II 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3342 

To improve access to technology by and increase entrepreneurship among 

small businesses located in rural communities, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 26, 2008 

Ms. LANDRIEU introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship 

A BILL 

To improve access to technology by and increase entrepreneurship among small businesses located in rural communities, 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 ‘‘Rural Small Business 

5 Enhancement Act of 2008’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act, the terms ‘‘Administration’’ and ‘‘Admin8 istrator’’ mean the Small Business Administration and the 

9 Administrator thereof, respectively. 


smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS
2 

•S 3342 IS

1 SEC. 3. RURAL AREAS. 

2 Section 34(e)(2) of the Small Business Act (15 

3 U.S.C. 6657d(e)(2)) is amended— 

4 (1) by redesignating subparagraphs (C) and 

5 (D) as subparagraphs (D) and (E), respectively; and 

6 (2) by inserting after subparagraph (B) the fol7 lowing: 

8 ‘‘(C) RURAL AREAS.— 

9 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except as pro10 vided in clause (ii), the non-Federal share 

11 of the cost of the activity carried out using 

12 an award or under a cooperative agree13 ment under this section shall be 50 cents 

14 for each Federal dollar that will be directly 

15 allocated by a recipient described in para16 graph (A) to serve small business concerns 

17 located in a rural area. 

18 ‘‘(ii) SBIR AWARDS.—For a recipient 

19 located in a rural area that is located in a 

20 States as described in subparagraph (A)(i), 

21 the non-Federal share of the cost of the 

22 activity carried out using an award or 

23 under a cooperative agreement under this 

24 section shall be 35 cents for each Federal 

25 dollar that will be directly allocated by a 

26 recipient described in paragraph (A) to 


smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS
3 

•S 3342 IS

1 serve small business concerns located in 

2 the rural area. 

3 ‘‘(iii) DEFINITION OF RURAL AREA.— 

4 In this subparagraph, the term ‘rural area’ 

5 has the meaning given that term in section 

6 1393(a)(2)) of the Internal Revenue Code 

7 of 1986.’’. 

8 SEC. 4. RURAL OUTREACH PROGRAM. 

9 Section 9 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638) 

10 is amended by inserting after subsection (r) the following: 

11 ‘‘(s) OUTREACH.— 

12 ‘‘(1) DEFINITION OF ELIGIBLE STATE.—In this 

13 subsection, the term ‘eligible State’ means a State— 

14 ‘‘(A) if the total value of contracts award15 ed to the State during fiscal year 2004 under 

16 this section was less than $10,000,000; and 

17 ‘‘(B) that certifies to the Administration 

18 described in paragraph (2) that the State will, 

19 upon receipt of assistance under this sub20 section, provide matching funds from non-Fed21 eral sources in an amount that is not less than 

22 50 percent of the amount provided under this 

23 subsection. 

24 ‘‘(2) PROGRAM AUTHORITY.—Of amounts made 

25 available to carry out this section for each of the fisVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:24 Jul 27, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3342.IS S3342

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS
4 

•S 3342 IS

1 cal years 2009 through 2020, the Administrator 

2 may expend with eligible States not more than 

3 $2,000,000 in each such fiscal year in order to in4 crease the participation of small business concerns 

5 located in those States in the programs under this 

6 section. 

7 ‘‘(3) AMOUNT OF ASSISTANCE.—The amount of 

8 assistance provided to an eligible State under this 

9 subsection in any fiscal year— 

10 ‘‘(A) shall be equal to twice the total 

11 amount of matching funds from non-Federal 

12 sources provided by the State; and 

13 ‘‘(B) shall not exceed $100,000. 

14 ‘‘(4) USE OF ASSISTANCE.—Assistance provided 

15 to an eligible State under this subsection shall be 

16 used by the State, in consultation with State and 

17 local departments and agencies, for programs and 

18 activities to increase the participation of small busi19 ness concerns located in the State in the programs 

20 under this section, including— 

21 ‘‘(A) the establishment of quantifiable per22 formance goals, including goals relating to— 

23 ‘‘(i) the number of program awards 

24 under this section made to small business 

25 concerns in the State; and 


smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS
5 

•S 3342 IS

1 ‘‘(ii) the total amount of Federal re2 search and development contracts awarded 

3 to small business concerns in the State; 

4 ‘‘(B) the provision of competition outreach 

5 support to small business concerns in the State 

6 that are involved in research and development; 

7 and 

8 ‘‘(C) the development and dissemination of 

9 educational and promotional information relat10 ing to the programs under this section to small 

11 business concerns in the State.’’. 

12 SEC. 5. RURAL SMALL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY PILOT PRO13 GRAM. 

14 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

15 (1) the term ‘‘qualified small business concern’’ 

16 means a small business concern located in a rural 

17 area; 

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

19 given that term in section 1393(a)(2) of the Internal 

20 Revenue Code of 1986; and 

21 (3) the term ‘‘small business concern’’ has the 

22 same meaning as under section 3 of the Small Busi23 ness Act (15 U.S.C. 632). 

24 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 120 days after the date 

25 of enactment of this Act, the Administrator, in coordinaVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:24 Jul 27, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3342.IS S3342

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS
6 

•S 3342 IS

1 tion with the Administrator of General Services, shall sub2 mit to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepre3 neurship of the Senate and the Committee on Small Busi4 ness of the House of Representatives a report describing— 

5 (1) the number of Government-owned com6 puters in the possession of the Administration, in7 cluding the number of working computers, non8 working computers, desktop computers, and laptop 

9 computers; 

10 (2) the number of Government-owned com11 puters disposed of by the Administration during the 

12 5-year period ending on the date of enactment of 

13 this Act, including the number of such computers 

14 that were working computers, nonworking com15 puters, desktop computers, or laptop computers; 

16 (3) the procedures of the Administration for the 

17 disposal of Government-owned computers; and 

18 (4) the plans of the Administrator for carrying 

19 out the pilot program under subsection (c). 

20 (c) PILOT PROGRAM.— 

21 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days 

22 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Adminis23 trator shall establish a pilot program to provide not 

24 more than 1,000 excess Government-owned comVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:24 Jul 27, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3342.IS S3342

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS
7 

•S 3342 IS

1 puters each year to qualified small business concerns 

2 at no cost or a reduced cost. 

3 (2) PURPOSES OF PROGRAM.—The pilot pro4 gram established under paragraph (1) shall be de5 signed to— 

6 (A) encourage entrepreneurship in rural 

7 areas; 

8 (B) assist small business concerns in ac9 cessing technology; and 

10 (C) accelerate the growth of qualified small 

11 business concerns. 

12 (3) TERMINATION.—The authority to conduct 

13 the pilot program under this subsection shall termi14 nate 3 years after the date of enactment of this Act. 

15 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

16 are authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator 

17 such sums as are necessary to carry out this section. 

18 SEC. 6. OFFICE OF TECHNOLOGY. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall hire not 

20 less than 5 additional full-time equivalent employees for 

21 the Office of Technology of the Administration. 

22 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

23 are authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator 

24 such sums as are necessary to carry out this section. 


smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS
8 

•S 3342 IS

1 SEC. 7. RURAL LENDING OUTREACH PROGRAM. 

2 Section 7(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

3 636(a)) is amended— 

4 (1) by striking paragraph (25)(C); 

5 (2) by redesignating paragraph (32) relating to 

6 increased veteran participation, as added by section 

7 208 of the Military Reservist and Veteran Small 

8 Business Reauthorization and Opportunity Act of 

9 2008 (Public Law 110–186; 122 Stat. 631), as 

10 paragraph (33); and 

11 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘(34) RURAL LENDING OUTREACH PROGRAM.— 

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator 

14 shall carry out a rural lending outreach pro15 gram to provide not more than an 85 percent 

16 guaranty for loans of not more than $250,000. 

17 The program shall be carried out only through 

18 lenders located in rural areas (as the term 

19 ‘rural’ is defined in section 501(f) of the Small 

20 Business Investment Act of 1958 (15 U.S.C. 

21 695(f))). 

22 ‘‘(B) LOAN TERMS.—For a loan made 

23 through the program under this paragraph— 

24 ‘‘(i) the Administrator shall approve 

25 or disapprove the loan within 36 hours of 


smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS
9 

•S 3342 IS

1 the time the Administrator receives the ap2 plication; 

3 ‘‘(ii) the program shall use abbre4 viated application and documentation re5 quirements; and 

6 ‘‘(iii) minimum credit standards, as 

7 the Administrator considers necessary to 

8 limit the rate of default on loans made 

9 under the program, shall apply.’’. 

Æ 


smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS