II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 929 

To improve the HUBZone program. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 25, 2017 

Mrs. SHAHEEN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship 

A BILL 

To improve the HUBZone program. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Invest in Rural Small 

5 Business Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FLEXIBILITY FOR RESIDENCY IN HUBZONES. 

7 Section 3(p)(5)(A)(i)(I) of the Small Business Act 

8 (15 U.S.C. 632(p)(5)(A)(i)(I)) is amended by striking ‘‘35 

9 percent’’ each place that term appears and inserting ‘‘33 

10 percent’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. ENABLING LOCAL COMMUNITIES TO MAXIMIZE 

2 ECONOMIC POTENTIAL. 

3 The Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 631 et seq.) is 

4 amended— 

5 (1) in section 3(p)(1) (15 U.S.C. 632(p)(1))— 

6 (A) in subparagraph (E), by striking ‘‘or’’ 

7 at the end; 

8 (B) by redesignating subparagraph (F) as 

9 subparagraph (G); and 

10 (C) by inserting after subparagraph (E) 

11 the following: 

12 ‘‘(F) another qualified area designated by 

13 the Administrator under section 31(d); or’’; and 

14 (2) in section 31 (15 U.S.C. 657a)— 

15 (A) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub16 section (e); and 

17 (B) by inserting after subsection (c) the 

18 following: 

19 ‘‘(d) OTHER QUALIFIED AREAS.— 

20 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 

21 ‘‘(A) the term ‘covered area’ means an 

22 area in a State— 

23 ‘‘(i) that is located outside of an ur24 banized area, as determined by the Bureau 

25 of the Census; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) with a population of not more 

2 than 50,000; 

3 ‘‘(B) the term ‘governor’ means the chief 

4 executive of a State; and 

5 ‘‘(C) the term ‘State’ means each of the 

6 several States, the District of Columbia, the 

7 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Is8 lands, Guam, the Commonwealth of the North9 ern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa. 

10 ‘‘(2) DESIGNATION.—A governor may petition 

11 the Administrator to designate one or more covered 

12 areas as a HUBZone if the average unemployment 

13 rate of each covered area is not less than 120 per14 cent of the average unemployment rate of the United 

15 States or of the State in which the covered area is 

16 located, whichever is less, based on the most recent 

17 data available from the American Community Sur18 vey conducted by the Bureau of the Census. 

19 ‘‘(3) CRITERIA.—In reviewing a petition sub20 mitted by a governor under paragraph (2), the Ad21 ministrator may consider— 

22 ‘‘(A) the potential for job creation and in23 vestment; 

24 ‘‘(B) the demonstrated interest of small 

25 business concerns in the covered area to particiVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:30 Apr 25, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S929.IS S929

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1 pate in the HUBZone program established 

2 under section 31; and 

3 ‘‘(C) the consideration by State and local 

4 government officials of a HUBZone as part of 

5 an economic development strategy. 

6 ‘‘(4) PETITION.—With respect to a petition 

7 submitted by a governor to the Administrator under 

8 paragraph (2)— 

9 ‘‘(A) the governor may submit not more 

10 than 1 petition in a fiscal year unless the Ad11 ministrator determines that an additional peti12 tion from the State of the governor is appro13 priate; 

14 ‘‘(B) the governor may not submit a peti15 tion for more than 10 percent of the total num16 ber of covered areas in the State of the gov17 ernor; and 

18 ‘‘(C) if the Administrator grants the peti19 tion and designates one or more covered areas 

20 as a HUBZone, the governor shall, not less fre21 quently than annually, submit data to the Ad22 ministrator certifying that each covered area 

23 continues to meet the requirements of clauses 

24 (i) and (ii) of paragraph (1)(A). 


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1 ‘‘(5) PROCESS.—The Administrator shall estab2 lish procedures— 

3 ‘‘(A) to ensure that the Administration ac4 cepts petitions under paragraph (2) from all 

5 States each fiscal year; and 

6 ‘‘(B) to provide technical assistance, before 

7 the filing of a petition under paragraph (2), to 

8 a governor who is interested in filing such a pe9 tition.’’. 

10 SEC. 4. ENSURING TIMELY CONSIDERATION OF HUBZONE 

11 APPLICATIONS. 

12 Section 3(p)(5) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

13 632(p)(5)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(C) REVIEW OF APPLICATIONS.—Not 

15 later than 60 days after the date on which the 

16 Administrator receives an application from a 

17 small business concern to be certified as a 

18 qualified HUBZone small business concern 

19 under subparagraph (A)(i), the Administrator 

20 shall approve or deny the application.’’. 

Æ 


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