I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2882 

To amend the Small Business Act and title 38, United States Code to 

provide for a consolidated definition of a small business concern owned 

and controlled by veterans, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 31, 2013 

Mr. COFFMAN (for himself, Mr. GRAVES of Missouri, Mr. MILLER of Florida, 

Mr. FLORES, Mr. HANNA, and Mr. CONNOLLY) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, and in 

addition to the Committee on Small Business, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 

provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend the Small Business Act and title 38, United 

States Code to provide for a consolidated definition of 

a small business concern owned and controlled by veterans, 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 ‘‘Improving Opportuni5 ties for Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses 

6 Act of 2013’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. SMALL BUSINESS DEFINTION OF SMALL BUSINESS 

2 CONCERN CONSOLIDATED. 

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

4 632(q)) is amended— 

5 (1) in paragraph (2), to read as follows: 

6 ‘‘(2) SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN OWNED AND

7 CONTROLLED BY SERVICE-DISABLED VETERANS.— 

8 The term ‘small business concern owned and con9 trolled by service-disabled veterans’ means a small 

10 business concern— 

11 ‘‘(A)(i) not less than 51 percent of which 

12 is owned by one or more service-disabled vet13 erans or, in the case of any publicly owned busi14 ness, not less than 51 percent of the stock of 

15 which is owned by one or more service-disabled 

16 veterans; and 

17 ‘‘(ii) the management and daily business 

18 operations of which are controlled by one or 

19 more service-disabled veterans or, in the case of 

20 a veteran with permanent and severe disability, 

21 the spouse or permanent caregiver of such vet22 eran; or 

23 ‘‘(B) not less than 51 percent of which is 

24 owned by one or more veterans with service25 connected disabilities that are permanent and 

26 total who are unable to manage the daily busiVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:07 Aug 03, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2882.IH H2882

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1 ness operations of such concern or, in the case 

2 of a publicly owned business, not less than 51 

3 percent of the stock of which is owned by one 

4 or more such veterans.’’; and 

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

6 ‘‘(6) TREATMENT OF BUSINESSES AFTER

7 DEATH OF VETERAN-OWNER.— 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara9 graph (C), if the death of a service-disabled vet10 eran causes a small business concern to be less 

11 than 51 percent owned by one or more such 

12 veterans, the surviving spouse of such veteran 

13 who acquires ownership rights in such small 

14 business concern shall, for the period described 

15 in subparagraph (B), be treated as if the sur16 viving spouse were that veteran for the purpose 

17 of maintaining the status of the small business 

18 concern as a small business concern owned and 

19 controlled by service-disabled veterans. 

20 ‘‘(B) PERIOD DESCRIBED.—The period re21 ferred to in subparagraph (A) is the period be22 ginning on the date on which the service-dis23 abled veteran dies and ending on the earliest of 

24 the following dates: 


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1 ‘‘(i) The date on which the surviving 

2 spouse remarries. 

3 ‘‘(ii) The date on which the surviving 

4 spouse relinquishes an ownership interest 

5 in the small business concern. 

6 ‘‘(iii) The date that is ten years after 

7 the date of the veteran’s death. 

8 ‘‘(C) APPLICATION TO SURVIVING

9 SPOUSE.—Subparagraph (A) only applies to a 

10 surviving spouse of a veteran with a service-con11 nected disability rated as 100 percent disabling 

12 or who dies as a result of a service-connected 

13 disability.’’. 

14 SEC. 3. VETERANS AFFAIRS DEFINITION OF SMALL BUSI15 NESS CONCERN CONSOLIDATED. 

16 Section 8127 of title 38, United States Code, is 

17 amended— 

18 (1) by striking subsection (h); and 

19 (2) in subsection (l)(2), by striking ‘‘means’’ 

20 and all that follows through the period at the end 

21 and inserting the following: ‘‘has the meaning given 

22 that term under section 3(q) of the Small Business 

23 Act (15 U.S.C. 632(q)).’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. SBA TO ASSUME CONTROL OF VERIFICATION OF 

2 OWNERSHIP AND CONTROL STATUS OF AP3 PLICANTS FOR INCLUSION IN THE DATABASE 

4 OF SMALL BUSINESSES OWNED AND CON5 TROLLED BY SERVICE DISABLED VETERANS 

6 AND VETERANS. 

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

8 amended by adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 47. VETS FIRST PROGRAM. 

10 ‘‘Not later than 180 days after the effective date of 

11 this section, the Administrator shall enter into a memo12 randum of understanding with the Secretary of Veterans 

13 Affairs that transfer control and administration of the 

14 program under subsections (e) through (g) of section 8127 

15 of title 38, United States Code, to the Administrator, con16 sistent with the following: 

17 ‘‘(1) Not later than 270 days after completing 

18 the memorandum of understanding, the Adminis19 trator shall make rules to carry out the memo20 randum. If the Administrator does not make such 

21 rules by such date, the Administrator may not exer22 cise the authority under section 7(a)(25)(A) until 

23 such time as those rules are made. 

24 ‘‘(2) The Administrator shall assume authority 

25 and responsibility for maintenance and operation of 


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1 the database and for verifications under the pro2 gram. 

3 ‘‘(3) Any appeal by a small business concern, at 

4 the time that verification is denied or a contract is 

5 awarded, of any determination under the program 

6 shall be heard by the Office of Hearings and Ap7 peals of the Small Business Administration. 

8 ‘‘(4) The Secretary shall, for a period of 6 

9 years commencing on a date agreed to in the com10 pleted memorandum, reimburse to the Administrator 

11 of the Small Business Administration any costs in12 curred by the Administrator for actions undertaken 

13 pursuant to the memorandum from fees collected by 

14 the Secretary of Veteran Affairs under multiple15 award schedule contracts. Any disputes between the 

16 Secretary and the Administrator shall be resolved by 

17 the Director of the Office of Management and Budg18 et’’. 

19 SEC. 5. MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING. 

20 Section 8127(f) of title 38, United States Code, is 

21 amended by adding at the end the following: 

22 ‘‘(7) Not later than 180 days after the effective 

23 date of this paragraph, the Secretary shall enter into 

24 a memorandum of understanding with the AdminisVerDate Mar 15 2010 04:19 Aug 03, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2882.IH H2882

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1 trator of the Small Business Administration con2 sistent with section 47 of the Small Business Act.’’. 

Æ 


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