I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4818 

To amend the Small Business Act to improve the program under section 

8(a), and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 10, 2010 

Ms. RICHARDSON (for herself, Ms. BORDALLO, and Ms. JACKSON LEE of 

Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Small Business 

A BILL 

To amend the Small Business Act to improve the program 

under section 8(a), 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 Reform 

5 Act of 2010’’ or the ‘‘Not Too Small to Succeed in Busi6 ness Act of 2010’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

8 Congress finds the following: 

9 (1) Small businesses are a vital part of the 

10 economy of the United States. 


jbell on DSKDVH8Z91PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 4818 IH

1 (2) The 26,800,000 small businesses in the 

2 United States account for more than 99.7 percent of 

3 all employer firms. 

4 (3) Small businesses employ just over half of all 

5 private sector employees. 

6 (4) Four million one-hundred thousand small 

7 businesses owned by individuals who are members of 

8 economically disadvantaged groups generate approxi9 mately $694,000,000,000 in revenues and employ 

10 approximately 4,800,000 individuals each year. 

11 (5) Small businesses need help to remain com12 petitive in the global economy, particularly during 

13 difficult economic times. 

14 (6) Economically disadvantaged-owned busi15 nesses receive less than 7 percent of venture capital. 

16 (7) Seventy percent of small businesses survive 

17 at least 2 years, but less than half survive 5 years. 

18 (8) The Small Business Administration was es19 tablished in 1953 by the Federal Government to aid, 

20 counsel, assist, and protect the interests of small 

21 business concerns, to preserve free competitive enter22 prise, and to maintain and strengthen the overall 

23 economy of the United States. 

24 (9) The Small Business Administration assists 

25 firms owned and controlled by economically disVerDate Nov 24 2008 01:32 Mar 13, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4818.IH H4818

jbell on DSKDVH8Z91PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 4818 IH

1 advantaged individuals to enter the economic main2 stream by providing firm-specific analysis, coun3 seling, management training, professional consulting 

4 and monitoring services, and access to business de5 velopment opportunities under section 8(a) of the 

6 Small Business Act. 

7 (10) Although the program under section 8(a) 

8 is well intended, the problems of the program are 

9 well known. 

10 (11) The program under section 8(a) has a 

11 record of graduating companies that are not suffi12 ciently prepared to compete for contracts with large 

13 and established companies in the private sector, re14 sulting in a large number of former participants in 

15 the program failing to remain in business shortly 

16 after leaving the program. 

17 (12) The problem of graduating companies 

18 from the program under section 8(a) that are not 

19 sufficiently prepared to compete for contracts with 

20 large and established companies in the private sector 

21 is caused by the reliance of the Small Business Ad22 ministration on outdated measures of adjusted gross 

23 income and net worth in determining whether a 

24 company participating in the program continues to 

25 be economically disadvantaged. 


jbell on DSKDVH8Z91PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 4818 IH

1 (13) Reliance by the Small Business Adminis2 tration on measures that do not reflect contem3 porary conditions has had, and will continue to have, 

4 the unintended consequence of keeping small busi5 nesses too small to succeed, which is as undesirable 

6 as protecting companies that are too big to fail. 

7 SEC. 3. IMPROVEMENT OF PROGRAM UNDER SECTION 8(a) 

8 OF THE SMALL BUSINESS ACT. 

9 (a) PERIOD OF ELIGIBILITY.— 

10 (1) EXTENSION.—Section 7(j)(15) of the Small 

11 Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(j)(15)) is amended— 

12 (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph 

13 (A) by striking ‘‘nine years’’ and inserting ‘‘11 

14 years’’; and 

15 (B) in subparagraph (B) by striking ‘‘five 

16 years’’ and inserting ‘‘7 years’’. 

17 (2) COMPLETED PERIODS.—A small business 

18 concern that completed a 9-year period of participa19 tion in the program under section 8(a) of the Small 

20 Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(a)) prior to the date 

21 of enactment of this Act and that is otherwise eligi22 ble to participate in such program except for having 

23 completed such 9-year period, and current net worth 

24 exceeds $750,000 but still less than $2,250,000, 

25 may participate in such program during the 2-year 


jbell on DSKDVH8Z91PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 4818 IH

1 period beginning on the date of enactment of this 

2 Act. 

3 (b) NET WORTH AND INCOME LIMITATIONS.— 

4 (1) INCREASE.—Section 8(a)(6)(A) of the 

5 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(a)(6)(A)) is 

6 amended by inserting after ‘‘disadvantaged indi7 vidual.’’ the following: ‘‘For purposes of eligibility 

8 for admission as a Program Participant the net 

9 worth of such individual may be any amount not ex10 ceeding $750,000 and for purposes of continued eli11 gibility after admission the net worth of such indi12 vidual may be any amount not exceeding 

13 $2,250,000. For purposes of eligibility for admission 

14 as a Program Participant and continued eligibility 

15 after admission, the modified adjusted gross income 

16 (as such term is defined in section 25A(d)(3) of the 

17 Internal Revenue Code of 1986) of such individual 

18 for an applicable taxable year may be any amount 

19 not exceeding $500,000.’’. 

20 (2) COMPLETED PERIODS OF PARTICIPATION.— 

21 If the Administrator of the Small Business Adminis22 tration graduated a small business concern from the 

23 program under section 8(a) of the Small Business 

24 Act (15 U.S.C. 637(a)) prior to the date of enact25 ment of this Act as a result of a determination that 


jbell on DSKDVH8Z91PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 4818 IH

1 such concern did not meet standards relating to eco2 nomic disadvantage and such concern meets require3 ments under such section as amended by this Act, 

4 such concern may participate in such program for a 

5 period— 

6 (A) of 11 years less the period of time 

7 such concern previously participated in such 

8 program; and 

9 (B) beginning on the date of enactment of 

10 this Act. 

Æ 


jbell on DSKDVH8Z91PROD with BILLS