I 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5525 

To amend the Small Business Act to improve the National Veterans Business 

Development Corporation. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 4, 2008 

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

Committee on Small Business 

A BILL 

To amend the Small Business Act to improve the National 

Veterans Business Development Corporation. 

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 ‘‘Inclusion of Veteran 

5 Service Organizations in the National Veterans Business 

6 Development Corporation Board Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENT OF NATIONAL VETERANS BUSINESS 

8 DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION. 

9 (a) IMPROVEMENT.—Section 33(c) of the Small Busi10 ness Act (15 U.S.C. 657c(c)) is amended— 


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1 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘nine’’ and in2 serting ‘‘11’’; 

3 (2) by striking paragraph (2) and inserting the 

4 following new paragraph (2): 

5 ‘‘(2) APPOINTMENT OF VOTING MEMBERS.— 

6 ‘‘(A) PRESIDENTIAL APPOINTMENTS.— 

7 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The President 

8 shall, after considering recommendations 

9 submitted under clause (ii), appoint 7 of 

10 the 11 voting members of the Board, all of 

11 whom shall be United States citizens, and 

12 not more than 5 of whom shall be mem13 bers of the same political party. 

14 ‘‘(ii) RECOMMENDATIONS.—Rec15 ommendations shall be submitted to the 

16 President for appointments under this sub17 paragraph by the chairman or ranking 

18 member (or both) of the Committee on 

19 Small Business and Entrepreneurship or 

20 the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs (or 

21 both) of the Senate or the Committee on 

22 Small Business or the Committee on Vet23 erans’ Affairs (or both) of the House of 

24 Representatives. 


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1 ‘‘(B) CONGRESSIONAL APPOINTMENTS.— 

2 The chairmen of the Committee on Small Busi3 ness and Entrepreneurship and the Committee 

4 on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and the 

5 Committee on Small Business and the Com6 mittee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of 

7 Representatives shall jointly appoint 4 of the 11 

8 voting members of the Board who shall be rep9 resentatives of a congressionally chartered vet10 erans’ service organization or military service 

11 organization. 

12 ‘‘(C) LIMITATION ON INTERNAL REC13 OMMENDATIONS.—No member of the Board 

14 may recommend an individual for appointment 

15 to a position on the Board.’’; 

16 (3) in paragraph (3), by adding at the end the 

17 following new sentences: ‘‘The president and direc18 tors of each of the 3 veterans business resource cen19 ters that have received grants from the Corporation 

20 that are located in Flint, Michigan, St. Louis, Mis21 souri, and Boston, Massachusetts, shall provide ex22 pertise and advice to the Board of Directors, as ap23 propriate.’’; 

24 (4) in paragraph (6)(C), by striking the second 

25 sentence and inserting the following new sentence: 


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1 ‘‘No member of the Board may serve after the expi2 ration of the term for which that member is ap3 pointed.’’; and 

4 (5) by adding at the end the following new 

5 paragraphs: 

6 ‘‘(12) REMOVAL OF MEMBERS.—With the ap7 proval of a majority of the Board of Directors and 

8 the approval of the chairmen and ranking members 

9 of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepre10 neurship and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of 

11 the Senate, the Corporation may remove a member 

12 of the Board who is determined to be unable to ful13 fill the member’s duties under this section. 

14 ‘‘(13) MEETINGS.—All meetings of the Board 

15 of Directors shall be conducted in public and mem16 bers of the general public shall have access to such 

17 meetings. The Board shall record minutes for each 

18 meeting and make such minutes available on the 

19 Internet website of the Corporation. Two meetings 

20 shall be held in Washington, DC, each year. 

21 ‘‘(14) NOTICE TO STAKEHOLDERS.—The Board 

22 of Directors shall establish a list of stakeholders in 

23 the Corporation and shall, to the extent possible, 

24 provide to each individual on the list notice of the 

25 meetings and agenda of the Board. If providing such 


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1 notice is not possible, the Board shall make such no2 tice publicly available on the Internet website of the 

3 Corporation.’’. 

4 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

5 33(c)(6)(B) of the Small Business Act (14 U.S.C. 

6 657c(c)(6)(B)) is amended by striking ‘‘by the President’’. 

7 (c) CONGRESSIONAL APPOINTMENTS.—Not later 

8 than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 

9 two appointments shall be made under subparagraph (B) 

10 of section 33(c)(2) of the Small Business Act, as added 

11 by subsection (a). Upon the expiration of each the first 

12 two terms of appointment of members of the Board of Di13 rectors of the National Veterans Business Development 

14 Corporation that expire after the date of the enactment 

15 of this Act, an additional appointment shall be made under 

16 that subparagraph. 

Æ 


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