IIB 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 1702 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 9, 2018 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and 

Entrepreneurship 

AN ACT 

To amend the Small Business Act to improve the small 

business development centers program, 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 subtitle may be cited as the ‘‘Small Business 

3 Development Centers Improvement Act of 2018’’. 

4 SEC. 2. USE OF AUTHORIZED ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVEL5 OPMENT PROGRAMS. 

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

7 amended— 

8 (1) by redesignating section 47 as section 48; 

9 and 

10 (2) by inserting after section 46 the following 

11 new section: 

12 ‘‘SEC. 47. USE OF AUTHORIZED ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVEL13 OPMENT PROGRAMS. 

14 ‘‘(a) EXPANDED SUPPORT FOR ENTREPRENEURS.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

16 provision of law, the Administrator shall only deliver 

17 entrepreneurial development services, entrepreneurial 

18 education, support for the development and mainte19 nance of clusters, or business training through a 

20 program authorized under— 

21 ‘‘(A) section 7(j), 7(m), 8(a), 8(b)(1), 21, 

22 22, 29, or 32 of this Act; or 

23 ‘‘(B) sections 358 or 389 of the Small 

24 Business Investment Act of 1958. 

25 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—This section shall not apply 

26 to services provided to assist small business concerns 


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1 owned by an Indian tribe (as such term is defined 

2 in section 8(a)(13)). 

3 ‘‘(b) ANNUAL REPORT.—Beginning on the first De4 cember 1 after the date of the enactment of this sub5 section, the Administrator shall annually report to the 

6 Committee on Small Business of the House of Representa7 tives and the Committee on Small Business and Entrepre8 neurship of the Senate on all entrepreneurial development 

9 activities undertaken in the current fiscal year through a 

10 program described in subsection (a). Such report shall in11 clude— 

12 ‘‘(1) a description and operating details for 

13 each program and activity; 

14 ‘‘(2) operating circulars, manuals, and standard 

15 operating procedures for each program and activity; 

16 ‘‘(3) a description of the process used to award 

17 grants under each program and activity; 

18 ‘‘(4) a list of all awardees, contractors, and ven19 dors (including organization name and location) and 

20 the amount of awards for the current fiscal year for 

21 each program and activity; 

22 ‘‘(5) the amount of funding obligated for the 

23 current fiscal year for each program and activity; 

24 and 


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1 ‘‘(6) the names and titles for those individuals 

2 responsible for each program and activity.’’. 

3 SEC. 3. MARKETING OF SERVICES. 

4 Section 21 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 648) 

5 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(o) NO PROHIBITION OF MARKETING OF SERV7 ICES.—The Administrator shall not prohibit applicants re8 ceiving grants under this section from marketing and ad9 vertising their services to individuals and small business 

10 concerns.’’. 

11 SEC. 4. DATA COLLECTION. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 21(a)(3)(A) of the Small 

13 Business Act (15 U.S.C. 648(a)(3)(A)) is amended— 

14 (1) by striking ‘‘as provided in this section 

15 and’’ and inserting ‘‘as provided in this section,’’; 

16 and 

17 (2) by inserting before the period at the end the 

18 following: ‘‘, and (iv) governing data collection ac19 tivities related to applicants receiving grants under 

20 this section’’. 

21 (b) ANNUAL REPORT ON DATA COLLECTION.—Sec22 tion 21 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 648), as 

23 amended by section 3 of this Act, is further amended by 

24 adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(p) ANNUAL REPORT ON DATA COLLECTION.—The 

2 Administrator shall report annually to the Committee on 

3 Small Business of the House of Representatives and the 

4 Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of 

5 the Senate on any data collection activities related to the 

6 Small Business Development Center Program.’’. 

7 (c) WORKING GROUP TO IMPROVE DATA COLLEC8 TION.— 

9 (1) ESTABLISHMENT AND STUDY.—The Admin10 istrator of the Small Business Administration shall 

11 establish a group to be known as the ‘‘Data Collec12 tion Working Group’’ consisting of members from 

13 entrepreneurial development grant recipients asso14 ciations and organizations and officials from the 

15 Small Business Administration, to carry out a study 

16 to determine the best way to capture data collection 

17 and create or revise existing systems dedicated to 

18 data collection. 

19 (2) REPORT.—Not later than the end of the 

20 180-day period beginning on the date of the enact21 ment of this Act, the Data Collection Working 

22 Group shall issue a report to the Committee on 

23 Small Business of the House of Representatives and 

24 the Committee on Small Business and Entrepre25 neurship of the Senate containing the findings and 


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1 determinations made in carrying out the study re2 quired under paragraph (1), including— 

3 (A) recommendations for revising existing 

4 data collection practices; and 

5 (B) a proposed plan for the Small Busi6 ness Administration to implement such rec7 ommendations. 

8 SEC. 5. FEES FROM PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS AND CO9 SPONSORSHIPS. 

10 Section 21(a)(3) of the Small Business Act (15 

11 U.S.C. 648(a)(3)(C)), as amended by section 4, is further 

12 amended by adding at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘(D) FEES FROM PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS AND CO14 SPONSORSHIPS.—A small business development center 

15 that participates in a private partnership or cosponsorship 

16 with the Administration shall not be prohibited from col17 lecting fees or other income related to the operation of 

18 such a private partnership or cosponsorship.’’. 

19 SEC. 6. EQUITY FOR SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CEN20 TERS. 

21 Subclause (I) of section 21(a)(4)(C)(v) of the Small 

22 Business Act (15 U.S.C. 648(a)(4)(C)(v)) is amended to 

23 read as follows: 

24 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—Of the 

25 amounts made available in any fiscal 


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1 year to carry out this section, not 

2 more than $600,000 may be used by 

3 the Administration to pay expenses 

4 enumerated in subparagraphs (B) 

5 through (D) of section 20(a)(1).’’. 

6 SEC. 7. CONFIDENTIALITY REQUIREMENTS. 

7 Section 21(a)(7)(A) of the Small Business Act (15 

8 U.S.C. 648(a)(7)(A)) is amended by inserting after 

9 ‘‘under this section’’ the following: ‘‘to any State, local, 

10 or Federal agency, or to any third party’’. 

11 SEC. 8. LIMITATION ON AWARD OF GRANTS TO SMALL 

12 BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTERS. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 21 of the Small Business 

14 Act (15 U.S.C. 648), as amended by section 4, is further 

15 amended— 

16 (1) in subsection (a)(1), by striking ‘‘any wom17 en’s business center operating pursuant to section 

18 29,’’; and 

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

20 ‘‘(q) LIMITATION ON AWARD OF GRANTS.—Except 

21 for not-for-profit institutions of higher education, and not22 withstanding any other provision of law, the Administrator 

23 may not award grants (including contracts and coopera24 tive agreements) under this section to any entity other 

25 than those that received grants (including contracts and 


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1 cooperative agreements) under this section prior to the 

2 date of the enactment of this subsection, and that seek 

3 to renew such grants (including contracts and cooperative 

4 agreements) after such date.’’. 

5 (b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—The amendments 

6 made by this section may not be construed as prohibiting 

7 a women’s business center (as described under section 29 

8 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 656)) from receiving 

9 a subgrant from an entity receiving a grant under section 

10 21 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 648). 

Passed the House of Representatives May 8, 2018. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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