[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3754 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3754

 To amend the Small Business Act to improve the program under section 
                     8(a), and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 20, 2011

Ms. Richardson introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Small Business

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Small Business Act to improve the program under section 
                     8(a), 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 ``Small Business Reform Act of 2011'' 
or the ``Not Too Small to Succeed in Business Act of 2011''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Small businesses are a vital part of the economy of the 
        United States.
            (2) The 26,800,000 small businesses in the United States 
        account for more than 99.7 percent of all employer firms.
            (3) Small businesses employ just over half of all private 
        sector employees.
            (4) The 4,100,000 small businesses owned by individuals who 
        are members of economically disadvantaged groups generate 
        approximately $694,000,000,000 in revenues and employ 
        approximately 4,800,000 individuals each year.
            (5) Small businesses need help to remain competitive in the 
        global economy, particularly during difficult economic times.
            (6) Together, women-owned and minority-owned businesses 
        receive less than 7 percent of venture capital.
            (7) Seventy percent of small businesses survive at least 2 
        years, but less than half survive 5 years.
            (8) The Small Business Administration was established in 
        1953 by the Federal Government to aid, counsel, assist, and 
        protect the interests of small business concerns, to preserve 
        free competitive enterprise, and to maintain and strengthen the 
        overall economy of the United States.
            (9) The Small Business Administration assists firms owned 
        and controlled by economically disadvantaged individuals to 
        enter the economic mainstream by providing firm-specific 
        analysis, counseling, management training, professional 
        consulting and monitoring services, and access to business 
        development opportunities under section 8(a) of the Small 
        Business Act.
            (10) Although the program under section 8(a) is well 
        intended, the problems of the program are well known.
            (11) The program under section 8(a) has a record of 
        graduating companies that are not sufficiently prepared to 
        compete for contracts with large and established companies in 
        the private sector, resulting in a large number of former 
        participants in the program failing to remain in business 
        shortly after leaving the program.
            (12) The problem of graduating companies from the program 
        under section 8(a) that are not sufficiently prepared to 
        compete for contracts with large and established companies in 
        the private sector is caused by the reliance of the Small 
        Business Administration on outdated measures of adjusted gross 
        income and net worth in determining whether a company 
        participating in the program continues to be economically 
        disadvantaged.
            (13) Reliance by the Small Business Administration on 
        measures that do not reflect contemporary conditions has had, 
        and will continue to have, the unintended consequence of 
        keeping small businesses too small to succeed, which is as 
        undesirable as protecting companies that are too big to fail.

SEC. 3. IMPROVEMENT OF PROGRAM UNDER SECTION 8(A) OF THE SMALL BUSINESS 
              ACT.

    (a) Period of Eligibility.--
            (1) Extension.--Section 7(j)(15) of the Small Business Act 
        (15 U.S.C. 636(j)(15)) is amended--
                    (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A) by 
                striking ``nine years'' and inserting ``11 years''; and
                    (B) in subparagraph (B) by striking ``five years'' 
                and inserting ``7 years''.
            (2) Completed periods.--A small business concern that 
        completed a 9-year period of participation in the program under 
        section 8(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(a)) prior 
        to the date of enactment of this Act and that is otherwise 
        eligible to participate in such program except for having 
        completed such 9-year period, including that such concern 
        satisfies net worth requirements applicable to continued 
        eligibility after initial program admission, may participate in 
        such program during the 2-year period beginning on the date of 
        enactment of this Act.
    (b) Net Worth and Income Limitations.--
            (1) Increase.--Section 8(a)(6)(A) of the Small Business Act 
        (15 U.S.C. 637(a)(6)(A)) is amended by inserting after 
        ``disadvantaged individual.'' the following: ``For purposes of 
        eligibility for admission as a Program Participant the net 
        worth of such individual may be any amount not exceeding 
        $750,000 and for purposes of continued eligibility after 
        admission the net worth of such individual may be any amount 
        not exceeding $2,250,000. For purposes of eligibility for 
        admission as a Program Participant and continued eligibility 
        after admission, the modified adjusted gross income (as such 
        term is defined in section 25A(d)(3) of the Internal Revenue 
        Code of 1986) of such individual for an applicable taxable year 
        may be any amount not exceeding $500,000.''.
            (2) Completed periods of participation.--If the 
        Administrator of the Small Business Administration graduated a 
        small business concern from the program under section 8(a) of 
        the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(a)) prior to the date of 
        enactment of this Act as a result of a determination that such 
        concern did not meet standards relating to economic 
        disadvantage and such concern meets requirements under such 
        section as amended by this Act, such concern may participate in 
        such program for a period--
                    (A) of 11 years less the period of time such 
                concern previously participated in such program; and
                    (B) beginning on the date of enactment of this Act.
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