I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3956 

To amend the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 to authorize the 

Small Business Administrator to make grants for economic growth, business retention and business recruitment to economically underserved communities. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 28, 2014 

Ms. KELLY of Illinois introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Small Business 

A BILL 

To amend the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 to 

authorize the Small Business Administrator to make 

grants for economic growth, business retention and business recruitment to economically underserved communities. 

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 ‘‘Community Investment 

5 and Empowerment Act’’. 

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1 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 

2 The purpose of this Act is to assist with the economic 

3 growth of economically disadvantaged communities that 

4 have potential for strong Class 1 commercial investment, 

5 but continue to have a difficult time recruiting Class 1 

6 commercial investment. 

7 SEC. 3. ECONOMIC GROWTH, RETENTION, AND RECRUIT8 MENT OF COMMERCIAL INVESTMENT IN UN9 DERSERVED COMMUNITIES. 

10 The Small Business Investment Act of 1958 (15 

11 U.S.C. 661 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 

12 following new title: 

13 ‘‘TITLE VI—ECONOMIC GROWTH, 

14 RETENTION, AND RECRUIT15 MENT OF COMMERCIAL IN16 VESTMENT IN ECONOMI17 CALLY DISADVANTAGED COM18 MUNITIES 

19 ‘‘SEC. 511. GRANT PROGRAM. 

20 ‘‘(a) AUTHORIZATION.—From amounts appropriated 

21 under section 513, the Administrator shall make grants 

22 on a competitive basis to communities for— 

23 ‘‘(1) the creation of a grant and/or revolving 

24 loan fund program that helps develop financing 

25 packages for Class 1 commercial investment; 

26 ‘‘(2) lowering real estate property tax rates; 

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1 ‘‘(3) conducting community-wide market anal2 ysis to help recruit and/or retain Class 1 commercial 

3 investment; 

4 ‘‘(4) creating employment training programs for 

5 Class 1 business customer service, sales, and mana6 gerial positions; 

7 ‘‘(5) retail marketing strategies to solicit new 

8 Class 1 commercial investment starts in the commu9 nity; 

10 ‘‘(6) program allowances for activities such as 

11 the publication of marketing materials, development 

12 of economic development web pages, and educational 

13 outreach activities with retail trade associations; and 

14 ‘‘(7) hiring business recruitment specialists. 

15 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—The Administrator may only 

16 make a grant under subsection (a) to communities that— 

17 ‘‘(1) demographics include— 

18 ‘‘(A) a median per capita income no higher 

19 than $35,000; and 

20 ‘‘(B) a lack of Class 1 commercial invest21 ment; and 

22 ‘‘(2) submit an application at such time, in 

23 such form, and containing such information and as24 surances as the Administrator may require, includ25 ing— 

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1 ‘‘(A) a description of how the community 

2 through the activities the community carries out 

3 with the grant funds will recruit, retain and 

4 grow their economy through Class 1 commercial 

5 investment; and 

6 ‘‘(B) a description of the difficulty the 

7 community has faced recruiting, retaining and 

8 growing their economy through Class 1 com9 mercial investment. 

10 ‘‘(c) MATCHING FUNDS.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator may not 

12 make a grant to a community under subsection (a) 

13 unless the community agrees that, with respect to 

14 the costs to be incurred by the community in car15 rying out the activities for which the grant is award16 ed, the community will make available non-Federal 

17 contributions in an amount equal to not less than 10 

18 percent of the Federal funds provided under the 

19 grant. 

20 ‘‘(2) SATISFYING MATCHING REQUIREMENTS.— 

21 The non-Federal contributions required under para22 graph (1) may be— 

23 ‘‘(A) in cash or in-kind, including services, 

24 fairly evaluated; and 

25 ‘‘(B) from— 

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1 ‘‘(i) any private source; 

2 ‘‘(ii) a State or local governmental en3 tity; or 

4 ‘‘(iii) a not-for-profit. 

5 ‘‘(3) WAIVER.—The Administrator may waive 

6 or reduce the non-Federal contribution required by 

7 paragraph (1) if the community involved dem8 onstrates that the eligible entity cannot meet the 

9 contribution requirement due to financial hardship. 

10 ‘‘(d) LIMITATIONS.—Funding appropriated under 

11 section 513 will be allocated by the following formula— 

12 ‘‘(1) no more than up to 5 percent of funds ap13 propriated under section 513 shall go to administra14 tive costs; 

15 ‘‘(2) up to 70 percent of funding appropriated 

16 under section 513 shall go toward activities de17 scribed in sections (a)(1) through (a)(4) after taking 

18 into account administrative costs under section 

19 (c)(1)(A); and 

20 ‘‘(3) 30 percent of funding appropriated under 

21 section 513 shall go toward activities described in 

22 sections (a)(5) through (a)(7) after taking into ac23 count administrative costs under section (c)(1)(A). 

24 ‘‘SEC. 512. DEFINITIONS. 

25 ‘‘In this title, the following definitions apply: 

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1 ‘‘(1) COMMUNITY.—The term ‘community’ 

2 means a governance structure that includes county, 

3 parish, city, village, township, district or borough. 

4 ‘‘(2) CLASS 1 COMMERCIAL INVESTMENT.—The 

5 term ‘Class 1 commercial investment’ means retail 

6 grocery chains, food service retailers, restaurants 

7 and franchises, retail stores, cafes, shopping malls, 

8 and other shops. 

9 ‘‘(3) ECONOMICALLY UNDERSERVED COMMU10 NITY.—The term ‘economically underserved commu11 nity’ means an area suffering from low income and 

12 resultant low purchasing power, limiting its ability 

13 to generate sufficient goods and services to be used 

14 in exchange with other areas to meet current con15 sumption needs. 

16 ‘‘SEC. 513. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

17 ‘‘There is authorized to be appropriated to the Ad18 ministrator to carry out section 511(a) $40,000,000 for 

19 each of fiscal years 2014 through 2019.’’. 

Æ 

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