I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 10361 

To amend the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965 to 

establish the Capacity Building for Business Districts Pilot Program, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 11, 2024 

Mr. EZELL (for himself and Mr. CARTER of Louisiana) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and 

Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committee on Financial Services, 

for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 

for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 

committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Works and Economic Development 

Act of 1965 to establish the Capacity Building for Business Districts Pilot Program, and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Capacity Building for 

5 Business Districts Pilot Program Act of 2024’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Vibrant and prosperous business districts 

2 are vital components of thriving communities, pro3 viding critical commercial goods and services to com4 munity residents. 

5 (2) Business districts contribute to the vitality, 

6 character, and identity of urban neighborhoods, 

7 small towns, and rural and Native communities. 

8 (3) Business districts drive entrepreneurship, 

9 local business ownership, economic growth, and job 

10 creation. 

11 (4) Business districts are an essential part of 

12 the economic development ecosystem for towns, cities 

13 and rural communities, helping to attract con14 sumers, visitors, new residents and new businesses 

15 to those communities and neighborhoods. 

16 (5) Locally based business district organizations 

17 are well positioned to provide technical assistance 

18 and support to small and underserved businesses, 

19 while also helping to attract customers for those 

20 businesses by shaping and nurturing the physical en21 vironment of the business districts. 

22 (6) Locally based business district organizations 

23 need technical assistance and flexible capital to sup24 port their ongoing operations, and cannot readily ac25 cess these funds from existing programs at the EcoVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:36 Jan 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H10361.IH H10361

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1 nomic Development Administration due to the rel2 atively small scale and highly local scope of their op3 erations. 

4 (7) There exists a substantial number of inter5 mediary organizations that are well positioned to re6 ceive and responsibly deploy funding from the Eco7 nomic Development Administration to currently 

8 unserved or underserved business district organiza9 tions for capacity building grants, technical assist10 ance, training, and dissemination of best practices. 

11 SEC. 3. CAPACITY BUILDING FOR BUSINESS DISTRICTS 

12 PILOT PROGRAM. 

13 Section 207 of the Public Works and Economic De14 velopment Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3147) is amended— 

15 (1) in subsection (a)(2)— 

16 (A) by redesignating subparagraph (I) as 

17 subparagraph (J); 

18 (B) in subparagraph (H) by striking the 

19 ‘‘and’’ at the end and inserting the following: 

20 ‘‘(I) carrying out the pilot program estab21 lished under subsection (c); and’’; and 

22 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

23 ‘‘(c) CAPACITY BUILDING FOR BUSINESS DISTRICTS

24 PILOT PROGRAM.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Within the program au2 thorized under subsection (a), the Secretary shall es3 tablish a pilot program, to be known as the ‘Capac4 ity Building for Business Districts Pilot Program’. 

5 ‘‘(2) GRANTS.—The Secretary may award to 

6 specified recipients Capacity Building for Business 

7 Districts Pilot Program grants, on a competitive 

8 basis, to carry out place-based initiatives that pro9 vide specialized technical assistance, capacity build10 ing, and related services to eligible subrecipients that 

11 support business district revitalization in low-income, 

12 rural, minority and Native communities. 

13 ‘‘(3) MULTIPLE AWARDS.—In providing assist14 ance under this subsection, the Secretary shall make 

15 multiple awards to multiple organizations. 

16 ‘‘(4) ADMINISTRATION.—The Secretary may 

17 not carry out this subsection through a regional of18 fice. 

19 ‘‘(5) PRIORITIZATION.—The Secretary shall en20 sure a broad geographic distribution of award activi21 ties, and give priority to an applicant— 

22 ‘‘(A) that would serve a distressed commu23 nity in an area described under section 301(a), 

24 including rural communities and Indian Tribes; 

25 and 


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1 ‘‘(B) that has the demonstrated capacity to 

2 serve multiple States or multiple geographies 

3 within a State. 

4 ‘‘(6) REPORTING.—Specified recipients shall 

5 submit to the Secretary (at such time and in such 

6 manner as the Secretary may prescribe, but no more 

7 frequently than annually) a report specifying— 

8 ‘‘(A) the names and addresses of eligible 

9 subrecipients receiving services and support 

10 from the specified recipient; 

11 ‘‘(B) the use of funds by the specified re12 cipient, including direct technical assistance and 

13 pass-through grant funds; 

14 ‘‘(C) the use of funds by the eligible sub15 recipients, including internal operations, direct 

16 services to businesses, and district revitalization 

17 activities; 

18 ‘‘(D) the specific geographic areas served 

19 by the eligible subrecipients; 

20 ‘‘(E) the name, address, and industry as 

21 determined by the North American Industry 

22 Classification System, of each entity receiving 

23 assistance from eligible subrecipients; 

24 ‘‘(F) the total number of jobs created and 

25 retained during the reporting period; and 


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1 ‘‘(G) any other information as the Sec2 retary considers appropriate consistent with the 

3 findings under section 2 of the Capacity Build4 ing for Business Districts Pilot Program Act of 

5 2024. 

6 ‘‘(7) TERM.—The term of an initial grant shall 

7 be for a period that the Secretary determines appro8 priate for the proposed activities but not less than 

9 2 years. 

10 ‘‘(8) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

11 ‘‘(A) BUSINESS DISTRICT.—The term 

12 ‘business district’ means a geographic area, 

13 which may have been designated as a business 

14 district by a State, county, regional or local 

15 unit of government, that is characterized by 

16 dense development, efficient land use, and a 

17 concentration of small businesses, economic ac18 tivity, and employment opportunities or an area 

19 that could contain such concentration, including 

20 a rural main street or neighborhood commercial 

21 corridor. 

22 ‘‘(B) BUSINESS DISTRICT ORGANIZA23 TION.—The term ‘business district organiza24 tion’ means a public or nonprofit entity located 

25 in a business district and established to provide 


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1 services to the business district to promote the 

2 district, attract private investment and create 

3 jobs, and enhance the physical environment 

4 through property development and planning ac5 tivities. 

6 ‘‘(C) CAPACITY BUILDING.—The term ‘ca7 pacity building’ means training, education, sup8 port, advice, and the provision of operating 

9 grants to enhance the technical and administra10 tive capabilities of business district organiza11 tions. 

12 ‘‘(D) ELIGIBLE SUBRECIPIENT.—The term 

13 ‘eligible subrecipient’ means a business district 

14 organization that— 

15 ‘‘(i) is an organization that— 

16 ‘‘(I) is described in paragraph 

17 (3), (4), (5), or (6) of section 501(c) 

18 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 

19 and is exempt from taxation under 

20 section 501(a) of such Code; or 

21 ‘‘(II) is a public entity; and 

22 ‘‘(ii) provides services to a business 

23 district located in an area described under 

24 section 301(a) to support economic devel25 opment, including providing business supVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:02 Jan 13, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H10361.IH H10361

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1 port services and physical space enhance2 ments to such district. 

3 ‘‘(E) SPECIFIED RECIPIENT.—The term 

4 ‘specified recipient’ means an organization 

5 that— 

6 ‘‘(i) is described in paragraph (3), (4), 

7 (5), or (6) of section 501(c) of the Internal 

8 Revenue Code of 1986 and is exempt from 

9 taxation under section 501(a) of such 

10 Code; 

11 ‘‘(ii) operates, including through affili12 ates, membership networks or partnerships 

13 with third party entities, in multiple geo14 graphic areas served by multiple regional 

15 offices of the Economic Development Ad16 ministration; and 

17 ‘‘(iii) has experience and expertise in 

18 providing technical assistance and exe19 cuting capacity building programs in sup20 port of business district organizations and 

21 similar community-based organizations 

22 that focus on revitalizing business districts 

23 and commercial corridors, including 


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1 through support of underserved small busi2 nesses.’’. 

Æ 


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