industry classification, a maximum level of net worth 
                for an economically disadvantaged individual. In 
                establishing such maximum levels, the Administrator 
                shall take into consideration the capital needs of each 
                industry. The Administrator shall not establish a 
                maximum net worth that prohibits program entry of less 
                than $750,000.''.
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