I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2284 

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 

MAY 10, 2007 

Mr. UDALL of New Mexico (for himself, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. RENZI, Mr. 

MORAN of Virginia, Mr. MICHAUD, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. HERSETH

SANDLIN, Mr. HONDA, Ms. MCCOLLUM of Minnesota, Mr. WU, and Mr. 

MOORE of Kansas) 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, 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) The rate for American Indians and Alaskan 

6 Natives living below 50 percent the poverty level is 


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1 11.2 percent, nearly double the rate of the general 

2 population. 

3 (2) The unemployment rate for American Indi4 ans and Alaskan Natives 16 years and over is 13.6 

5 percent, nearly double the rate of the general popu6 lation. 

7 (3) Indian tribe members and Alaska Natives 

8 own more than 201,000 businesses and generate 

9 more than $26,000,000,000 in revenues. The con10 struction industry accounted for 16 percent of these 

11 businesses and 22.5 percent of their total receipts. 

12 The next largest was the service industry (13.2 per13 cent and 3.4 percent, respectively). The third largest 

14 was the health care and social assistance industry 

15 (12.1 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively). 

16 (4) The Small Business Development Center 

17 program is cost effective. Clients receiving long-term 

18 counseling under the program in 2005 generated ad19 ditional tax revenues of $248,000,000, nearly 2.8 

20 times the cost of the program to the Federal Gov21 ernment. 

22 (5) Using the existing infrastructure of the 

23 Small Business Development Center program, small 

24 businesses owned by Indian tribe members, Alaska 

25 Natives, and Native Hawaiians receiving services 


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1 under the program will have a higher survival rate 

2 than the average small business not receiving such 

3 services. 

4 (6) Business counseling and technical assist5 ance is critical on Indian lands where similar serv6 ices are scarce and expensive. 

7 (7) Increased assistance through counseling 

8 under the Small Business Development Center pro9 gram has been shown to reduce the default rate as10 sociated with lending programs of the Small Busi11 ness Administration. 

12 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are as fol13 lows: 

14 (1) To stimulate economies on Indian lands. 

15 (2) To foster economic development on Indian 

16 lands. 

17 (3) To assist in the creation of new small busi18 nesses owned by Indian tribe members, Alaska Na19 tives, and Native Hawaiians and expand existing 

20 ones. 

21 (4) To provide management, technical, and re22 search assistance to small businesses owned by In23 dian tribe members, Alaska Natives, and Native Ha24 waiians. 


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

2 on where small business development assistance is 

3 most needed. 

4 (6) To ensure that Indian tribe members, Alas5 ka Natives, and Native Hawaiians have full access 

6 to existing business counseling and technical assist7 ance available through the Small Business Develop8 ment Center program. 

9 SEC. 2. SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER ASSIST10 ANCE TO INDIAN TRIBE MEMBERS, ALASKA 

11 NATIVES, AND NATIVE HAWAIIANS. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 21(a) of the Small Busi13 ness Act (15 U.S.C. 648(a)) is amended by adding at the 

14 end the following: 

15 ‘‘(8) ADDITIONAL GRANT TO ASSIST INDIAN

16 TRIBE MEMBERS, ALASKA NATIVES, AND NATIVE HA17 WAIIANS.— 

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

19 eligible State that is funded by the Administra20 tion as a Small Business Development Center 

21 may apply for an additional grant to be used 

22 solely to provide services described in subsection 

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

24 enhancement on Indian lands of small business 

25 startups and expansions owned by Indian tribe 


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1 members, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawai2 ians. 

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

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

5 that has a combined population of Indian tribe 

6 members, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawai7 ians that comprises at least 1 percent of the 

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

9 available census. 

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

11 for a grant under subparagraph (A) shall sub12 mit to the Administration an application that is 

13 in such form as the Administration may re14 quire. The application shall include information 

15 regarding the applicant’s goals and objectives 

16 for the services to be provided using the grant, 

17 including— 

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

19 provide training and services to a rep20 resentative number of Indian tribe mem21 bers, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawai22 ians; 

23 ‘‘(ii) the location of the Small Busi24 ness Development Center site proposed by 

25 the applicant; 


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1 ‘‘(iii) the required amount of grant 

2 funding needed by the applicant to imple3 ment the program; and 

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

5 has consulted with local Tribal Councils. 

6 ‘‘(D) APPLICABILITY OF GRANT REQUIRE7 MENTS.—An applicant for a grant under sub8 paragraph (A) shall comply with all of the re9 quirements of this section, except that the 

10 matching funds requirements under paragraph 

11 (4)(A) shall not apply. 

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

13 applicant may receive more than $300,000 in 

14 grants under this paragraph for one fiscal year. 

15 ‘‘(F) REGULATIONS.—After providing no16 tice and an opportunity for comment and after 

17 consulting with the Association recognized by 

18 the Administration pursuant to paragraph 

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

20 date of enactment of this paragraph), the Ad21 ministration shall issue final regulations to 

22 carry out this paragraph, including regulations 

23 that establish— 

24 ‘‘(i) standards relating to educational, 

25 technical, and support services to be proVerDate Aug 31 2005 20:25 May 11, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2284.IH H2284

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1 vided by Small Business Development Cen2 ters receiving assistance under this para3 graph; and 

4 ‘‘(ii) standards relating to any work 

5 plan that the Administration may require a 

6 Small Business Development Center receiv7 ing assistance under this paragraph to de8 velop. 

9 ‘‘(G) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the 

10 following definitions apply: 

11 ‘‘(i) INDIAN LANDS.—The term ‘In12 dian lands’ has the meaning given the term 

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

14 United States Code, the meaning given the 

15 term ‘Indian reservation’ in section 151.2 

16 of title 25, Code of Federal Regulations 

17 (as in effect on the date of enactment of 

18 this paragraph), and the meaning given 

19 the term ‘reservation’ in section 4 of the 

20 Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (25 

21 U.S.C. 1903). 

22 ‘‘(ii) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘In23 dian tribe’ means any band, nation, or or24 ganized group or community of Indians lo25 cated in the contiguous United States, and 


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1 the Metlakatla Indian Community, whose 

2 members are recognized as eligible for the 

3 services provided to Indians by the Sec4 retary of the Interior because of their sta5 tus as Indians. 

6 ‘‘(iii) INDIAN TRIBE MEMBER.—The 

7 term ‘Indian tribe member’ means a mem8 ber of an Indian tribe (other than a Alaska 

9 Native). 

10 ‘‘(iv) ALASKA NATIVE.—The term 

11 ‘Alaska Native’ has the meaning given the 

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

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

14 1602(b)). 

15 ‘‘(v) NATIVE HAWAIIAN.—The term 

16 ‘Native Hawaiian’ means any individual 

17 who is— 

18 ‘‘(I) a citizen of the United 

19 States; and 

20 ‘‘(II) a descendant of the aborigi21 nal people, who prior to 1778, occu22 pied and exercised sovereignty in the 

23 area that now constitutes the State of 

24 Hawaii. 


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1 ‘‘(vi) TRIBAL ORGANIZATION.—The 

2 term ‘tribal organization’ has the meaning 

3 given that term in section 4(l) of the In4 dian Self-Determination and Education 

5 Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b(l)). 

6 ‘‘(H) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA7 TIONS.—There is authorized to be appropriated 

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

9 of fiscal years 2008 through 2010. 

10 ‘‘(I) FUNDING LIMITATIONS.— 

11 ‘‘(i) NONAPPLICABILITY OF CERTAIN

12 LIMITATIONS.—Funding under this para13 graph shall be in addition to the dollar 

14 program limitations specified in paragraph 

15 (4). 

16 ‘‘(ii) LIMITATION ON USE OF

17 FUNDS.—The Administration may carry 

18 out this paragraph only with amounts ap19 propriated in advance specifically to carry 

20 out this paragraph.’’. 

21 SEC. 3. STATE CONSULTATION WITH TRIBAL ORGANIZA22 TIONS. 

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

24 648(c)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(9) ADVICE OF LOCAL TRIBAL ORGANIZA2 TIONS.—A Small Business Development Center re3 ceiving a grant under this section shall request the 

4 advice of tribal organization on how best to provide 

5 assistance to Indian tribe members, Alaska Natives, 

6 and Native Hawaiians and where to locate satellite 

7 centers to provide such assistance.’’. 

Æ 


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