I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2981 

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

provided by Small Business Development Centers to Indian tribe members, Native Alaskans, 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 

A BILL 

To amend the Small Business Act to expand and improve 

the assistance provided by Small Business Development 

Centers to Indian tribe members, Native Alaskans, 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 Native Alaskans live on or adjacent to 
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1 Indian lands, which suffer from an average unem2 ployment rate of 45 percent. 

3 (2) Indian tribe members and Native Alaskans 

4 own more than 197,000 businesses and generate 

5 more than $34,000,000,000 in revenues. The service 

6 industry accounted for 17 percent of these busi7 nesses (of which 40 percent were engaged in busi8 ness and personal services) and 15.1 percent of their 

9 total receipts. The next largest was the construction 

10 industry (13.9 percent and 15.7 percent, respec11 tively). The third largest was the retail trade indus12 try (7.5 percent and 13.4 percent, respectively). 

13 (3) The number of businesses owned by Indian 

14 tribe members and Native Alaskans grew by 84 per15 cent from 1992 to 1997, and their gross receipts 

16 grew by 179 percent in that period. This is com17 pared to all businesses which grew by 7 percent, and 

18 their total gross receipts grew by 40 percent, in that 

19 period. 

20 (4) The Small Business Development Center 

21 program is cost effective. Clients receiving long-term 

22 counseling under the program in 1998 generated ad23 ditional tax revenues of $468,000,000, roughly 6 

24 times the cost of the program to the Federal Gov25 ernment. 
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1 (5) Using the existing infrastructure of the 

2 Small Business Development Center program, small 

3 businesses owned by Indian tribe members, Native 

4 Alaskans, and Native Hawaiians receiving services 

5 under the program will have a higher survival rate 

6 than the average small business not receiving such 

7 services. 

8 (6) Business counseling and technical assist9 ance is critical on Indian lands where similar serv10 ices are scarce and expensive. 

11 (7) Increased assistance through counseling 

12 under the Small Business Development Center pro13 gram has been shown to reduce the default rate as14 sociated with lending programs of the Small Busi15 ness Administration. 

16 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are as fol17 lows: 

18 (1) To stimulate economies on Indian lands. 

19 (2) To foster economic development on Indian 

20 lands. 

21 (3) To assist in the creation of new small busi22 nesses owned by Indian tribe members, Native Alas23 kans, and Native Hawaiians and expand existing 

24 ones. 
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1 (4) To provide management, technical, and re2 search assistance to small businesses owned by In3 dian tribe members, Native Alaskans, and Native 

4 Hawaiians. 

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

6 on where small business development assistance is 

7 most needed. 

8 (6) To ensure that Indian tribe members, Na9 tive Alaskans, and Native Hawaiians have full access 

10 to existing business counseling and technical assist11 ance available through the Small Business Develop12 ment Center program. 

13 SEC. 2. SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER ASSIST14 ANCE TO INDIAN TRIBE MEMBERS, NATIVE 

15 ALASKANS, AND NATIVE HAWAIIANS. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 21(a) of the Small Busi17 ness Act (15 U.S.C. 648(a)) is amended by adding at the 

18 end the following: 

19 ‘‘(8) ADDITIONAL GRANT TO ASSIST INDIAN

20 TRIBE MEMBERS, NATIVE ALASKANS, AND NATIVE

21 HAWAIIANS.— 

22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Any applicant in an 

23 eligible State that is funded by the Administra24 tion as a Small Business Development Center 

25 may apply for an additional grant to be used 
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1 solely to provide services described in subsection 

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

3 enhancement on Indian lands of small business 

4 startups and expansions owned by Indian tribe 

5 members, Native Alaskans, and Native Hawai6 ians. 

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

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

9 that has a combined population of Indian tribe 

10 members, Natives Alaskans, and Native Hawai11 ians that comprises at least 1 percent of the 

12 State’s total population, as shown by the latest 

13 available census. 

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

15 for a grant under subparagraph (A) shall sub16 mit to the Associate Administrator an applica17 tion that is in such form as the Associate Ad18 ministrator may require. The application shall 

19 include information regarding the applicant’s 

20 goals and objectives for the services to be pro21 vided using the grant, including— 

22 ‘‘(i) the capability of the applicant to 

23 provide training and services to a rep24 resentative number of Indian tribe mem-
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1 bers, Native Alaskans, and Native Hawai2 ians; 

3 ‘‘(ii) the location of the Small Busi4 ness Development Center site proposed by 

5 the applicant; 

6 ‘‘(iii) the required amount of grant 

7 funding needed by the applicant to imple8 ment the program; and 

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

10 has consulted with local Tribal Councils. 

11 ‘‘(D) APPLICABILITY OF GRANT REQUIRE12 MENTS.—An applicant for a grant under sub13 paragraph (A) shall comply with all of the re14 quirements of this section, except that the 

15 matching funds requirements of paragraph 

16 (4)(A) shall not apply. 

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

18 applicant may receive more than $300,000 in 

19 grants under this paragraph in a fiscal year. 

20 ‘‘(F) REGULATIONS.—After providing no21 tice and an opportunity for comment and after 

22 consulting with the Association recognized by 

23 the Administration pursuant to paragraph 

24 (3)(A) (but not later than 180 days after the 

25 date of enactment of this paragraph), the Ad-
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1 ministrator shall issue final regulations to carry 

2 out this paragraph, including regulations that 

3 establish— 

4 ‘‘(i) standards relating to educational, 

5 technical, and support services to be pro6 vided by Small Business Development Cen7 ters receiving assistance under this para8 graph; and 

9 ‘‘(ii) standards relating to any work 

10 plan that the Associate Administrator may 

11 require a Small Business Development 

12 Center receiving assistance under this 

13 paragraph to develop. 

14 ‘‘(G) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph, 

15 the following definitions apply: 

16 ‘‘(i) ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR.— 

17 The term ‘Associate Administrator’ means 

18 the Associate Administrator for Small 

19 Business Development Centers. 

20 ‘‘(ii) INDIAN LANDS.—The term ‘In21 dian lands’ has the meaning given the term 

22 ‘Indian country’ in section 1151 of title 18, 

23 United States Code, the meaning given the 

24 term ‘Indian reservation’ in section 151.2 

25 of title 25, Code of Federal Regulations 
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1 (as in effect on the date of enactment of 

2 this paragraph), and the meaning given 

3 the term ‘reservation’ in section 4 of the 

4 Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (25 

5 U.S.C. 1903). 

6 ‘‘(iii) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘In7 dian tribe’ has the meaning given such 

8 term in section 8(a)(13). 

9 ‘‘(iv) INDIAN TRIBE MEMBER.—The 

10 term ‘Indian tribe member’ means a mem11 ber of an Indian tribe (other than a Native 

12 Alaskan). 

13 ‘‘(v) NATIVE ALASKAN.—The term 

14 ‘Native Alaskan’ has the meaning given 

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

16 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 

17 U.S.C. 1602(b)). 

18 ‘‘(vi) NATIVE HAWAIIAN.—The term 

19 ‘Native Hawaiian’ means any individual 

20 who is a descendant of the aboriginal peo21 ple, who prior to 1778, occupied and exer22 cised sovereignty in the area that now con23 stitutes the State of Hawaii. 

24 ‘‘(H) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA25 TIONS.—There is authorized to be appropriated 
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1 to carry out this paragraph $7,000,000 for each 

2 of fiscal years 2004 through 2006. 

3 ‘‘(I) FUNDING LIMITATIONS.— 

4 ‘‘(i) NONAPPLICABILITY OF CERTAIN

5 LIMITATIONS.—Funding under this para6 graph shall be in addition to the dollar 

7 program limitations specified in paragraph 

8 (4). 

9 ‘‘(ii) LIMITATION ON USE OF

10 FUNDS.—The Administration may carry 

11 out this paragraph only with amounts ap12 propriated in advance specifically to carry 

13 out this paragraph.’’. 

14 SEC. 3. STATE CONSULTATION WITH LOCAL TRIBAL COUN15 CILS. 

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

17 648(c)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘(9) ADVICE OF LOCAL TRIBAL COUNSELS.—A 

19 State receiving grants under this section shall re20 quest the advice of local Tribal Councils on how best 

21 to provide assistance to Indian tribe members, Na22 tive Alaskans, and Native Hawaiians and where to 

23 locate satellite centers to provide such assistance.’’. 

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