I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1014 

To provide additional relief for small business owners ordered to active duty 

as members of reserve components of the Armed Forces, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 12, 2005 

Ms. SNOWE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship 

A BILL

To provide additional relief for small business owners ordered 

to active duty as members of reserve components of 

the Armed Forces, 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 ‘‘Supporting Our Patri5 otic Businesses Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) From September 2001 through November 

9 2004, approximately 410,000 members of the re-
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1 serve components of the Armed Forces, including 

2 the National Guard and Reserves, have been mobi3 lized in support of United States military operations. 

4 (2) According to 2004 data from the Manpower 

5 Data Center of the Department of Defense, an esti6 mated 35 percent of Guard members and Reservists 

7 are either self-employed or own or are employed by 

8 a small business. 

9 (3) The majority of privately employed National 

10 Guard and Reserve members either work for a small 

11 business or are self-employed. 

12 (4) As a result of activations, many small busi13 nesses have been forced to go without their owners 

14 and key personnel for months, and sometimes years, 

15 on end. 

16 (5) The effects have been devastating to such 

17 patriotic small businesses. 

18 (6) The Office of Veterans Business Develop19 ment of the Small Business Administration has 

20 made a concerted effort to reach out to small busi21 nesses affected by deployments, but given the sheer 

22 numbers of those deployed, their resources have been 

23 stretched thin. 

24 (7) In addition, the Office of Veterans Business 

25 Development has been required to broaden its deliv-
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1 ery of services, as directed by Executive Order 

2 13360, to provide procurement training programs 

3 for service-disabled veterans. 

4 (8) This Act will help to stem the effects of Na5 tional Guard and Reservist deployments on small 

6 businesses, and better assist veterans and service7 disabled veterans with their business needs. 

8 SEC. 3. INCREASED FUNDING FOR THE OFFICE OF VET9 ERANS BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT. 

10 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Office 

11 of Veterans Business Development of the Small Business 

12 Administration, and to remain available until expended— 

13 (1) $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2006; 

14 (2) $2,100,000 for fiscal year 2007; and 

15 (3) $2,200,000 for fiscal year 2008. 

16 SEC. 4. PERMANENT EXTENSION OF SBA ADVISORY COM17 MITTEE ON VETERANS BUSINESS AFFAIRS. 

18 (a) ASSUMPTION OF DUTIES.—Section 33 of the 

19 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 657c) is amended— 

20 (1) by striking subsection (h); and 

21 (2) by redesignating subsections (i) through (k) 

22 as subsections (h) through (j), respectively. 

23 (b) PERMANENT EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY.—Sec24 tion 203 of the Veterans Entrepreneurship and Small 
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1 Business Development Act of 1999 (15 U.S.C. 657b note) 

2 is amended by striking subsection (h). 

3 SEC. 5. PROFESSIONAL AND OCCUPATIONAL LICENSING. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title VII of the Servicemembers 

5 Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. App. 591 et seq.) is amended 

6 by adding at the end the following new section: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 707. CONTINUING EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS FOR 

8 PROFESSIONAL AND OCCUPATIONAL LI9 CENSES. 

10 ‘‘(a) APPLICABILITY.—This section applies to any 

11 servicemember who, after the date of enactment of this 

12 section, is ordered to active duty (other than for training) 

13 pursuant to section 688, 12301(a), 12301(g), 12302, 

14 12304, 12306, or 12307 of title 10, United States Code, 

15 or who is ordered to active duty under section 12301(d) 

16 of such title, during a period when members are on active 

17 duty pursuant to any such section. 

18 ‘‘(b) CONTINUING EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS.—A 

19 servicemember described in subsection (a) may not be re20 quired to complete the satisfaction of any continuing edu21 cation requirements imposed with respect to the profession 

22 or occupation of the servicemember that accrue during the 

23 period of active duty of the servicemember as described 

24 in that subsection— 

25 ‘‘(1) during such period of active duty; and 
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1 ‘‘(2) during the 120-day period beginning on 

2 the date of the release of the servicemember from 

3 such period of active duty. 

4 ‘‘(c) ACTIVE DUTY DEFINED.—In this section, the 

5 term ‘active duty’ has the meaning given that term in sec6 tion 101(d) of title 10, United States Code.’’. 

7 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

8 for such Act is amended by adding at the end the following 

9 new item:

‘‘Sec. 707. Continuing education requirements for professional and occupational licenses.’’.

10 SEC. 6. RELIEF FROM TIME LIMITATIONS FOR VETERAN11 OWNED SMALL BUSINESSES. 

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

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

14 ‘‘(5) RELIEF FROM TIME LIMITATIONS.— 

15 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Any time limitation 

16 on any qualification, certification, or period of 

17 participation imposed under this Act on any 

18 program available to small business concerns 

19 shall be extended for a small business concern 

20 that— 

21 ‘‘(i) is owned and controlled by— 

22 ‘‘(I) a veteran who was called or 

23 ordered to active duty under a provi24 sion of law specified in section 
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1 101(a)(13)(B) of title 10, United 

2 States, on or after September 11, 

3 2001; or 

4 ‘‘(II) a service-disabled veteran 

5 who became such a veteran due to an 

6 injury or illness incurred or aggra7 vated in the active miliary, naval, or 

8 air service during a period of active 

9 duty pursuant to a call or order to ac10 tive duty under a provision of law re11 ferred to in subclause (I) on or after 

12 September 11, 2001; and 

13 ‘‘(ii) was subject to the time limitation 

14 during such period of active duty. 

15 ‘‘(B) DURATION.—Upon submission of 

16 proper documentation to the Administrator, the 

17 extension of a time limitation under subpara18 graph (A) shall be equal to the period of time 

19 that such veteran who owned or controlled such 

20 a concern was on active duty as described in 

21 that subparagraph.’’. 
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1 SEC. 7. COUNSELING OF MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL 

2 GUARD AND RESERVES ON NOTIFICATION OF 

3 EMPLOYERS REGARDING MOBILIZATION. 

4 (a) COUNSELING REQUIRED.—The Secretary of each 

5 military department shall provide each member of a re6 serve component of the Armed Forces under the jurisdic7 tion of the Secretary who is on active duty for a period 

8 of more than 30 days, or on the reserve active-status list, 

9 counseling on the importance of notifying such member’s 

10 employer on a timely basis of any call or order of such 

11 member to active duty other than for training. 

12 (b) FREQUENCY OF COUNSELING.—Each member of 

13 the Armed Forces described in subsection (a) shall be pro14 vided the counseling required by that subsection not less 

15 often than once each year. 

16 SEC. 8. STUDY ON OPTIONS FOR IMPROVING TIMELY NO17 TICE OF EMPLOYERS OF MEMBERS OF THE 

18 NATIONAL GUARD AND RESERVES REGARD19 ING MOBILIZATION. 

20 (a) STUDY REQUIRED.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Defense 

22 shall conduct a study of the feasibility and advis23 ability of various options for improving the time in 

24 which employers of members of the reserve compo25 nents of the Armed Forces are notified of the call 
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1 or order of such members to active duty other than 

2 for training. 

3 (2) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the study under 

4 paragraph (1) shall be to identify mechanisms, if 

5 any, for eliminating or reducing the time between— 

6 (A) the date of the call or order of mem7 bers of the reserve components of the Armed 

8 Forces to active duty; and 

9 (B) the date on which employers of such 

10 members are notified of the call or order of 

11 such members to active duty. 

12 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 

13 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 

14 to the appropriate committees of Congress a report on the 

15 study conducted under subsection (a). The report shall in16 clude— 

17 (1) a description of the study, including the op18 tions addressed under the study; and 

19 (2) such recommendations for legislative or ad20 ministrative action as the Secretary considers appro21 priate in light of the results of the study. 

22 (c) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CONGRESS DE23 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate commit24 tees of Congress’’ means— 
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1 (1) the Committees on Armed Services and 

2 Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate; 

3 and 

4 (2) the Committees on Armed Services and 

5 Small Business of the House of Representatives.

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