I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1807 

To provide distance learning to potential and existing entrepreneurs, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 31, 2009 

Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Small Business 

A BILL 

To provide distance learning to potential and existing 

entrepreneurs, 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 ‘‘Educating Entre5 preneurs through Today’s Technology Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. EDUCATING ENTREPRENEURS THROUGH TECH7 NOLOGY. 

8 The Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 631 et seq.) is 

9 amended by redesignating section 44 as section 45 and 

10 by inserting the following new section after section 43: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 44. EDUCATING ENTREPRENEURS THROUGH TECH2 NOLOGY. 

3 ‘‘(a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to 

4 provide high-quality multilingual distance learning to po5 tential and existing entrepreneurs through the use of tech6 nology. 

7 ‘‘(b) DEFINITION.—As used in this section, the term 

8 ‘qualified third-party vendor’ means an entity with experi9 ence in distance learning content or communications tech10 nology, or both, with the ability to utilize on-line, satellite, 

11 video-on-demand, and connected community-based organi12 zations to distribute and conduct distance learning related 

13 to entrepreneurship, credit management, financial lit14 eracy, and Federal small business development programs. 

15 ‘‘(c) AUTHORITY.—The Administrator shall contract 

16 with qualified third-party vendors for entrepreneurial 

17 training content and the development of communications 

18 technology that can distribute content under this section 

19 throughout the United States. The Administrator shall 

20 contract with qualified third-party vendors to develop con21 tent in English and at least two other languages that are 

22 not English. For the purposes of this section, the Adminis23 trator shall designate the languages other than English 

24 by taking into account the general needs of the business 

25 community. 


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1 ‘‘(d) CONTENT.—The Administrator shall ensure 

2 that the content referred to in subsection (c) is timely and 

3 relevant to entrepreneurial development and can be suc4 cessfully communicated remotely to an audience through 

5 the use of technology. The Administrator shall, to the 

6 maximum extent practicable, promote content that makes 

7 use of technologies that allow for remote interaction by 

8 the content provider with an audience. The Administrator 

9 shall ensure that the content is catalogued and accessible 

10 to small businesses on-line or through other remote tech11 nologies. 

12 ‘‘(e) COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY.—The Admin13 istrator shall ensure that the communications technology 

14 referred to in subsection (c) is able to distribute content 

15 throughout all 50 States and the territories of the United 

16 States to small business concerns, home-based businesses, 

17 Small Business Development Centers, Women’s Business 

18 Centers, Veterans Business Centers, and the Small Busi19 ness Administration. To the extent possible, the qualified 

20 third-party vendor should deliver the content using 

21 broadband technology. 

22 ‘‘(f) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—The Administrator 

23 shall submit a report to Congress 6 months after the date 

24 of the enactment of this section containing an analysis of 

25 the Small Business Administration’s progress in impleVerDate Nov 24 2008 20:44 Apr 01, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1807.IH H1807

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1 menting this section. The Administrator shall submit a re2 port to Congress one year after the date of the enactment 

3 of this section and annually thereafter containing the 

4 number of presentations made under this section, the 

5 number of small businesses served under this section, the 

6 extent to which this section resulted in the establishment 

7 of new businesses, and feedback on the usefulness of this 

8 medium in presenting entrepreneurial education through9 out the United States. 

10 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

11 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

12 $2,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2010 and 2011.’’. 

Æ 


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