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Union Calendar No. 180 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5425 

[Report No. 118–221] 

To amend the Small Business Act to enhance the Office of Rural Affairs, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 13, 2023 

Mr. GOLDEN of Maine (for himself, Mr. MANN, Mr. PAPPAS, and Ms. 

TENNEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Small Business 

SEPTEMBER 26, 2023 

Reported from the Committee on Small Business; committed to the Committee 

of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed 


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A BILL 

To amend the Small Business Act to enhance the Office 

of Rural Affairs, and for other purposes. 


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

3 SECTION 1. OFFICE OF RURAL AFFAIRS OF THE SMALL 

4 BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION. 

5 Section 26 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 653) 

6 is amended— 

7 (1) by amending subsection (b) to read as fol8 lows: 

9 ‘‘(b) APPOINTMENT OF ASSISTANT ADMINIS10 TRATOR.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Office shall be admin12 istered by an Assistant Administrator, who shall be 

13 an employee in the competitive service. 

14 ‘‘(2) QUALIFICATIONS.—The Assistant Admin15 istrator shall— 

16 ‘‘(A) have education or professional experi17 ence with, or knowledge of, rural affairs and 

18 issues relating to small business concerns; and 

19 ‘‘(B) have experience providing develop20 ment assistance to rural small business con21 cerns.’’; 

22 (2) in subsection (c)— 

23 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘small 

24 business concerns located in rural areas’’ and 

25 inserting ‘‘rural small business concerns’’; 


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1 (B) in paragraph (3)— 

2 (i) by striking ‘‘provide information’’ 

3 and inserting ‘‘promote’’; and 

4 (ii) by striking ‘‘concerning the’’ and 

5 all that follows through the semicolon at 

6 the end and inserting the following: ‘‘poli7 cies and programs of the Administration 

8 and of other Federal departments and 

9 agencies for assisting rural small business 

10 concerns;’’; 

11 (C) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘; and’’ 

12 and inserting a semicolon; 

13 (D) in paragraph (5)— 

14 (i) by striking ‘‘the United States 

15 Tourism and Travel Administration’’ and 

16 inserting ‘‘the National Travel and Tour17 ism Office of the Department of Com18 merce’’; 

19 (ii) by striking ‘‘small businesses in 

20 rural areas’’ and inserting ‘‘rural small 

21 business concerns’’; and 

22 (iii) by striking the period at the end 

23 and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

24 (E) by adding at the end the following new 

25 paragraph: 


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1 ‘‘(6) host webinars and outreach events for 

2 rural small business concerns as described in sub3 section (d).’’; and 

4 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub5 sections: 

6 ‘‘(d) OUTREACH.—The Assistant Administrator 

7 shall— 

8 ‘‘(1) host webinars and outreach events in var9 ious regions of the United States for rural small 

10 business concerns; and 

11 ‘‘(2) invite representatives from district offices 

12 of the Administration, resource partners, Federal 

13 and State agencies, and other interested persons to 

14 participate in such webinars and outreach events. 

15 ‘‘(e) REPORT.— 

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

17 after the date of the enactment of this subsection, 

18 and annually thereafter, the Administrator shall sub19 mit to the Committee on Small Business of the 

20 House of Representatives and the Committee on 

21 Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate, 

22 and make publicly make available on a website of 

23 the Administration, a report on the activities of the 

24 Office during the one-year period immediately pre25 ceding the date of submission of the report. 


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1 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—Each report required under 

2 paragraph (1) shall include the following: 

3 ‘‘(A) The operational details of the Office, 

4 including the name of the Assistant Adminis5 trator, the budget of the Office, and the num6 ber of full-time employees employed by or de7 tailed to the Office. 

8 ‘‘(B) A summary of the activities con9 ducted under subsection (c). 

10 ‘‘(C) The number of webinars and out11 reach events conducted by the Administration 

12 to promote policies and programs described in 

13 paragraphs (3) of subsection (c) and to provide 

14 information described in (4) of such subsection. 

15 ‘‘(D) An analysis of gaps in lending pro16 grams of the Administration in serving the 

17 needs of rural small business concerns. 

18 ‘‘(E) Information gathered from any 

19 webinars and outreach events conducted by the 

20 Administration during the period covered by the 

21 report. 

22 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

23 ‘‘(1) ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR.—The term 

24 ‘Assistant Administrator’ means the Assistant AdVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Sep 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5425.RH H5425

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1 ministrator of the Office of Rural Affairs appointed 

2 under subsection (b). 

3 ‘‘(2) RESOURCE PARTNERS.—The term ‘re4 source partners’ means— 

5 ‘‘(A) small business development centers; 

6 ‘‘(B) women’s business centers (described 

7 under section 29); 

8 ‘‘(C) chapters of the Service Corps of Re9 tired Executives (established under section 

10 8(b)(1)(B)); and 

11 ‘‘(D) Veteran Business Outreach Centers 

12 (described under section 32). 

13 ‘‘(3) RURAL SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN.—The 

14 term ‘rural small business concern’ means a small 

15 business concern located in a rural area.’’. 


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Union Calendar No. 180 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5425 

[Report No. 118–221] 

A BILL 

To amend the Small Business Act to enhance the 

Office of Rural Affairs, and for other purposes. 

SEPTEMBER 26, 2023 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 

State of the Union and ordered to be printed 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB