IIB 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1834 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 20, 2009 

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 to Indian tribe members, Alaska 

Natives, and Native Hawaiians, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Native American Busi3 ness Development Enhancement Act of 2009’’. 

4 SEC. 2. OFFICE OF NATIVE AMERICAN AFFAIRS; TRIBAL 

5 BUSINESS INFORMATION CENTERS PRO6 GRAM. 

7 (a) ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR.—Section 4(b)(1) of 

8 the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 633(b)(1)) is amend9 ed— 

10 (1) by striking ‘‘five Associate Administrators’’ 

11 and inserting ‘‘six Associate Administrators’’; and 

12 (2) by inserting after ‘‘vested in the Adminis13 tration.’’ the following: ‘‘One such Associate Admin14 istrator shall be the Associate Administrator for Na15 tive American Affairs, who shall administer the Of16 fice of Native American Affairs established under 

17 section 44.’’. 

18 (b) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Small Business Act (15 

19 U.S.C. 631 et seq.) is amended— 

20 (1) by redesignating section 44 as section 45; 

21 and 

22 (2) by inserting after section 43 the following: 

23 ‘‘SEC. 44. OFFICE OF NATIVE AMERICAN AFFAIRS AND 

24 TRIBAL BUSINESS INFORMATION CENTERS 

25 PROGRAM. 

26 ‘‘(a) OFFICE OF NATIVE AMERICAN AFFAIRS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in 

2 the Administration an Office of Native American Af3 fairs (hereinafter referred to in this subsection as 

4 the ‘Office’). 

5 ‘‘(2) ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR.—The Office 

6 shall be administered by an Associate Administrator 

7 appointed under section 4(b)(1). 

8 ‘‘(3) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The Office shall have 

9 the following responsibilities: 

10 ‘‘(A) Developing and implementing tools 

11 and strategies to increase Native American en12 trepreneurship. 

13 ‘‘(B) Expanding the access of Native 

14 American entrepreneurs to business training, fi15 nancing, and Federal small business contracts. 

16 ‘‘(C) Expanding outreach to Native Amer17 ican communities and marketing entrepre18 neurial development services to such commu19 nities. 

20 ‘‘(D) Representing the Administration with 

21 respect to Native American economic develop22 ment matters. 

23 ‘‘(4) COORDINATION AND OVERSIGHT FUNC24 TION.—The Office shall provide oversight with re25 spect to and assist the implementation of all AdminVerDate Nov 24 2008 03:19 Nov 21, 2009 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1834.RFS H1834

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1 istration initiatives relating to Native American en2 trepreneurial development. 

3 ‘‘(5) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

4 To carry out this subsection, there is authorized to 

5 be appropriated to the Administrator $2,000,000 for 

6 each of fiscal years 2010 and 2011. 

7 ‘‘(b) TRIBAL BUSINESS INFORMATION CENTERS

8 PROGRAM.— 

9 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator is 

10 authorized to operate, alone or in coordination with 

11 other Federal departments and agencies, a Tribal 

12 Business Information Centers program that provides 

13 Native American populations with business training 

14 and entrepreneurial development assistance. 

15 ‘‘(2) DESIGNATION OF CENTERS.—The Admin16 istrator shall designate entities as centers under the 

17 Tribal Business Information Centers program. 

18 ‘‘(3) ADMINISTRATION SUPPORT.—The Admin19 istrator may contribute agency personnel and re20 sources to the centers designated under paragraph 

21 (2) to carry out this subsection. 

22 ‘‘(4) GRANT PROGRAM.—The Administrator is 

23 authorized to make grants of not more than 

24 $300,000 to centers designated under paragraph (2) 


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1 for the purpose of providing Native Americans the 

2 following: 

3 ‘‘(A) Business workshops. 

4 ‘‘(B) Individualized business counseling. 

5 ‘‘(C) Entrepreneurial development train6 ing. 

7 ‘‘(D) Access to computer technology and 

8 other resources to start or expand a business. 

9 ‘‘(5) REGULATIONS.—The Administrator shall 

10 by regulation establish a process for designating cen11 ters under paragraph (2) and making the grants au12 thorized under paragraph (4). 

13 ‘‘(6) DEFINITION OF ADMINISTRATOR.—In this 

14 subsection, the term ‘Administrator’ means the Ad15 ministrator, acting through the Associate Adminis16 trator administering the Office of Native American 

17 Affairs. 

18 ‘‘(7) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

19 To carry out this subsection, there is authorized to 

20 be appropriated to the Administrator $15,000,000 

21 for fiscal year 2010 and $17,000,000 for fiscal year 

22 2011. 

23 ‘‘(c) DEFINITION OF NATIVE AMERICAN.—The term 

24 ‘Native American’ means an Indian tribe member, Alaska 


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1 Native, or Native Hawaiian as such are defined in section 

2 21(a)(8) of this Act.’’. 

3 SEC. 3. SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER ASSIST4 ANCE TO INDIAN TRIBE MEMBERS, ALASKA 

5 NATIVES, AND NATIVE HAWAIIANS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 21(a) of the Small Busi7 ness Act (15 U.S.C. 648(a)) is amended by adding at the 

8 end the following: 

9 ‘‘(8) ADDITIONAL GRANT TO ASSIST INDIAN

10 TRIBE MEMBERS, ALASKA NATIVES, AND NATIVE HA11 WAIIANS.— 

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

13 eligible State that is funded by the Administra14 tion as a Small Business Development Center 

15 may apply for an additional grant to be used 

16 solely to provide services described in subsection 

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

18 enhancement on Indian lands of small business 

19 startups and expansions owned by Indian tribe 

20 members, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawai21 ians. 

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

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

24 that has a combined population of Indian tribe 

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1 ians that comprises at least 1 percent of the 

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

3 available census. 

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

5 for a grant under subparagraph (A) shall sub6 mit to the Administration an application that is 

7 in such form as the Administration may re8 quire. The application shall include information 

9 regarding the applicant’s goals and objectives 

10 for the services to be provided using the grant, 

11 including— 

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

13 provide training and services to a rep14 resentative number of Indian tribe mem15 bers, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawai16 ians; 

17 ‘‘(ii) the location of the Small Busi18 ness Development Center site proposed by 

19 the applicant; 

20 ‘‘(iii) the required amount of grant 

21 funding needed by the applicant to imple22 ment the program; and 

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

24 has consulted with local tribal councils. 


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1 ‘‘(D) APPLICABILITY OF GRANT REQUIRE2 MENTS.—An applicant for a grant under sub3 paragraph (A) shall comply with all of the re4 quirements of this section, except that the 

5 matching funds requirements under paragraph 

6 (4)(A) shall not apply. 

7 ‘‘(E) MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF GRANTS.—No 

8 applicant may receive more than $300,000 in 

9 grants under this paragraph for any fiscal year. 

10 ‘‘(F) REGULATIONS.—After providing no11 tice and an opportunity for comment and after 

12 consulting with the Association recognized by 

13 the Administration pursuant to paragraph 

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

15 date of enactment of this paragraph), the Ad16 ministration shall issue final regulations to 

17 carry out this paragraph, including regulations 

18 that establish— 

19 ‘‘(i) standards relating to educational, 

20 technical, and support services to be pro21 vided by Small Business Development Cen22 ters receiving assistance under this para23 graph; and 

24 ‘‘(ii) standards relating to any work 

25 plan that the Administration may require a 


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1 Small Business Development Center receiv2 ing assistance under this paragraph to de3 velop. 

4 ‘‘(G) ADVICE OF LOCAL TRIBAL ORGANIZA5 TIONS.—A Small Business Development Center 

6 receiving a grant under this paragraph shall re7 quest the advice of a tribal organization on how 

8 best to provide assistance to Indian tribe mem9 bers, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians 

10 and where to locate satellite centers to provide 

11 such assistance. 

12 ‘‘(H) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph, 

13 the following definitions apply: 

14 ‘‘(i) INDIAN LANDS.—The term ‘In15 dian lands’ has the meaning given the term 

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

17 United States Code, the meaning given the 

18 term ‘Indian reservation’ in section 151.2 

19 of title 25, Code of Federal Regulations 

20 (as in effect on the date of enactment of 

21 this paragraph), and the meaning given 

22 the term ‘reservation’ in section 4 of the 

23 Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (25 

24 U.S.C. 1903). 


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1 ‘‘(ii) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘In2 dian tribe’ means any band, nation, or or3 ganized group or community of Indians lo4 cated in the contiguous United States, and 

5 the Metlakatla Indian Community, whose 

6 members are recognized as eligible for the 

7 services provided to Indians by the Sec8 retary of the Interior because of their sta9 tus as Indians. 

10 ‘‘(iii) INDIAN TRIBE MEMBER.—The 

11 term ‘Indian tribe member’ means a mem12 ber of an Indian tribe (other than an Alas13 ka Native). 

14 ‘‘(iv) ALASKA NATIVE.—The term 

15 ‘Alaska Native’ has the meaning given the 

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

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

18 1602(b)). 

19 ‘‘(v) NATIVE HAWAIIAN.—The term 

20 ‘Native Hawaiian’ means any individual 

21 who is— 

22 ‘‘(I) a citizen of the United 

23 States; and 

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1 pied and exercised sovereignty in the 

2 area that now constitutes the State of 

3 Hawaii. 

4 ‘‘(vi) TRIBAL ORGANIZATION.—The 

5 term ‘tribal organization’ has the meaning 

6 given that term in section 4(l) of the In7 dian Self-Determination and Education 

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

9 ‘‘(I) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA10 TIONS.—There is authorized to be appropriated 

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

12 of fiscal years 2010 and 2011. 

13 ‘‘(J) FUNDING LIMITATIONS.— 

14 ‘‘(i) NONAPPLICABILITY OF CERTAIN

15 LIMITATIONS.—Funding under this para16 graph shall be in addition to the dollar 

17 program limitations specified in paragraph 

18 (4). 

19 ‘‘(ii) LIMITATION ON USE OF

20 FUNDS.—The Administration may carry 

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1 propriated in advance specifically to carry 

2 out this paragraph.’’. 

Passed the House of Representatives November 19, 

2009. 

Attest: LORRAINE C. MILLER, 

Clerk. 


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