II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 904 

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 

MARCH 15, 2007 

Ms. SNOWE (for herself, Mr. PRYOR, and Mr. CRAIG) 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 ‘‘Veterans Small Busi5 ness Opportunity Act of 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act— 


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1 (1) the term ‘‘active duty’’ has the meaning 

2 given that term in section 101 of title 10, United 

3 States Code; 

4 (2) the terms ‘‘Administration’’ and ‘‘Adminis5 trator’’ means the Small Business Administration 

6 and the Administrator thereof, respectively; 

7 (3) the term ‘‘member of the Guard or Re8 serve’’ means a member of a reserve component of 

9 the Armed Forces, as defined in section 101 of title 

10 10, United States Code; 

11 (4) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 

12 of Defense; and 

13 (5) the terms ‘‘service-disabled veteran’’, ‘‘small 

14 business concern’’, ‘‘small business concern owned 

15 and controlled by service-disabled veterans’’, ‘‘small 

16 business concern owned and controlled by veterans’’, 

17 and ‘‘veteran’’ have the meanings given those terms 

18 in section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

19 632). 

20 SEC. 3. RELIEF FROM TIME LIMITATIONS FOR VETERAN21 OWNED SMALL BUSINESSES. 

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

23 632(q)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

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


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

2 on any qualification, certification, or period of 

3 participation imposed under this Act on any 

4 program available to small business concerns 

5 shall be extended for a small business concern 

6 that— 

7 ‘‘(i) is owned and controlled by— 

8 ‘‘(I) a veteran who was called or 

9 ordered to active duty under a provi10 sion of law specified in section 

11 101(a)(13)(B) of title 10, United 

12 States Code, on or after September 

13 11, 2001; or 

14 ‘‘(II) a service-disabled veteran 

15 who became such a veteran due to an 

16 injury or illness incurred or aggra17 vated in the active military, naval, or 

18 air service during a period of active 

19 duty pursuant to a call or order to ac20 tive duty under a provision of law re21 ferred to in subclause (I) on or after 

22 September 11, 2001; and 

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

24 during such period of active duty. 


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1 ‘‘(B) DURATION.—Upon submission of 

2 proper documentation to the Administrator, the 

3 extension of a time limitation under subpara4 graph (A) shall be equal to the period of time 

5 that such veteran who owned or controlled such 

6 a concern was on active duty as described in 

7 that subparagraph.’’. 

8 SEC. 4. STUDY ON OPTIONS FOR PROMOTING POSITIVE 

9 WORKING RELATIONS BETWEEN EMPLOYERS 

10 AND THEIR RESERVE COMPONENT EMPLOY11 EES. 

12 (a) STUDY REQUIRED.—The Secretary shall conduct 

13 a study on options for promoting positive working rela14 tions between employers and Reserve component employ15 ees of such employers, including assessing options for im16 proving the time in which employers of members of the 

17 Guard or Reserve are notified of the call or order of such 

18 members to active duty other than for training. 

19 (b) REPORT.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

21 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec22 retary shall submit to the appropriate committees of 

23 Congress a report on the study conducted under 

24 subsection (a). 


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1 (2) CONTENTS.—The report submitted under 

2 paragraph (1) shall— 

3 (A) describe what measures, if any, are 

4 being taken to inform members of the Guard or 

5 Reserve of the obligations and responsibilities of 

6 such members to their employers; 

7 (B) how effective such measures have been; 

8 and 

9 (C) whether there are additional measures 

10 that could be taken to promote positive working 

11 relations between members of the Guard or Re12 serve and their employers, including any steps 

13 that could be taken to ensure that employers 

14 are timely notified of a call to active duty. 

15 (c) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CONGRESS DE16 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate commit17 tees of Congress’’ means— 

18 (1) the Committee on Armed Services and the 

19 Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship 

20 of the Senate; and 

21 (2) the Committee on Armed Services and the 

22 Committee on Small Business of the House of Rep23 resentatives. 

24 SEC. 5. LOANS. 

25 (a) GUARD AND RESERVE LOANS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 7(b)(3) of the Small 

2 Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)(3)) is amended— 

3 (A) in subparagraph (E), by striking 

4 ‘‘$1,500,000’’ each place such term appears 

5 and inserting ‘‘$2,000,000’’; and 

6 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(G) Notwithstanding any other provision 

8 of law, a loan not greater than $25,000 may be 

9 made under this paragraph without collateral.’’. 

10 (2) LOAN INFORMATION.— 

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator and 

12 the Secretary shall develop a joint website and 

13 printed materials providing information regard14 ing any program for small business concerns 

15 that is available to veterans or Members of the 

16 Guard or Reserve. 

17 (B) MARKETING.—The Administrator is 

18 authorized— 

19 (i) to advertise and promote the pro20 gram under section 7(b)(3) of the Small 

21 Business Act jointly with the Secretary 

22 and veterans’ service organizations; and 

23 (ii) to advertise and promote partici24 pation by lenders in such program jointly 


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1 with trade associations for banks or other 

2 lending institutions. 

3 (b) STUDY.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator and the 

5 Secretary shall jointly conduct a study of the feasi6 bility of increasing the utilization of credit unions af7 filiated with the Department of Defense in programs 

8 administered by the Administrator. 

9 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 6 months after 

10 the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator 

11 and the Secretary shall submit a joint report to the 

12 Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship 

13 of the Senate and the Committee on Small Business 

14 of the House of Representatives regarding the study 

15 conducted under paragraph (1). 

16 SEC. 6. INCREASED FUNDING FOR THE OFFICE OF VET17 ERANS BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT. 

18 Section 32 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

19 657b) is amended by striking subsection (c) and inserting 

20 the following: 

21 ‘‘(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

22 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out subsections 

23 (a) and (b), to remain available until expended— 

24 ‘‘(1) $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2008; 

25 ‘‘(2) $2,100,000 for fiscal year 2009; and 


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1 ‘‘(3) $2,200,000 for fiscal year 2010.’’. 

2 SEC. 7. INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE. 

3 Section 32 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

4 657b) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘(d) INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE.— 

6 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 90 days 

7 after the date of enactment of the Veterans Small 

8 Business Opportunity Act of 2007, the President 

9 shall establish an interagency task force to coordi10 nate the efforts of Federal agencies necessary to in11 crease capital and business development opportuni12 ties for, and increase the award of Federal con13 tracting and subcontracting opportunities to, small 

14 business concerns owned and controlled by service15 disabled veterans and small business concerns owned 

16 and controlled by veterans (in this section referred 

17 to as the ‘task force’). 

18 ‘‘(2) MEMBERSHIP.—The members of the task 

19 force shall include— 

20 ‘‘(A) the Administrator, who shall serve as 

21 chairperson of the task force; and 

22 ‘‘(B) a representative from— 

23 ‘‘(i) the Department of Veterans Af24 fairs; 

25 ‘‘(ii) the Department of Defense; 


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1 ‘‘(iii) the Administration (in addition 

2 to the Administrator); 

3 ‘‘(iv) the Department of Labor; 

4 ‘‘(v) the General Services Administra5 tion; and 

6 ‘‘(vi) the Office of Management and 

7 Budget. 

8 ‘‘(3) DUTIES.—The task force shall coordinate 

9 administrative and regulatory activities and develop 

10 proposals relating to— 

11 ‘‘(A) increasing capital access and capacity 

12 of small business concerns owned and controlled 

13 by service-disabled veterans and small business 

14 concerns owned and controlled by veterans 

15 through loans, surety bonding, and franchising; 

16 ‘‘(B) increasing access to Federal con17 tracting and subcontracting for small business 

18 concerns owned and controlled by service-dis19 abled veterans and small business concerns 

20 owned and controlled by veterans through in21 creased use of contract reservations, expanded 

22 mentor-prote ́ge ́ assistance, and matching such 

23 small business concerns with contracting oppor24 tunities; 


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1 ‘‘(C) increasing the integrity of certifi2 cations of status as a small business concern 

3 owned and controlled by service-disabled vet4 erans or a small business concern owned and 

5 controlled by veterans; 

6 ‘‘(D) reducing paperwork and administra7 tive burdens on veterans in accessing business 

8 development and entrepreneurship opportuni9 ties; and 

10 ‘‘(E) making other improvements relating 

11 to the support for veterans business develop12 ment by the Federal Government. 

13 ‘‘(4) REPORTING.—The task force shall submit 

14 an annual report regarding its activities and pro15 posals to— 

16 ‘‘(A) the Committee on Small Business 

17 and Entrepreneurship and the Committee on 

18 Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate; and 

19 ‘‘(B) the Committee on Small Business 

20 and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the 

21 House of Representatives.’’. 

22 SEC. 8. VETERAN-OWNED BUSINESS DATABASE IMPROVE23 MENTS. 

24 (a) ELIMINATION OF DUPLICATIVE REGISTRA25 TIONS.—Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 


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1 of this Act, the Administrator and the Secretary of Vet2 erans Affairs shall review any registration database oper3 ated by the Administration or the Department of Veterans 

4 Affairs (including the Pro-Net database of the Adminis5 tration, the Vendor Information Pages database of the De6 partment of Veterans Affairs, or any successor to either 

7 such database) and take appropriate action to ensure that 

8 one-stop online registration for all such databases is avail9 able to small business concerns owned and controlled by 

10 service-disabled veterans and small business concerns 

11 owned and controlled by veterans seeking to participate 

12 in Federal contracting and subcontracting. 

13 (b) CERTIFICATION INTEGRITY.—The Administrator 

14 and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall establish cri15 teria for the one-stop online registration described in sub16 section (a) that are in accordance with the requirements 

17 under any provision of law relating to the definitions of, 

18 certifications by, or representations of status as a small 

19 business concern owned and controlled by service-disabled 

20 veterans or a small business concern owned and controlled 

21 by veterans. 

22 SEC. 9. BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND MENTOR-PROTE ́ GE ́

23 ASSISTANCE. 

24 Section 36 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

25 657f) is amended— 


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1 (1) by redesignating subsection (e) as sub2 section (g); and 

3 (2) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(e) BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND MENTOR6 PROTE ́GE ́ ASSISTANCE.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.— 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara9 graph (B), the Administrator, in cooperation 

10 with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, may de11 velop a program for business development as12 sistance (including mentor-prote ́ge ́ assistance) 

13 for small business concerns owned and con14 trolled by service-disabled veterans (in this sub15 section referred to as the ‘program’). 

16 ‘‘(B) CONDITION.—In implementing the 

17 program, the Administrator shall take steps to 

18 ensure that the program helps to expand con19 tracting opportunities for small business con20 cerns owned and controlled by service-disabled 

21 veterans, while ensuring the continued success 

22 of procurement programs for other small busi23 ness concerns. 

24 ‘‘(2) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the 

25 date of enactment of the Veterans Small Business 


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1 Opportunity Act of 2007, the Administrator shall 

2 submit to the Committee on Small Business and En3 trepreneurship of the Senate and the Committee on 

4 Small Business of the House of Representatives, a 

5 report regarding— 

6 ‘‘(A) the feasibility of establishing and ad7 ministering the program; and 

8 ‘‘(B) the terms of assistance and internal 

9 controls proposed for the program.’’. 

10 SEC. 10. COMPLIANCE WITH EXECUTIVE ORDER 13360. 

11 Section 36 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

12 657f) is amended by inserting after subsection (e), as 

13 added by this Act, the following: 

14 ‘‘(f) EXECUTIVE ORDER 13360.—Implementation of 

15 this section shall be consistent with the requirements of 

16 Executive Order 13360 (69 Fed. Reg. 62549; relating to 

17 providing opportunities for service-disabled veteran-owned 

18 businesses), as in effect on October 20, 2004.’’. 

Æ 


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