II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1981 

To modify the unconditional ownership requirement for women-owned and 

minority-owned small business concerns for purposes of procurement 

contracts with the Small Business Administration, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 28, 2019 

Ms. CANTWELL (for herself and Mr. RUBIO) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business 

and Entrepreneurship 

A BILL 

To modify the unconditional ownership requirement for 

women-owned and minority-owned small business concerns for purposes of procurement contracts with the 

Small Business Administration, 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 ‘‘Women and Minority 

5 Equity Investment Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. MODIFYING UNCONDITIONAL OWNERSHIP RE2 QUIREMENT FOR WOMEN-OWNED AND MI3 NORITY-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CON4 CERNS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 8 of the Small Business 

6 Act (15 U.S.C. 637) is amended— 

7 (1) in subsection (a)(4)— 

8 (A) in subparagraph (A), in the matter 

9 preceding clause (i), by striking ‘‘For purposes’’ 

10 and inserting ‘‘Except as provided in subpara11 graph (C), for purposes’’; 

12 (B) by redesignating subparagraph (C) as 

13 subparagraph (D); and 

14 (C) by inserting after subparagraph (B) 

15 the following: 

16 ‘‘(C) For purposes of determining eligibility for 

17 an award under this subsection, the term ‘socially 

18 and economically disadvantaged small concern’ in19 cludes any small business concern that meets the re20 quirements of subparagraph (B) and— 

21 ‘‘(i) for which less than 51 percent is un22 conditionally owned by 1 or more socially and 

23 economically disadvantaged individuals or by an 

24 entity described in subclause (II) or (III) of 

25 subparagraph (A)(i) because the small business 

26 concern— 


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1 ‘‘(I) is not more than 50 percent 

2 owned and controlled by 1 or more equity 

3 investment or venture capital firms; or 

4 ‘‘(II) is not less than 51 percent 

5 owned and controlled by 1 or more equity 

6 investment or venture capital firms owned 

7 by 1 or more socially disadvantaged indi8 viduals or by an entity described in sub9 clause (II) or (III) of subparagraph (A)(i); 

10 or 

11 ‘‘(ii) in the case of any publicly owned 

12 business, for which less than 51 percent of the 

13 stock is unconditionally owned by 1 or more so14 cially and economically disadvantaged individ15 uals or by an entity described in subclause (II) 

16 or (III) of subparagraph (A)(ii) because the 

17 small business concern— 

18 ‘‘(I) is not more than 50 percent 

19 owned and controlled by 1 or more equity 

20 investment or venture capital firms; or 

21 ‘‘(II) is not less than 51 percent 

22 owned and controlled by 1 or more equity 

23 investment or venture capital firms owned 

24 by 1 or more socially disadvantaged indi25 viduals or by an entity described in subVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:40 Jul 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1981.IS S1981

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1 clause (II) or (III) of subparagraph 

2 (A)(ii);’’; and 

3 (2) in subsection (m)(1), by striking subpara4 graph (B) and inserting the following: 

5 ‘‘(B) SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN OWNED

6 AND CONTROLLED BY WOMEN.— 

7 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘small 

8 business concern owned and controlled by 

9 women’— 

10 ‘‘(I) has the meaning given the 

11 term in section 3(n); and 

12 ‘‘(II) includes a small business 

13 concern described in subclause (I) for 

14 which less than 51 percent is uncondi15 tionally owned by 1 or more women 

16 because the small business concern— 

17 ‘‘(aa) is not more than 50 

18 percent owned and controlled by 

19 1 or more equity investment or 

20 venture capital firms; or 

21 ‘‘(bb) is not less than 51 

22 percent owned and controlled by 

23 1 or more equity investment or 

24 venture capital firms owned by 

25 women. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) OWNERSHIP.—For purposes of 

2 clause (i), ownership shall be determined 

3 without regard to any community property 

4 law.’’. 

5 (b) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 1 year after the 

6 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the 

7 Small Business Administration shall promulgate regula8 tions to amend parts 124 and 127 of chapter I of title 

9 13, Code of Federal Regulations, to carry out the amend10 ments made by subsection (a). 

Æ 


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