[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1842 Referred in Senate (RFS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1842


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           November 19, 2009

 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business 
                          and Entrepreneurship

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
     To amend the Small Business Act to improve the Small Business 
 Administration's entrepreneurial development programs, 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 ``Expanding Entrepreneurship Act of 
2009''.

SEC. 2. EXPANDING ENTREPRENEURSHIP.

    Section 4 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 633) is amended by 
adding at the end the following:
    ``(g) Management and Direction.--
            ``(1) Plan for entrepreneurial development and job creation 
        strategy.--The Administrator shall develop and submit to 
        Congress a plan, in consultation with a representative from 
        each of the agency's entrepreneurial development programs, for 
        using the Small Business Administration's entrepreneurial 
        development programs to create jobs during fiscal years 2010 
        and 2011. The plan shall include the Administration's plan for 
        drawing on existing programs, including Small Business 
        Development Centers, Women's Business Centers, SCORE, Veterans 
        Business Centers, Native American Outreach, and other 
        appropriate programs. The Administrator shall identify a 
        strategy for each Administration region to create or retain 
        jobs through Administration programs. The Administrator shall 
        identify, in consultation with appropriate personnel from 
        entrepreneurial development programs, performance measures and 
        criteria, including job creation, job retention, and job 
        retraining goals, to evaluate the success of the 
        Administration's actions regarding these efforts.
            ``(2) Data collection process.--The Administrator shall, 
        after notice and opportunity for comment, promulgate a rule to 
        develop and implement a consistent data collection process to 
        cover all entrepreneurial development programs. Such data 
        collection process shall include data relating to job creation, 
        performance, and any other data determined appropriate by the 
        Administrator with respect to the Administration's 
        entrepreneurial development programs.
            ``(3) Coordination and alignment of sba entrepreneurial 
        development programs.--The Administrator shall submit annually 
        to Congress, in consultation with other Federal departments and 
        agencies as appropriate, a report on opportunities to foster 
        coordination, limit duplication, and improve program delivery 
        for Federal entrepreneurial development programs.
            ``(4) Database of entrepreneurial development service 
        providers.--The Administrator shall, after a period of 60 days 
        for public comment, establish a database of providers of 
        entrepreneurial development services and, make such database 
        available through the Administration's Web site. The database 
        shall be searchable by industry, geography, and service 
        required.
            ``(5) Community specialist.--The Administrator shall 
        designate not less than one staff member in each Administration 
        district office as a community specialist who has as their 
        full-time responsibility working with local entrepreneurial 
        development service providers to increase coordination with 
        Federal resources. The Administrator shall develop benchmarks 
        for measuring the performance of community specialists under 
        this subsection.
            ``(6) Entrepreneurial development portal.--The 
        Administrator shall publish a design for a Web-based portal to 
        provide comprehensive information on the Administration's 
        entrepreneurial development programs. After a period of 60 days 
        for public comment, the Administrator shall establish such 
        portal and--
                    ``(A) integrate under one Web portal, Small 
                Business Development Centers, Women's Business Centers, 
                SCORE, Veterans Business Centers, the Administration's 
                distance learning program, and other programs as 
                appropriate;
                    ``(B) revise the Administration's primary Web site 
                so that the Web portal described in subparagraph (A) is 
                available as a link on the main Web page of the Web 
                site;
                    ``(C) increase consumer-oriented content on the 
                Administration's Web site and focus on promoting access 
                to business solutions, including marketing, financing, 
                and human resources planning;
                    ``(D) establish relevant Web content aggregated by 
                industry segment, stage of business development, level 
                of need, and include referral links to appropriate 
                Administration services, including financing, training 
                and counseling, and procurement assistance; and
                    ``(E) provide style guidelines and links for 
                visitors to the Administration's Web site to be able to 
                comment on and evaluate the materials in terms of their 
                usefulness.
            ``(7) Pilot programs.--The Administrator may not conduct 
        any pilot program for a period of greater than 3 years if the 
        program conflicts with, or uses the resources of, any of the 
        entrepreneurial development programs authorized under section 
        8(b)(1)(B), 21, 29, 32, or any other provision of this Act.''.

            Passed the House of Representatives November 18, 2009.

            Attest:

                                            LORRAINE C. MILLER,

                                                                 Clerk.