IB 

Union Calendar No. 119 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2981 

[Report No. 109–206] 

To amend the Small Business Act to expand and improve the assistance 

provided by Small Business Development Centers to Indian tribe members, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 17, 2005 

Mr. UDALL of New Mexico (for himself, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr. 

CASE, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. REYES, 

Mr. HONDA, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. YOUNG of 

Alaska, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. MATHESON, Ms. HERSETH, Mrs. CUBIN, Ms. 

MCCOLLUM of Minnesota, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, and Mr. MANZULLO) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 

Small Business 

JULY 28, 2005 

Additional sponsors: Mr. UDALL of Colorado, Mr. MICHAUD, and Mr. RENZI

JULY 28, 2005 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on June 17, 2005] 

A BILL 

To amend the Small Business Act to expand and improve 

the assistance provided by Small Business Development 
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Centers to Indian tribe members, Alaska Natives, and 

Native Hawaiians. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 

4 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

5 (1) Approximately 60 percent of Indian tribe 

6 members and Alaska Natives live on or adjacent to 

7 Indian lands, which suffer from an average unem8 ployment rate of 45 percent. 

9 (2) Indian tribe members and Alaska Natives 

10 own more than 197,000 businesses and generate more 

11 than $34,000,000,000 in revenues. The service indus12 try accounted for 17 percent of these businesses (of 

13 which 40 percent were engaged in business and per14 sonal services) and 15.1 percent of their total receipts. 

15 The next largest was the construction industry (13.9 

16 percent and 15.7 percent, respectively). The third 

17 largest was the retail trade industry (7.5 percent and 

18 13.4 percent, respectively). 

19 (3) The number of businesses owned by Indian 

20 tribe members and Alaska Natives grew by 84 percent 

21 from 1992 to 1997, and their gross receipts grew by 

22 179 percent in that period. This is compared to all 

23 businesses which grew by 7 percent, and their total 

24 gross receipts grew by 40 percent, in that period. 
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1 (4) The Small Business Development Center pro2 gram is cost effective. Clients receiving long-term 

3 counseling under the program in 1998 generated ad4 ditional tax revenues of $468,000,000, roughly 6 times 

5 the cost of the program to the Federal Government. 

6 (5) Using the existing infrastructure of the 

7 Small Business Development Center program, small 

8 businesses owned by Indian tribe members, Alaska 

9 Natives, and Native Hawaiians receiving services 

10 under the program will have a higher survival rate 

11 than the average small business not receiving such 

12 services. 

13 (6) Business counseling and technical assistance 

14 is critical on Indian lands where similar services are 

15 scarce and expensive. 

16 (7) Increased assistance through counseling 

17 under the Small Business Development Center pro18 gram has been shown to reduce the default rate associ19 ated with lending programs of the Small Business 

20 Administration. 

21 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are as fol22 lows: 

23 (1) To stimulate economies on Indian lands. 

24 (2) To foster economic development on Indian 

25 lands. 
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1 (3) To assist in the creation of new small busi2 nesses owned by Indian tribe members, Alaska Na3 tives, and Native Hawaiians and expand existing 

4 ones. 

5 (4) To provide management, technical, and re6 search assistance to small businesses owned by Indian 

7 tribe members, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawai8 ians. 

9 (5) To seek the advice of local Tribal Councils on 

10 where small business development assistance is most 

11 needed. 

12 (6) To ensure that Indian tribe members, Alaska 

13 Natives, and Native Hawaiians have full access to ex14 isting business counseling and technical assistance 

15 available through the Small Business Development 

16 Center program. 

17 SEC. 2. SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER ASSIST18 ANCE TO INDIAN TRIBE MEMBERS, ALASKA 

19 NATIVES, AND NATIVE HAWAIIANS. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 21(a) of the Small Business 

21 Act (15 U.S.C. 648(a)) is amended by adding at the end 

22 the following: 

23 ‘‘(8) ADDITIONAL GRANT TO ASSIST INDIAN

24 TRIBE MEMBERS, ALASKA NATIVES, AND NATIVE HA25 WAIIANS.— 
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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Any applicant in an 

2 eligible State that is funded by the Administra3 tion as a Small Business Development Center 

4 may apply for an additional grant to be used 

5 solely to provide services described in subsection 

6 (c)(3) to assist with outreach, development, and 

7 enhancement on Indian lands of small business 

8 startups and expansions owned by Indian tribe 

9 members, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawai10 ians. 

11 ‘‘(B) ELIGIBLE STATES.—For purposes of 

12 subparagraph (A), an eligible State is a State 

13 that has a combined population of Indian tribe 

14 members, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians 

15 that comprises at least 1 percent of the State’s 

16 total population, as shown by the latest available 

17 census. 

18 ‘‘(C) GRANT APPLICATIONS.—An applicant 

19 for a grant under subparagraph (A) shall submit 

20 to the Administration an application that is in 

21 such form as the Administration may require. 

22 The application shall include information re23 garding the applicant’s goals and objectives for 

24 the services to be provided using the grant, in25 cluding— 
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1 ‘‘(i) the capability of the applicant to 

2 provide training and services to a rep3 resentative number of Indian tribe members, 

4 Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians; 

5 ‘‘(ii) the location of the Small Business 

6 Development Center site proposed by the ap7 plicant; 

8 ‘‘(iii) the required amount of grant 

9 funding needed by the applicant to imple10 ment the program; and 

11 ‘‘(iv) the extent to which the applicant 

12 has consulted with local Tribal Councils. 

13 ‘‘(D) APPLICABILITY OF GRANT REQUIRE14 MENTS.—An applicant for a grant under sub15 paragraph (A) shall comply with all of the re16 quirements of this section, except that the match17 ing funds requirements under paragraph (4)(A) 

18 shall not apply. 

19 ‘‘(E) MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF GRANTS.—No 

20 applicant may receive more than $300,000 in 

21 grants under this paragraph for one fiscal year. 

22 ‘‘(F) REGULATIONS.—After providing notice 

23 and an opportunity for comment and after con24 sulting with the Association recognized by the 

25 Administration pursuant to paragraph (3)(A) 
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1 (but not later than 180 days after the date of en2 actment of this paragraph), the Administration 

3 shall issue final regulations to carry out this 

4 paragraph, including regulations that estab5 lish— 

6 ‘‘(i) standards relating to educational, 

7 technical, and support services to be pro8 vided by Small Business Development Cen9 ters receiving assistance under this para10 graph; and 

11 ‘‘(ii) standards relating to any work 

12 plan that the Administration may require a 

13 Small Business Development Center receiv14 ing assistance under this paragraph to de15 velop. 

16 ‘‘(G) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the fol17 lowing definitions apply: 

18 ‘‘(i) INDIAN LANDS.—The term ‘Indian 

19 lands’ has the meaning given the term ‘In20 dian country’ in section 1151 of title 18, 

21 United States Code, the meaning given the 

22 term ‘Indian reservation’ in section 151.2 of 

23 title 25, Code of Federal Regulations (as in 

24 effect on the date of enactment of this para25 graph), and the meaning given the term 
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1 ‘reservation’ in section 4 of the Indian 

2 Child Welfare Act of 1978 (25 U.S.C. 1903). 

3 ‘‘(ii) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘In4 dian tribe’ means any band, nation, or or5 ganized group or community of Indians lo6 cated in the contiguous United States, and 

7 the Metlakatla Indian Community, whose 

8 members are recognized as eligible for the 

9 services provided to Indians by the Sec10 retary of the Interior because of their status 

11 as Indians. 

12 ‘‘(iii) INDIAN TRIBE MEMBER.—The 

13 term ‘Indian tribe member’ means a mem14 ber of an Indian tribe (other than a Alaska 

15 Native). 

16 ‘‘(iv) ALASKA NATIVE.—The term 

17 ‘Alaska Native’ has the meaning given the 

18 term ‘Native’ in section 3(b) of the Alaska 

19 Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 

20 1602(b)). 

21 ‘‘(v) NATIVE HAWAIIAN.—The term 

22 ‘Native Hawaiian’ means any individual 

23 who is— 

24 ‘‘(I) a citizen of the United States; 

25 and 
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1 ‘‘(II) a descendant of the aborigi2 nal people, who prior to 1778, occupied 

3 and exercised sovereignty in the area 

4 that now constitutes the State of Ha5 waii. 

6 ‘‘(vi) TRIBAL ORGANIZATION.—The 

7 term ‘tribal organization’ has the meaning 

8 given that term in section 4(l) of the Indian 

9 Self-Determination and Education Assist10 ance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b(l)). 

11 ‘‘(H) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA12 TIONS.—There is authorized to be appropriated 

13 to carry out this paragraph $7,000,000 for each 

14 of fiscal years 2006 through 2008. 

15 ‘‘(I) FUNDING LIMITATIONS.— 

16 ‘‘(i) NONAPPLICABILITY OF CERTAIN

17 LIMITATIONS.—Funding under this para18 graph shall be in addition to the dollar pro19 gram limitations specified in paragraph 

20 (4). 

21 ‘‘(ii) LIMITATION ON USE OF FUNDS.— 

22 The Administration may carry out this 

23 paragraph only with amounts appropriated 

24 in advance specifically to carry out this 

25 paragraph.’’. 
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1 SEC. 3. STATE CONSULTATION WITH TRIBAL ORGANIZA2 TIONS. 

3 Section 21(c) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

4 648(c)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘(9) ADVICE OF LOCAL TRIBAL ORGANIZA6 TIONS.—A Small Business Development Center re7 ceiving a grant under this section shall request the 

8 advice of tribal organization on how best to provide 

9 assistance to Indian tribe members, Alaska Natives, 

10 and Native Hawaiians and where to locate satellite 

11 centers to provide such assistance.’’. 

Union Calendar No. 119 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2981 

[Report No. 109–206] 

A BILL 

To amend the Small Business Act to expand and 

bers, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians. ness Development Centers to Indian tribe memimprove the assistance provided by Small BusiJULY 28, 2005 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union,