[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4764 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4764

To amend the Small Business Act to enhance the Office of Rural Affairs, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 24, 2024

  Mrs. Shaheen (for herself and Mr. Kennedy) introduced the following 
   bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Small 
                     Business and Entrepreneurship

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Small Business Act to enhance the Office of Rural Affairs, 
                        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 ``Coordinated Support for Rural Small 
Businesses Act''.

SEC. 2. OFFICE OF RURAL AFFAIRS OF THE SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION.

    Section 26 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 653) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsections (a), (b), and (c) as 
        subsections (b), (c), and (d), respectively;
            (2) by inserting before subsection (b) the following:
    ``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Assistant administrator.--The term `Assistant 
        Administrator' means the Assistant Administrator of the Office.
            ``(2) Hubzone.--The term `HUBZone' has the meaning given 
        the term in section 31(b).
            ``(3) Office.--The term `Office' means the Office of Rural 
        Affairs established under subsection (b).
            ``(4) Resource partners.--The term `resource partners' 
        means--
                    ``(A) small business development centers;
                    ``(B) women's business centers described in section 
                29;
                    ``(C) chapters of the Service Corps of Retired 
                Executives established under section 8(b)(1)(B); and
                    ``(D) Veteran Business Outreach Centers described 
                in section 32.
            ``(5) Rural small business concern.--The term `rural small 
        business concern' means a small business concern located in a 
        rural area.'';
            (3) in subsection (b), as so redesignated--
                    (A) by inserting ``Establishment.--'' before 
                ``There''; and
                    (B) by striking ``(hereafter in this section 
                referred to as the `Office')'';
            (4) by amending subsection (c), as so redesignated, to read 
        as follows:
    ``(c) Appointment of Assistant Administrator.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Office shall be administered by an 
        Assistant Administrator, who shall be an employee in the 
        competitive service.
            ``(2) Qualifications.--The Assistant Administrator shall--
                    ``(A) have education or professional experience 
                with, or knowledge of, rural affairs and issues 
                relating to small business concerns; and
                    ``(B) have experience providing development 
                assistance to rural small business concerns.'';
            (5) in subsection (d), as so redesignated--
                    (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 
                inserting ``Duties.--'' before ``The'';
                    (B) in paragraph (1), by striking ``small business 
                concerns located in rural areas'' and inserting ``rural 
                small business concerns'';
                    (C) by amending paragraph (3) to read as follows:
            ``(3) promote the policies and programs of the 
        Administration and of other Federal departments and agencies 
        for assisting rural small business concerns to industries, 
        organizations, and State and local governments;'';
                    (D) in paragraph (4), by striking ``; and'' and 
                inserting a semicolon;
                    (E) in paragraph (5)--
                            (i) by striking ``the United States Tourism 
                        and Travel Administration'' and inserting ``the 
                        National Travel and Tourism Office of the 
                        Department of Commerce'';
                            (ii) by striking ``small businesses in 
                        rural areas'' and inserting ``rural small 
                        business concerns''; and
                            (iii) by striking the period at the end and 
                        inserting ``; and''; and
                    (F) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(6) host webinars and outreach events for rural small 
        business concerns as described in subsection (e).''; and
            (6) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(e) Outreach.--The Assistant Administrator shall--
            ``(1) host webinars and outreach events in various regions 
        of the United States for rural small business concerns; and
            ``(2) invite representatives from district offices of the 
        Administration, resource partners, Federal and State agencies, 
        and other interested persons to participate in the webinars and 
        outreach events described in paragraph (1).
    ``(f) Interagency Cooperation.--The Assistant Administrator shall 
coordinate with the Department of Agriculture to--
            ``(1) conduct outreach regarding programs of the 
        Administration and the Department of Agriculture and to improve 
        awareness and utilization of the existing programs and services 
        of each agency; and
            ``(2) convene interagency working groups to address issues 
        including--
                    ``(A) capital access and investment in rural areas 
                of the United States, which may include--
                            ``(i) identifying synergies between the 
                        business loan programs of the Administration 
                        and the Department of Agriculture, including 
                        where intermediaries, such as those under the 
                        microloan program under section 7(m), as 
                        defined in paragraph (11) of such section, and 
                        the rural microentrepreneur assistance program 
                        established under section 379E of the 
                        Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 
                        U.S.C. 2008s) and the intermediary relending 
                        program established under section 310H of that 
                        Act (7 U.S.C. 1936b), may be able to 
                        participate in programs at both agencies;
                            ``(ii) assessing opportunities for the 
                        Administration to facilitate the delivery of 
                        programs of the Department of Agriculture to 
                        rural communities through the district offices 
                        of the Administration, relationships with rural 
                        lenders, resource partners of the 
                        Administration, and joint outreach and 
                        marketing efforts, as well as opportunities for 
                        the Department of Agriculture to facilitate the 
                        delivery of programs of the Administration to 
                        rural communities;
                            ``(iii) improving information sharing and 
                        discussion of best practices between the 
                        Administration and the Department of 
                        Agriculture;
                            ``(iv) examining coordination between the 
                        small business investment company program under 
                        part A of title III of the Small Business 
                        Investment Act of 1958 (15 U.S.C. 681 et seq.) 
                        and related programs at the Department of 
                        Agriculture, including the Rural Business 
                        Investment Program of the Department of 
                        Agriculture;
                            ``(v) examining opportunities for 
                        coordination between the Administration, the 
                        Department of Agriculture, and community and 
                        nonprofit partners in the small business 
                        ecosystem, including resource partners, 
                        Regional Food Business Centers, and innovation 
                        clusters; and
                            ``(vi) addressing barriers and examining 
                        opportunities for cooperatives to participate 
                        in programs and access resources of the 
                        Administration that are similar to the 
                        financing programs of the Department of 
                        Agriculture that serve cooperatives; and
                    ``(B) assisting businesses in rural areas of the 
                United States, which may include--
                            ``(i) identifying overlap among the rural 
                        markets identified by the Department of 
                        Agriculture, HUBZones, rural census tracts 
                        identified by the Administration, and 
                        underserved rural communities;
                            ``(ii) exploring opportunities to support 
                        innovation clusters in rural areas;
                            ``(iii) coordinating effective support 
                        initiatives that benefit Native Americans; and
                            ``(iv) collaborating on technical 
                        assistance, especially with respect to 
                        exportation and procurement.
    ``(g) Report.--
            ``(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date 
        of enactment of this subsection, and annually thereafter, the 
        Administrator shall submit to the Committee on Small Business 
        and Entrepreneurship of the Senate and the Committee on Small 
        Business of the House of Representatives, and make publicly 
        make available on a website of the Administration, a report on 
        the activities of the Office during the 1-year period 
        immediately preceding the date of submission of the report.
            ``(2) Contents.--Each report required under paragraph (1) 
        shall include the following:
                    ``(A) The operational details of the Office, 
                including the name of the Assistant Administrator, the 
                budget of the Office, and the number of full-time 
                employees employed by or detailed to the Office.
                    ``(B) A summary of the activities conducted under 
                subsection (d).
                    ``(C) The number of webinars and outreach events 
                conducted by the Administration to promote policies and 
                programs and provide information described in 
                paragraphs (3) and (4), respectively, of subsection 
                (c).
                    ``(D) An analysis of gaps in lending programs of 
                the Administration in serving the needs of rural small 
                business concerns.
                    ``(E) Information gathered from any webinars and 
                outreach events conducted by the Administration during 
                the period covered by the report.
                    ``(F) A summary of activities conducted under 
                subsection (f), including--
                            ``(i) the status of any memorandum of 
                        understanding between the Administration and 
                        the Department of Agriculture to further the 
                        goals of improving service delivery, advice, 
                        and assistance for rural small business 
                        concerns;
                            ``(ii) a summary of outreach efforts under 
                        subsection (f)(1);
                            ``(iii) a summary of working groups created 
                        under subsection (f)(2), including any 
                        synergies identified in capital access programs 
                        under subparagraph (A) of such subsection; and
                            ``(iv) efforts to coordinate outreach under 
                        subsection (f)(2)(B).''.
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