IIB 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2284 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 21, 2007 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and 

Entrepreneurship 

AN ACT 

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, 


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1 SECTION 1. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 

2 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) The rate for American Indians and Alaskan 

4 Natives living below 50 percent the poverty level is 

5 11.2 percent, nearly double the rate of the general 

6 population. 

7 (2) The unemployment rate for American Indi8 ans and Alaskan Natives 16 years and over is 13.6 

9 percent, nearly double the rate of the general popu10 lation. 

11 (3) Indian tribe members and Alaska Natives 

12 own more than 201,000 businesses and generate 

13 more than $26,000,000,000 in revenues. The con14 struction industry accounted for 16 percent of these 

15 businesses and 22.5 percent of their total receipts. 

16 The next largest was the service industry (13.2 per17 cent and 3.4 percent, respectively). The third largest 

18 was the health care and social assistance industry 

19 (12.1 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively). 

20 (4) The Small Business Development Center 

21 program is cost effective. Clients receiving long-term 

22 counseling under the program in 2005 generated ad23 ditional tax revenues of $248,000,000, nearly 2.8 

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, Alaska 

4 Natives, 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, Alaska Na23 tives, 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, Alaska Natives, and Native Ha4 waiians. 

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, Alas9 ka Natives, 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, ALASKA 

15 NATIVES, 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, ALASKA NATIVES, AND NATIVE HA21 WAIIANS.— 

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, Alaska Natives, 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, Alaska Natives, 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 Administration an application that is 

17 in such form as the Administration may re18 quire. The application shall include information 

19 regarding the applicant’s goals and objectives 

20 for the services to be provided using the grant, 

21 including— 

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

23 provide training and services to a rep24 resentative number of Indian tribe memVerDate Aug 31 2005 05:35 Jun 22, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2284.RFS H2284

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1 bers, Alaska Natives, 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 under 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 for one 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 AdVerDate Aug 31 2005 05:35 Jun 22, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2284.RFS H2284

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1 ministration shall issue final regulations to 

2 carry out this paragraph, including regulations 

3 that 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 Administration may require a 

11 Small Business Development Center receiv12 ing assistance under this paragraph to de13 velop. 

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

15 following definitions apply: 

16 ‘‘(i) INDIAN LANDS.—The term ‘In17 dian lands’ has the meaning given the term 

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

19 United States Code, the meaning given the 

20 term ‘Indian reservation’ in section 151.2 

21 of title 25, Code of Federal Regulations 

22 (as in effect on the date of enactment of 

23 this paragraph), and the meaning given 

24 the term ‘reservation’ in section 4 of the 


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1 Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (25 

2 U.S.C. 1903). 

3 ‘‘(ii) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘In4 dian tribe’ means any band, nation, or or5 ganized group or community of Indians lo6 cated in the contiguous United States, and 

7 the Metlakatla Indian Community, whose 

8 members are recognized as eligible for the 

9 services provided to Indians by the Sec10 retary of the Interior because of their sta11 tus as Indians. 

12 ‘‘(iii) INDIAN TRIBE MEMBER.—The 

13 term ‘Indian tribe member’ means a mem14 ber of an Indian tribe (other than a Alaska 

15 Native). 

16 ‘‘(iv) ALASKA NATIVE.—The term 

17 ‘Alaska Native’ has the meaning given the 

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

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

20 1602(b)). 

21 ‘‘(v) NATIVE HAWAIIAN.—The term 

22 ‘Native Hawaiian’ means any individual 

23 who is— 

24 ‘‘(I) a citizen of the United 

25 States; and 


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1 ‘‘(II) a descendant of the aborigi2 nal people, who prior to 1778, occu3 pied and exercised sovereignty in the 

4 area that now constitutes the State of 

5 Hawaii. 

6 ‘‘(vi) TRIBAL ORGANIZATION.—The 

7 term ‘tribal organization’ has the meaning 

8 given that term in section 4(l) of the In9 dian Self-Determination and Education 

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

11 ‘‘(H) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA12 TIONS.—There is authorized to be appropriated 

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

14 of fiscal years 2008 through 2010. 

15 ‘‘(I) FUNDING LIMITATIONS.— 

16 ‘‘(i) NONAPPLICABILITY OF CERTAIN

17 LIMITATIONS.—Funding under this para18 graph shall be in addition to the dollar 

19 program limitations specified in paragraph 

20 (4). 

21 ‘‘(ii) LIMITATION ON USE OF

22 FUNDS.—The Administration may carry 

23 out this paragraph only with amounts ap24 propriated in advance specifically to carry 

25 out this paragraph.’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. STATE CONSULTATION WITH TRIBAL ORGANIZA2 TIONS. 

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

4 648(c)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘(9) ADVICE OF LOCAL TRIBAL ORGANIZA6 TIONS.—A Small Business Development Center re7 ceiving a grant under this section shall request the 

8 advice of tribal organization on how best to provide 

9 assistance to Indian tribe members, Alaska Natives, 

10 and Native Hawaiians and where to locate satellite 

11 centers to provide such assistance.’’. 

Passed the House of Representatives June 20, 2007. 

Attest: LORRAINE C. MILLER, 

Clerk. 


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