II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1435

To amend section 9 of the Small Business Act to provide for the establishment

of volunteer mentoring programs.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JULY 26, 1999

Mr. LEVIN (for himself and Mr. KERRY) introduced the following bill; which

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business

A BILL

To amend section 9 of the Small Business Act to provide

for the establishment of volunteer mentoring programs.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. VOLUNTEER MENTORING PROGRAMS.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 9 of the Small Business

5 Administration Act (15 U.S.C. 638) is amended by adding

6 at the end the following:

7 ‘‘(u) VOLUNTEER MENTORING PROGRAMS.—

8 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection—

9 ‘‘(A) the term ‘eligible association’ means a

10 national or regional association, organization,
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1 coalition, or other entity (including an indi2 vidual) that represents small business concerns

3 participating in SBIR or STTR programs

4 under this section;

5 ‘‘(B) the term ‘qualified mentoring organi6 zation’ means a small business concern that has

7 successfully completed 1 or more SBIR or

8 STTR funding agreements under this section;

9 and

10 ‘‘(C) the term ‘low participation area’

11 means an area within a State that, in the deter12 mination of the Administrator, receives a dis13 proportionately low number of SBIR awards, as

14 compared with other areas in the State or in

15 the United States.

16 ‘‘(2) GRANT AUTHORITY.—In order to assist

17 small business concerns in successfully completing

18 the SBIR and STTR programs under this section,

19 the Administration may award, on competitive basis,

20 a grant to 1 or more eligible associations for use in

21 accordance with paragraph (5).

22 ‘‘(3) APPLICATIONS.—In order to be eligible to

23 receive a grant under this subsection, an eligible as24 sociation shall submit to the Administration an ap-
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1 plication in such form and containing such informa2 tion as the Administration may require.

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

4 a grant to an eligible association under this sub5 section shall be equal to not less than $50,000 and

6 not more than $200,000. An eligible association that

7 has received a grant under this subsection may re8 apply for 1 or more additional grants under this

9 subsection, as may be necessary to carry out the

10 program established and implemented with the ini11 tial grant in accordance with paragraph (5).

12 ‘‘(5) USE OF ASSISTANCE.—Amounts made

13 available under a grant awarded under this

14 subsection—

15 ‘‘(A) shall be used by the eligible associa16 tion to establish and carry out a program under

17 which 1 or more qualified mentoring organiza18 tions provide technical assistance (which may

19 include marketing, proposal writing, govern20 ment accounting, government audits, facilities

21 and equipment, project management, human re22 sources, phase III partners, commercialization,

23 and venture capital networking) to small busi24 ness concerns located in low participation areas

25 in order to advise and guide them through the
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1 SBIR and STTR program processes from appli2 cation to award and successful completion of

3 each phase of the program; and

4 ‘‘(B) may be used to reimburse qualified

5 mentoring organizations participating in the

6 program—

7 ‘‘(i) for necessary out-of-pocket ex8 penses incident to the provision of services

9 by employees of such organizations under

10 the program; and

11 ‘‘(ii) while employees of such organi12 zations are providing such services away

13 from their homes or regular places of busi14 ness, for travel expenses (including per

15 diem in lieu of subsistence) as authorized

16 by section 5703 of title 5, United States

17 Code, for individuals serving without pay,

18 and for reasonable communications ex19 penses (including telephone calls and fac20 similes).

21 ‘‘(6) STATUS OF EMPLOYEES OF QUALIFIED

22 MENTORING ORGANIZATIONS.—An employee of a

23 qualified mentoring organization, while carrying out

24 activities under a program carried out with grant

25 awarded under this subsection—
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1 ‘‘(A) shall be deemed to be a Federal em2 ployee for purposes of the Federal tort claims

3 provisions in title 28, United States Code; and

4 ‘‘(B) for purposes of subchapter I of chap5 ter 81 of title 5, United States Code (relative

6 to compensation to Federal employees for work

7 injuries) shall be deemed to be a civil employee

8 of the United States within the meaning of the

9 term ‘‘employee’’ as defined in section 8101 of

10 title 5, United States Code, and the provisions

11 of that subchapter shall apply to such employee,

12 except that in computing compensation benefits

13 for disability or death, the monthly pay of such

14 employee shall be deemed to be that received

15 under the entrance salary for a grade GS–11

16 employee.

17 ‘‘(7) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—

18 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out

19 this subsection $1,000,000 for each fiscal year.’’.

20 (b) REGULATIONS.—

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days

22 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Adminis23 trator of the Small Business Administration shall

24 issue final regulations to implement section 9(u) of

25 the Small Business Act, as added by this section.
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1 (2) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—Not later than 18

2 months after the date on which regulations are

3 issued under paragraph (1), the Administrator of

4 the Small Business Administration shall submit to

5 the Committees on Small Business of the House of

6 Representatives and the Senate a report, which shall

7 include recommendations regarding any change in

8 the maximum grant amount under section 9(u)(4) of

9 the Small Business Act, as added by this section.

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