[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3956 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3956

  To amend the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 to authorize the 
   Small Business Administrator to make grants for economic growth, 
business retention and business recruitment to economically underserved 
                              communities.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 28, 2014

Ms. Kelly of Illinois introduced the following bill; which was referred 
                   to the Committee on Small Business

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 to authorize the 
   Small Business Administrator to make grants for economic growth, 
business retention and business recruitment to economically underserved 
                              communities.

    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 ``Community Investment and Empowerment 
Act''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

    The purpose of this Act is to assist with the economic growth of 
economically disadvantaged communities that have potential for strong 
Class 1 commercial investment, but continue to have a difficult time 
recruiting Class 1 commercial investment.

SEC. 3. ECONOMIC GROWTH, RETENTION, AND RECRUITMENT OF COMMERCIAL 
              INVESTMENT IN UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES.

    The Small Business Investment Act of 1958 (15 U.S.C. 661 et seq.) 
is amended by adding at the end the following new title:

 ``TITLE VI--ECONOMIC GROWTH, RETENTION, AND RECRUITMENT OF COMMERCIAL 
          INVESTMENT IN ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED COMMUNITIES

``SEC. 511. GRANT PROGRAM.

    ``(a) Authorization.--From amounts appropriated under section 513, 
the Administrator shall make grants on a competitive basis to 
communities for--
            ``(1) the creation of a grant and/or revolving loan fund 
        program that helps develop financing packages for Class 1 
        commercial investment;
            ``(2) lowering real estate property tax rates;
            ``(3) conducting community-wide market analysis to help 
        recruit and/or retain Class 1 commercial investment;
            ``(4) creating employment training programs for Class 1 
        business customer service, sales, and managerial positions;
            ``(5) retail marketing strategies to solicit new Class 1 
        commercial investment starts in the community;
            ``(6) program allowances for activities such as the 
        publication of marketing materials, development of economic 
        development web pages, and educational outreach activities with 
        retail trade associations; and
            ``(7) hiring business recruitment specialists.
    ``(b) Eligibility.--The Administrator may only make a grant under 
subsection (a) to communities that--
            ``(1) demographics include--
                    ``(A) a median per capita income no higher than 
                $35,000; and
                    ``(B) a lack of Class 1 commercial investment; and
            ``(2) submit an application at such time, in such form, and 
        containing such information and assurances as the Administrator 
        may require, including--
                    ``(A) a description of how the community through 
                the activities the community carries out with the grant 
                funds will recruit, retain and grow their economy 
                through Class 1 commercial investment; and
                    ``(B) a description of the difficulty the community 
                has faced recruiting, retaining and growing their 
                economy through Class 1 commercial investment.
    ``(c) Matching Funds.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Administrator may not make a grant 
        to a community under subsection (a) unless the community agrees 
        that, with respect to the costs to be incurred by the community 
        in carrying out the activities for which the grant is awarded, 
        the community will make available non-Federal contributions in 
        an amount equal to not less than 10 percent of the Federal 
        funds provided under the grant.
            ``(2) Satisfying matching requirements.--The non-Federal 
        contributions required under paragraph (1) may be--
                    ``(A) in cash or in-kind, including services, 
                fairly evaluated; and
                    ``(B) from--
                            ``(i) any private source;
                            ``(ii) a State or local governmental 
                        entity; or
                            ``(iii) a not-for-profit.
            ``(3) Waiver.--The Administrator may waive or reduce the 
        non-Federal contribution required by paragraph (1) if the 
        community involved demonstrates that the eligible entity cannot 
        meet the contribution requirement due to financial hardship.
    ``(d) Limitations.--Funding appropriated under section 513 will be 
allocated by the following formula--
            ``(1) no more than up to 5 percent of funds appropriated 
        under section 513 shall go to administrative costs;
            ``(2) up to 70 percent of funding appropriated under 
        section 513 shall go toward activities described in sections 
        (a)(1) through (a)(4) after taking into account administrative 
        costs under section (c)(1)(A); and
            ``(3) 30 percent of funding appropriated under section 513 
        shall go toward activities described in sections (a)(5) through 
        (a)(7) after taking into account administrative costs under 
        section (c)(1)(A).

``SEC. 512. DEFINITIONS.

    ``In this title, the following definitions apply:
            ``(1) Community.--The term `community' means a governance 
        structure that includes county, parish, city, village, 
        township, district or borough.
            ``(2) Class 1 commercial investment.--The term `Class 1 
        commercial investment' means retail grocery chains, food 
        service retailers, restaurants and franchises, retail stores, 
        cafes, shopping malls, and other shops.
            ``(3) Economically underserved community.--The term 
        `economically underserved community' means an area suffering 
        from low income and resultant low purchasing power, limiting 
        its ability to generate sufficient goods and services to be 
        used in exchange with other areas to meet current consumption 
        needs.

``SEC. 513. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    ``There is authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator to 
carry out section 511(a) $40,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2014 
through 2019.''.
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