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103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 794

To amend the Small Business Act to authorize small business concerns

owned and controlled by individuals with disabilities to participate in

business development programs established by that Act, and for other

purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 3, 1993

Mr. RAMSTAD introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Small Business

A BILL

To amend the Small Business Act to authorize small business

concerns owned and controlled by individuals with disabilities to participate in business development programs

established by that Act, 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 ‘‘Americans with Dis5 abilities Business Development Act of 1993’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

2 (a) FINDINGS.—Section 2 of the Small Business Act

3 (15 U.S.C. 631) is amended by adding at the end the fol4 lowing new subsection:

5 ‘‘(i) The Congress finds that—

6 ‘‘(1) approximately 43,000,000 Americans have

7 1 or more physical or mental disabilities, and this

8 number is increasing as the population as a whole

9 is growing older;

10 ‘‘(2) census data, national polls, and other stud11 ies have documented that individuals with disabil12 ities, as a group, occupy an inferior status in our so13 ciety, and are severely disadvantaged socially, voca14 tionally, economically, and educationally;

15 ‘‘(3) individuals with disabilities have faced

16 many of the same discriminatory obstacles in devel17 oping small businesses as have groups previously

18 recognized as ‘socially and economically disadvan19 taged’ under the Small Business Act;

20 ‘‘(4) the Nation’s proper goals regarding indi21 viduals with disabilities are to assure equality of op22 portunity, full participation, independent living, and

23 economic self-sufficiency for such individuals; and

24 ‘‘(5) these goals can be advanced by providing

25 the maximum practicable opportunities for the

26 growth and development of small business concerns
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1 owned and controlled by individuals with disabil2 ities.’’.

3 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—

4 (1) to assist the legitimate business interests of

5 small business concerns owned and controlled by in6 dividuals with disabilities;

7 (2) to permit small business concerns owned

8 and controlled by individuals with disabilities to par9 ticipate in business development programs estab10 lished by the Small Business Act; and

11 (3) to eliminate, insofar as possible, discrimina12 tion against individuals with disabilities in obtaining

13 capital and other production assistance.

14 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

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

16 632(f)) is amended to read as follows:

17 ‘‘(f) DISABILITY.—For the purposes of this Act, the

18 term ‘disability’ means a physical or mental impairment

19 that substantially limits 1 or more of the major life activi20 ties of an individual, and the terms ‘with disabilities’ and

21 ‘with a disability’ mean having 1 or more disabilities.’’.

22 SEC. 4. AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES.

23 (a) POLICY STATEMENT.—Section 2(f)(1)(C) of the

24 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 631(f)(1)(C)) is amended
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1 by inserting ‘‘Americans with disabilities,’’ after ‘‘Asian

2 Pacific Americans,’’.

3 (b) SMALL BUSINESS AND CAPITAL OWNERSHIP DE4 VELOPMENT PROGRAM.—Section 8(a)(5) of the Small

5 Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(a)(5)) is amended by adding

6 at the end the following new sentence: ‘‘For the purposes

7 of this subsection, individuals with disabilities shall be con8 sidered to be socially disadvantaged individuals.’’.

9 (c) CONTRACT CLAUSE.—The contract clause con10 tained in section 8(d)(3) of the Small Business Act is

11 amended in the last sentence of subparagraph (C) of such

12 clause by inserting ‘‘Americans with disabilities,’’ after

13 ‘‘Asian Pacific Americans,’’.

14 SEC. 5. TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS TO SMALL BUSINESS

15 ACT.

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

17 amended—

18 (1) in section 3(e)—

19 (A) by striking ‘‘the handicapped’’ and in20 serting ‘‘individuals with disabilities’’; and

21 (B) by striking ‘‘handicapped individuals’’

22 each place such term appears and inserting ‘‘in23 dividuals with disabilities’’;

24 (2) in section 7(a)(10)—
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1 (A) by striking ‘‘the handicapped’’ and in2 serting ‘‘individuals with disabilities’’; and

3 (B) by striking ‘‘handicapped individual’’

4 and inserting ‘‘individual with disabilities’’; and

5 (3) in subsection 7(h)—

6 (A) by striking ‘‘handicapped individuals’’

7 and inserting ‘‘individuals with disabilities’’;

8 (B) by striking ‘‘handicapped individual’’

9 and inserting ‘‘individual with disabilities’’; and

10 (C) by striking paragraph (3).

11 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.

12 This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall

13 take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.

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