II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4764 

To amend the Small Business Act to enhance the Office of Rural Affairs, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 24, 2024 

Mrs. SHAHEEN (for herself and Mr. KENNEDY) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business 

and Entrepreneurship 

A BILL 

To amend the Small Business Act to enhance the Office 

of Rural Affairs, 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 ‘‘Coordinated Support 

5 for Rural Small Businesses Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. OFFICE OF RURAL AFFAIRS OF THE SMALL BUSI7 NESS ADMINISTRATION. 

8 Section 26 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 653) 

9 is amended— 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 4764 IS

1 (1) by redesignating subsections (a), (b), and 

2 (c) as subsections (b), (c), and (d), respectively; 

3 (2) by inserting before subsection (b) the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

6 ‘‘(1) ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR.—The term 

7 ‘Assistant Administrator’ means the Assistant Ad8 ministrator of the Office. 

9 ‘‘(2) HUBZONE.—The term ‘HUBZone’ has the 

10 meaning given the term in section 31(b). 

11 ‘‘(3) OFFICE.—The term ‘Office’ means the Of12 fice of Rural Affairs established under subsection 

13 (b). 

14 ‘‘(4) RESOURCE PARTNERS.—The term ‘re15 source partners’ means— 

16 ‘‘(A) small business development centers; 

17 ‘‘(B) women’s business centers described in 

18 section 29; 

19 ‘‘(C) chapters of the Service Corps of Re20 tired Executives established under section 

21 8(b)(1)(B); and 

22 ‘‘(D) Veteran Business Outreach Centers 

23 described in section 32. 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 4764 IS

1 ‘‘(5) RURAL SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN.—The 

2 term ‘rural small business concern’ means a small 

3 business concern located in a rural area.’’; 

4 (3) in subsection (b), as so redesignated— 

5 (A) by inserting ‘‘ESTABLISHMENT.—’’ be6 fore ‘‘There’’; and 

7 (B) by striking ‘‘(hereafter in this section 

8 referred to as the ‘Office’)’’; 

9 (4) by amending subsection (c), as so redesig10 nated, to read as follows: 

11 ‘‘(c) APPOINTMENT OF ASSISTANT ADMINIS12 TRATOR.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Office shall be admin14 istered by an Assistant Administrator, who shall be 

15 an employee in the competitive service. 

16 ‘‘(2) QUALIFICATIONS.—The Assistant Admin17 istrator shall— 

18 ‘‘(A) have education or professional experi19 ence with, or knowledge of, rural affairs and 

20 issues relating to small business concerns; and 

21 ‘‘(B) have experience providing develop22 ment assistance to rural small business con23 cerns.’’; 

24 (5) in subsection (d), as so redesignated— 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 4764 IS

1 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 

2 by inserting ‘‘DUTIES.—’’ before ‘‘The’’; 

3 (B) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘small 

4 business concerns located in rural areas’’ and 

5 inserting ‘‘rural small business concerns’’; 

6 (C) by amending paragraph (3) to read as 

7 follows: 

8 ‘‘(3) promote the policies and programs of the 

9 Administration and of other Federal departments 

10 and agencies for assisting rural small business con11 cerns to industries, organizations, and State and 

12 local governments;’’; 

13 (D) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘; and’’ 

14 and inserting a semicolon; 

15 (E) in paragraph (5)— 

16 (i) by striking ‘‘the United States 

17 Tourism and Travel Administration’’ and 

18 inserting ‘‘the National Travel and Tour19 ism Office of the Department of Com20 merce’’; 

21 (ii) by striking ‘‘small businesses in 

22 rural areas’’ and inserting ‘‘rural small 

23 business concerns’’; and 

24 (iii) by striking the period at the end 

25 and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 4764 IS

1 (F) by adding at the end the following: 

2 ‘‘(6) host webinars and outreach events for 

3 rural small business concerns as described in sub4 section (e).’’; and 

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

6 ‘‘(e) OUTREACH.—The Assistant Administrator 

7 shall— 

8 ‘‘(1) host webinars and outreach events in var9 ious regions of the United States for rural small 

10 business concerns; and 

11 ‘‘(2) invite representatives from district offices 

12 of the Administration, resource partners, Federal 

13 and State agencies, and other interested persons to 

14 participate in the webinars and outreach events de15 scribed in paragraph (1). 

16 ‘‘(f) INTERAGENCY COOPERATION.—The Assistant 

17 Administrator shall coordinate with the Department of 

18 Agriculture to— 

19 ‘‘(1) conduct outreach regarding programs of 

20 the Administration and the Department of Agri21 culture and to improve awareness and utilization of 

22 the existing programs and services of each agency; 

23 and 

24 ‘‘(2) convene interagency working groups to ad25 dress issues including— 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 4764 IS

1 ‘‘(A) capital access and investment in rural 

2 areas of the United States, which may in3 clude— 

4 ‘‘(i) identifying synergies between the 

5 business loan programs of the Administra6 tion and the Department of Agriculture, 

7 including where intermediaries, such as 

8 those under the microloan program under 

9 section 7(m), as defined in paragraph (11) 

10 of such section, and the rural microentre11 preneur assistance program established 

12 under section 379E of the Consolidated 

13 Farm and Rural Development Act (7 

14 U.S.C. 2008s) and the intermediary re15 lending program established under section 

16 310H of that Act (7 U.S.C. 1936b), may 

17 be able to participate in programs at both 

18 agencies; 

19 ‘‘(ii) assessing opportunities for the 

20 Administration to facilitate the delivery of 

21 programs of the Department of Agriculture 

22 to rural communities through the district 

23 offices of the Administration, relationships 

24 with rural lenders, resource partners of the 

25 Administration, and joint outreach and 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
7 

•S 4764 IS

1 marketing efforts, as well as opportunities 

2 for the Department of Agriculture to facili3 tate the delivery of programs of the Ad4 ministration to rural communities; 

5 ‘‘(iii) improving information sharing 

6 and discussion of best practices between 

7 the Administration and the Department of 

8 Agriculture; 

9 ‘‘(iv) examining coordination between 

10 the small business investment company 

11 program under part A of title III of the 

12 Small Business Investment Act of 1958 

13 (15 U.S.C. 681 et seq.) and related pro14 grams at the Department of Agriculture, 

15 including the Rural Business Investment 

16 Program of the Department of Agriculture; 

17 ‘‘(v) examining opportunities for co18 ordination between the Administration, the 

19 Department of Agriculture, and commu20 nity and nonprofit partners in the small 

21 business ecosystem, including resource 

22 partners, Regional Food Business Centers, 

23 and innovation clusters; and 

24 ‘‘(vi) addressing barriers and exam25 ining opportunities for cooperatives to parVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:55 Aug 21, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4764.IS S4764

ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
8 

•S 4764 IS

1 ticipate in programs and access resources 

2 of the Administration that are similar to 

3 the financing programs of the Department 

4 of Agriculture that serve cooperatives; and 

5 ‘‘(B) assisting businesses in rural areas of 

6 the United States, which may include— 

7 ‘‘(i) identifying overlap among the 

8 rural markets identified by the Depart9 ment of Agriculture, HUBZones, rural 

10 census tracts identified by the Administra11 tion, and underserved rural communities; 

12 ‘‘(ii) exploring opportunities to sup13 port innovation clusters in rural areas; 

14 ‘‘(iii) coordinating effective support 

15 initiatives that benefit Native Americans; 

16 and 

17 ‘‘(iv) collaborating on technical assist18 ance, especially with respect to exportation 

19 and procurement. 

20 ‘‘(g) REPORT.— 

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

22 after the date of enactment of this subsection, and 

23 annually thereafter, the Administrator shall submit 

24 to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepre25 neurship of the Senate and the Committee on Small 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
9 

•S 4764 IS

1 Business of the House of Representatives, and make 

2 publicly make available on a website of the Adminis3 tration, a report on the activities of the Office dur4 ing the 1-year period immediately preceding the date 

5 of submission of the report. 

6 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—Each report required under 

7 paragraph (1) shall include the following: 

8 ‘‘(A) The operational details of the Office, 

9 including the name of the Assistant Adminis10 trator, the budget of the Office, and the num11 ber of full-time employees employed by or de12 tailed to the Office. 

13 ‘‘(B) A summary of the activities con14 ducted under subsection (d). 

15 ‘‘(C) The number of webinars and out16 reach events conducted by the Administration 

17 to promote policies and programs and provide 

18 information described in paragraphs (3) and 

19 (4), respectively, of subsection (c). 

20 ‘‘(D) An analysis of gaps in lending pro21 grams of the Administration in serving the 

22 needs of rural small business concerns. 

23 ‘‘(E) Information gathered from any 

24 webinars and outreach events conducted by the 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
10 

•S 4764 IS

1 Administration during the period covered by the 

2 report. 

3 ‘‘(F) A summary of activities conducted 

4 under subsection (f), including— 

5 ‘‘(i) the status of any memorandum of 

6 understanding between the Administration 

7 and the Department of Agriculture to fur8 ther the goals of improving service deliv9 ery, advice, and assistance for rural small 

10 business concerns; 

11 ‘‘(ii) a summary of outreach efforts 

12 under subsection (f)(1); 

13 ‘‘(iii) a summary of working groups 

14 created under subsection (f)(2), including 

15 any synergies identified in capital access 

16 programs under subparagraph (A) of such 

17 subsection; and 

18 ‘‘(iv) efforts to coordinate outreach 

19 under subsection (f)(2)(B).’’. 

Æ 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS