II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2521 

To require the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to 

establish an SBIC Working Group, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 28, 2021 

Mr. CARDIN (for himself and Mr. RISCH) introduced the following bill; which 

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

A BILL 

To require the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to establish an SBIC Working Group, 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 ‘‘SBIC Working Group 

5 Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SBIC WORKING GROUP. 

7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 


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1 (1) the terms ‘‘Administration’’ and ‘‘Adminis2 trator’’ mean the Small Business Administration 

3 and the Administrator thereof, respectively; 

4 (2) the term ‘‘covered Members’’ means the 

5 Chair and Ranking Member of— 

6 (A) the Committee on Small Business and 

7 Entrepreneurship of the Senate; and 

8 (B) the Committee on Small Business of 

9 the House of Representatives; 

10 (3) the terms ‘‘licensee’’, ‘‘small business in11 vestment company’’, and ‘‘underlicensed State’’ have 

12 the meanings given those terms in section 301 of the 

13 Small Business Investment Act of 1958 (15 U.S.C. 

14 662); 

15 (4) the term ‘‘low-income community’’ has the 

16 meaning given the term in section 45D(e) of the In17 ternal Revenue Code of 1986; 

18 (5) the term ‘‘rural area’’ has the meaning 

19 given the term by the Bureau of the Census; 

20 (6) the terms ‘‘small business concern’’, ‘‘small 

21 business concern owned and controlled by veterans’’, 

22 and ‘‘small business concern owned and controlled 

23 by women’’ have the meanings given those terms in 

24 section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

25 632); 


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1 (7) the term ‘‘socially or economically disadvan2 taged individual’’ means a socially disadvantaged in3 dividual or economically disadvantaged individual, as 

4 described in paragraphs (5) and (6)(A), respectively, 

5 of section 8(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

6 637(a)); 

7 (8) the term ‘‘underfinanced State’’ means a 

8 State that has below median financing, as deter9 mined by the Administrator; and 

10 (9) the term ‘‘underserved community’’ 

11 means— 

12 (A) a HUBZone, as defined in section 

13 31(b) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

14 657a(b)); 

15 (B) a community that has been designated 

16 as an empowerment zone or an enterprise com17 munity under section 1391 of the Internal Rev18 enue Code of 1986; 

19 (C) a community that has been designated 

20 as a promise zone by the Secretary of Housing 

21 and Urban Development; and 

22 (D) a community that has been designated 

23 as a qualified opportunity zone under section 

24 1400Z–1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 


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1 (b) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 90 days after 

2 the date on which the covered Members submit to the Ad3 ministrator a notification that the covered Members have 

4 made all selections described in subparagraphs (A)(ii), 

5 (B)(ii), and (D) of paragraph (1) (and that the individuals 

6 so selected have accepted those assignments), the Admin7 istrator shall establish an SBIC Working Group (referred 

8 to in this section as the ‘‘Working Group’’), which shall— 

9 (1) include— 

10 (A) 4 representatives— 

11 (i) among general partners of licens12 ees that have a demonstrated record of in13 vesting in— 

14 (I) low-income communities; 

15 (II) communities that have been 

16 designated as qualified opportunity 

17 zones under section 1400Z–1 of the 

18 Internal Revenue Code of 1986; 

19 (III) businesses primarily en20 gaged in research and development; 

21 (IV) manufacturers; 

22 (V) businesses primarily owned 

23 or controlled by individuals in under24 served communities before receiving 

25 capital from the licensee; and 


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1 (VI) rural areas; and 

2 (ii) of whom— 

3 (I) 1 shall be selected by the 

4 Chair of the Committee on Small 

5 Business and Entrepreneurship of the 

6 Senate; 

7 (II) 1 shall be selected by the 

8 Ranking Member of the Committee on 

9 Small Business and Entrepreneurship 

10 of the Senate; 

11 (III) 1 shall be selected by the 

12 Chair of the Committee on Small 

13 Business of the House of Representa14 tives; and 

15 (IV) 1 shall be selected by the 

16 Ranking Member of the Committee on 

17 Small Business of the House of Rep18 resentatives; 

19 (B) 4 representatives— 

20 (i) from licensees, of whom 1 shall be 

21 an owner of a small business investment 

22 company or fund manager that is located 

23 in— 

24 (I) a low-income community; 


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1 (II) a community that has been 

2 designated as a qualified opportunity 

3 zone under section 1400Z–1 of the In4 ternal Revenue Code of 1986; 

5 (III) an underserved community; 

6 (IV) a rural area; or 

7 (V) an underfinanced State; and 

8 (ii) of whom— 

9 (I) 1 shall be selected by the 

10 Chair of the Committee on Small 

11 Business and Entrepreneurship of the 

12 Senate; 

13 (II) 1 shall be selected by the 

14 Ranking Member of the Committee on 

15 Small Business and Entrepreneurship 

16 of the Senate; 

17 (III) 1 shall be selected by the 

18 Chair of the Committee on Small 

19 Business of the House of Representa20 tives; and 

21 (IV) 1 shall be selected by the 

22 Ranking Member of the Committee on 

23 Small Business of the House of Rep24 resentatives; 


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1 (C) the Associate Administrator for the 

2 Office of Investment and Innovation of the Ad3 ministration, who shall— 

4 (i) serve as the Chair of the Working 

5 Group; and 

6 (ii) select not more than 4 additional 

7 representatives from the Office of Invest8 ment and Innovation of the Administration 

9 to serve as representatives of the Working 

10 Group; and 

11 (D) 4 representatives from the investment 

12 industry or academia, or who are bank limited 

13 partners, with expertise in developing and moni14 toring interventions to expand the investment 

15 industry, of whom— 

16 (i) 1 shall be selected by the Chair of 

17 the Committee on Small Business and En18 trepreneurship of the Senate; 

19 (ii) 1 shall be selected by the Ranking 

20 Member of the Committee on Small Busi21 ness and Entrepreneurship of the Senate; 

22 (iii) 1 shall be selected by the Chair of 

23 the Committee on Small Business of the 

24 House of Representatives; and 


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1 (iv) 1 shall be selected by the Ranking 

2 Member of the Committee on Small Busi3 ness of the House of Representatives; 

4 (2) develop recommendations regarding how the 

5 Administrator could increase the number of— 

6 (A) applicants to become small business in7 vestment companies, with a focus on manage8 ment teams or companies located in— 

9 (i) low-income communities; 

10 (ii) communities that have been des11 ignated as qualified opportunity zones 

12 under section 1400Z–1 of the Internal 

13 Revenue Code of 1986; 

14 (iii) underserved communities; and 

15 (iv) rural areas; and 

16 (B) investments made in underfinanced 

17 States; 

18 (3) develop recommendations for incentives for 

19 small business investment companies to— 

20 (A) invest and locate in underlicensed 

21 States and underfinanced States; and 

22 (B) invest in small business concerns, in23 cluding those owned and controlled by socially 

24 or economically disadvantaged individuals, small 

25 business concerns owned and controlled by vetVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Aug 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2521.IS S2521

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1 erans, and small business concerns owned and 

2 controlled by women; and 

3 (4) develop recommendations for metrics of suc4 cess, and benchmarks for success, with respect to 

5 the goals described in this section. 

6 (c) AVAILABILITY OF MEETINGS.—The Working 

7 Group may make the meetings of the Working Group open 

8 to the public without regard to whether those meetings 

9 are held in-person, virtually, or by some other means. 

10 (d) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

11 on which the Administrator establishes the Working 

12 Group under subsection (b), the Working Group shall sub13 mit to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepre14 neurship of the Senate and the Committee on Small Busi15 ness of the House of Representatives a report that in16 cludes— 

17 (1) the recommendations of the Working 

18 Group; and 

19 (2) a recommended plan and timeline for imple20 menting the recommendations described in para21 graph (1). 

22 (e) TERMINATION.—The Working Group shall termi23 nate on the date on which the Working Group submits 

24 the report required under subsection (d). 


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1 (f) APPLICABILITY OF FEDERAL ADVISORY COM2 MITTEE ACT.—The Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 

3 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply with respect to the Working 

4 Group or the activities of the Working Group. 

Æ 


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