[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7105 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7105

 To establish requirements relating to certification of small business 
 concerns owned and controlled by women for certain purposes, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 29, 2024

  Ms. Velazquez (for herself and Mr. LaLota) introduced the following 
      bill; which was referred to the Committee on Small Business

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To establish requirements relating to certification of small business 
 concerns owned and controlled by women for certain purposes, 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 ``WOSB Certification and Opportunity 
Expansion Act''.

SEC. 2. EXCLUSION OF SELF-CERTIFIED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS OWNED AND 
              CONTROLLED BY WOMEN FROM GOALS.

    (a) Exclusion of Self-Certified WOSBs From Governmentwide and 
Agency Goals.--
            (1) In general.--Section 15(g) of such Act (15 U.S.C. 
        644(g)) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
        paragraph:
    ``(4) Exclusion of Self-certified WOSBs From Goals.--Only small 
business concerns owned and controlled by women that have been 
certified under section 8(m)(2)(E) shall be included in calculating the 
goals established--
            ``(A) under paragraph (1)(A)(v); and
            ``(B) by the head of a Federal agency for small business 
        concerns owned and controlled by women under paragraph (2).''.
            (2) Effective date.--The amendments made by paragraph (1) 
        shall take effect on the first day after the end of the second 
        fiscal year beginning after the Administrator issues the 
        regulations required under subsection (b)(2).
    (b) Requirements Relating to Self-Certified WOSBs.--
            (1) Inclusion of certain self-certified wosbs in goals.--
                    (A) In general.--Notwithstanding any other 
                provision of law, a small business concern described in 
                subparagraph (B) shall be deemed to have been certified 
                by the Administrator or a national certifying entity 
                approved by the Administrator under section 8(m) of the 
                Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(m)) as a small 
                business concern owned and controlled by women under 
                paragraph (2)(E) of such section (15 U.S.C. 
                637(m)(2)(E)) for the purposes of calculating the goals 
                described in paragraph (4) of section 15(g) of the such 
                Act (as added by subsection (a) of this Act) until the 
                Administrator or such a national certifying entity make 
                a determination with respect to the certification of 
                such concern.
                    (B) Small business concerns described.--A small 
                business concern described in this subparagraph is a 
                small business concern--
                            (i) that is self-certified as a small 
                        business concern owned and controlled by women 
                        as of the date on which the amendments made by 
                        subsection (a) take effect;
                            (ii) that files a certification application 
                        with the Administrator or a national certifying 
                        entity approved by the Administrator under 
                        section 8(m) of the Small Business Act (15 
                        U.S.C. 637(m)) prior to such date; and
                            (iii) for which the Administrator or such a 
                        national certifying entity does not make a 
                        determination prior to such date regarding 
                        certification pursuant to such certification 
                        application.
            (2) Rulemaking.--Not later than one year after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall issue 
        regulations carrying out this section.
    (c) Quarterly Briefings Required.--Not later than 60 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act and on a quarterly basis thereafter 
until the date specified in subsection (b), the Administrator shall 
provide to the Committee on Small Business of the House of 
Representatives and the Committee Small Business and Entrepreneurship 
of the Senate a briefing on the implementation of the requirements of 
this section. Such briefings shall include--
            (1) the total number of small business concerns expected to 
        seek certification as a small business concern owned and 
        controlled by women;
            (2) the number of applications for certification pending 
        with the Administrator or a national certifying entity approved 
        by the Administrator under section 8(m) of the Small Business 
        Act during the period covered by the briefing;
            (3) the total number of applications approved by the 
        Administrator or such a national certifying entity since the 
        date of the enactment of this Act;
            (4) the timelines associated with processing such 
        applications by the Administrator or such a national certifying 
        entity between submission and approval;
            (5) the administrative costs to the Administration to make 
        determinations on such applications and the estimated cost to 
        such applicant to seek certification from a national certifying 
        entity;
            (6) a discussion of the Administrator's current and future 
        outreach efforts to small business concerns owned and 
        controlled by women and to Federal agencies on the requirements 
        of this Act; and
            (7) recommendations for additional legislative authority or 
        resources required to fully implement the requirements of this 
        Act.
    (d) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Administration.--The term ``Administration'' means the 
        Small Business Administration.
            (2) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the 
        Administrator of the Small Business Administration.
            (3) Small business concern.--The term ``small business 
        concern'' has the meaning given under section 3 of the Small 
        Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632).
            (4) Small business concern owned and controlled by women.--
        The term ``small business concern owned and controlled by 
        women'' has the meaning given the term in section 8(m) of the 
        Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(m)).
    (e) Compliance With CUTGO.--No additional amounts are authorized to 
be appropriated to carry out this Act or the amendments made by this 
Act.
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