[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6390 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6390

  To direct the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to 
  study and identify best practices for closing the gender, race, and 
income gap in patenting rates for certain small business concerns, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 16, 2018

 Mrs. Comstock (for herself, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mr. Costa, Mr. Hastings, 
  Mr. Jeffries, Mr. Lipinski, Ms. Clarke of New York, and Mr. Peters) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
Small Business, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for 
a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
                          committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To direct the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to 
  study and identify best practices for closing the gender, race, and 
income gap in patenting rates for certain small business concerns, 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 ``Study of Underrepresented Classes 
Chasing Engineering and Science Success Act of 2018'' or the ``SUCCESS 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) Patents and other forms of intellectual property are 
        important engines of innovation, invention, and economic 
        growth.
            (2) Many innovative small businesses, which create over 20 
        percent of the total number of new jobs created in the United 
        States each year, depend on patent protections to commercialize 
        new technologies.
            (3) Universities and their industry partners also rely on 
        patent protections to transfer innovative new technologies from 
        the laboratory or classroom to commercial use.
            (4) Recent studies have shown that there is a significant 
        gap in the number of patents applied for and obtained by women, 
        socially disadvantaged individuals, and economically 
        disadvantaged individuals and the number of patents applied for 
        and obtained by individuals from other groups.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that the United 
States has the responsibility to work with the private sector to close 
the gap in the number of patents applied for and obtained by women, 
socially disadvantaged individuals, and economically disadvantaged 
individuals to harness the maximum innovative potential and continue to 
promote United States leadership in the global economy.

SEC. 3. REPORT.

    (a) Study.--The Administrator of the Small Business Administration, 
in consultation with the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual 
Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office 
and any other head of an appropriate Federal agency, shall conduct a 
study that--
            (1) identifies the benefits of increasing the number of 
        patents applied for and obtained by--
                    (A) small business concerns owned and controlled by 
                women; and
                    (B) small business concerns owned and controlled by 
                socially and economically disadvantaged individuals; 
                and
            (2) provides legislative recommendations for how to--
                    (A) promote the participation of women, socially 
                disadvantaged individuals, and economically 
                disadvantaged individuals in entrepreneurship 
                activities; and
                    (B) increase the number of women, socially 
                disadvantaged individuals, and economically 
                disadvantaged individuals who apply for and obtain 
                patents.
    (b) Report.--Not later than 6 months after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Small Business 
Administration shall submit to the Committee on Small Business of the 
House of Representatives and the Committee on Small Business and 
Entrepreneurship of the Senate a report on the results of the study 
conducted under subsection (a).
    (c) Definitions.--In this Act:
            (1) Economically disadvantaged individual.--The term 
        ``economically disadvantaged individual'' has the meaning given 
        the term under section 8(a)(6)(A) of the Small Business Act (15 
        U.S.C. 637(a)(6)(A)).
            (2) Small business concern owned and controlled by socially 
        and economically disadvantaged individuals.--The term ``small 
        business concern owned and controlled by socially and 
        economically disadvantaged individuals'' has the meaning given 
        the term under section 8(d)(3)(C) of the Small Business Act (15 
        U.S.C. 637(d)(3)(C)).
            (3) Small business concern owned and controlled by women.--
        The term ``small business concern owned and controlled by 
        women'' has the meaning given the term under section 3(n) of 
        the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632(n)).
            (4) Socially disadvantaged individual.--The term ``socially 
        disadvantaged individual'' has the meaning given the term under 
        section 8(a)(5) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
        637(a)(5)).
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