II

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 862

To authorize the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to

make urban university business initiative grants, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MAY 25 (legislative day, MAY 15), 1995

Mr. HATFIELD introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Small Business

A BILL

To authorize the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to make urban university business initiative

grants, 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 ‘‘Small Business

5 Enhancement Act of 1995’’.

6 SEC. 2. URBAN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS INITIATIVE GRANTS.

7 (a) URBAN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS INITIATIVE

8 GRANTS.—

9 (1) AUTHORIZATION.—The Administrator of

10 the Small Business Administration (hereafter in this
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1 section referred to as the ‘‘Administrator’’) may

2 make grants to eligible institutions in accordance

3 with this section.

4 (2) APPLICATION.—

5 (A) IN GENERAL.—An eligible institution

6 seeking assistance under this section shall sub7 mit to the Administrator an application at such

8 time, in such form, and containing or accom9 panied by such information and assurances as

10 the Administrator may require by regulation.

11 (B) CONTENTS.—Except as provided in

12 subparagraph (C), each application submitted

13 pursuant to subparagraph (A) shall include—

14 (i) a description of the activities and

15 services for which assistance is sought;

16 (ii) evidence of coordination with any

17 small business development center in exist18 ence in the community; and

19 (iii) documentation of the formation

20 of a consortium that includes, in addition

21 to eligible institutions, one or more of the

22 following entities:

23 (I) A nonprofit organization.

24 (II) A business or other em25 ployer.
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1 (C) WAIVER.—The Administrator may

2 waive the requirements of subparagraph (B)(iii)

3 for any applicant who can demonstrate to the

4 satisfaction of the Administrator that the appli5 cant has devised an integrated and coordinated

6 plan that otherwise meets the requirements of

7 this section.

8 (3) SELECTION PROCEDURES.—Not later than

9 120 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the

10 Administrator shall by regulation develop a formal

11 procedure for the submission of applications under

12 this section and shall publish in the Federal Register

13 an announcement of that procedure and the avail14 ability of funds under this section.

15 (b) AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.—

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Funds provided under this

17 section shall be used to design and implement pro18 grams to assist businesses, especially those in lower

19 income urban communities, to become more produc20 tive and able to compete in the global marketplace.

21 (2) SPECIFIC AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.—Activi22 ties conducted with funds made available under this

23 section may include research on, or planning and im24 plementation of technology transfer, technical train-
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1 ing, the delivery of services, or technical assistance

2 in—

3 (A) business development;

4 (B) business creation;

5 (C) business expansion; and

6 (D) human resource management.

7 (c) PEER REVIEW PANEL.—

8 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 90 days

9 after the date on which the Administrator publishes

10 the announcement in the Federal Register in accord11 ance with subsection (a)(3), the Administrator shall

12 appoint a peer review panel (hereafter in this section

13 referred to as the ‘‘panel’’).

14 (2) MEMBERSHIP.—In appointing the panel

15 under paragraph (1), the Administrator shall consult

16 with officials of other Federal agencies and with

17 non-Federal organizations in order to ensure that—

18 (A) the panel membership is geographically

19 balanced; and

20 (B) the panel is composed of representa21 tives from public and private institutions of

22 higher education, labor, business, and nonprofit

23 organizations having expertise in business de24 velopment in lower income urban communities.

25 (3) DUTIES.—The panel shall—
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1 (A) review applications submitted under

2 this section; and

3 (B) make recommendations to the Admin4 istrator concerning the selection of grant recipi5 ents.

6 (d) DISBURSEMENT OF FUNDS.—

7 (1) LIMITATION ON AMOUNT.—The Adminis8 trator shall not provide assistance under this section

9 to any recipient in an amount that exceeds $400,000

10 during any 1-year period.

11 (2) EQUITABLE GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION.—

12 The Administrator shall award grants under this

13 section in a manner that achieves equitable geo14 graphic distribution of such grants.

15 (e) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the

16 following definitions shall apply:

17 (1) LOWER INCOME URBAN COMMUNITY.—The

18 term ‘‘lower income urban community’’ means an

19 urban area in which the percent of residents living

20 below the Federal poverty level is not less than 115

21 percent of the statewide average.

22 (2) URBAN AREA.—

23 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in

24 subparagraph (B), the term ‘‘urban area’’

25 means a primary metropolitan statistical area
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1 of the Bureau of the Census, Department of

2 Commerce.

3 (B) EXCEPTION.—With respect to a State

4 that does not contain an urban area, as defined

5 in subparagraph (A), the Administrator shall

6 designate 1 area in the State as an urban area

7 for purposes of this section.

8 (3) ELIGIBLE INSTITUTION.—

9 (A) INSTITUTION OR CONSORTIUM.—The

10 term ‘‘eligible institution’’ means a nonprofit in11 stitution of higher education that meets the re12 quirements of subparagraph (b), or a consor13 tium of such institutions, any 1 of which meets

14 the requirements of subparagraph (B).

15 (B) REQUIREMENTS.—An institution

16 meets the requirements of this subparagraph if

17 the institution—

18 (i) is located in an urban area;

19 (ii) draws a substantial portion of its

20 undergraduate students from the urban

21 area in which such institution is located, or

22 from contiguous areas;

23 (iii) carries out programs to make

24 postsecondary educational opportunities
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1 more accessible to residents of such urban

2 area, or contiguous areas;

3 (iv) has the present capacity to pro4 vide resources responsive to the needs and

5 priorities of such urban area and contig6 uous areas;

7 (v) offers a range of professional,

8 technical, or graduate programs sufficient

9 to sustain the capacity of such institution

10 to provided such resources;

11 (vi) has demonstrated and sustained a

12 sense of responsibility to such urban area

13 and contiguous areas and the people of

14 such areas; and

15 (vii) has a school of business accred16 ited by the American Assembly of Colle17 giate Schools of Business (or similar orga18 nization) with faculty experienced in con19 ducting research on issues of immediate

20 concern to small and emerging businesses.

21 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

22 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this sec23 tion—

24 (1) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 1996; and
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1 (2) such sums as may be necessary for fiscal

2 years 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000.

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