I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5425 

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 

A BILL 

To amend the Small Business Act to enhance the Office 

of Rural Affairs, 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. 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.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Office shall be admin2 istered by an Assistant Administrator, who shall be 

3 an employee in the competitive service. 

4 ‘‘(2) QUALIFICATIONS.—The Assistant Admin5 istrator shall— 

6 ‘‘(A) have education or professional experi7 ence with, or knowledge of, rural affairs and 

8 issues relating to small business concerns; and 

9 ‘‘(B) have experience providing develop10 ment assistance to rural small business con11 cerns.’’; 

12 (2) in subsection (c)— 

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

14 business concerns located in rural areas’’ and 

15 inserting ‘‘rural small business concerns’’; 

16 (B) in paragraph (3)— 

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

18 and inserting ‘‘promote’’; and 

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

20 all that follows through the semicolon at 

21 the end and inserting the following: ‘‘poli22 cies and programs of the Administration 

23 and of other Federal departments and 

24 agencies for assisting rural small business 

25 concerns;’’; 


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

2 and inserting a semicolon; 

3 (D) in paragraph (5)— 

4 (i) by striking ‘‘the United States 

5 Tourism and Travel Administration’’ and 

6 inserting ‘‘the National Travel and Tour7 ism Office of the Department of Com8 merce’’; 

9 (ii) by striking ‘‘small businesses in 

10 rural areas’’ and inserting ‘‘rural small 

11 business concerns’’; and 

12 (iii) by striking the period at the end 

13 and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

15 paragraph: 

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

17 rural small business concerns as described in sub18 section (d).’’; and 

19 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub20 sections: 

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

22 shall— 

23 ‘‘(1) host webinars and outreach events in var24 ious regions of the United States for rural small 

25 business concerns; and 


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1 ‘‘(2) invite representatives from district offices 

2 of the Administration, resource partners, Federal 

3 and State agencies, and other interested persons to 

4 participate in such webinars and outreach events. 

5 ‘‘(e) REPORT.— 

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

7 after the date of the enactment of this subsection, 

8 and annually thereafter, the Administrator shall sub9 mit to the Committee on Small Business of the 

10 House of Representatives and the Committee on 

11 Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate, 

12 and make publicly make available on a website of 

13 the Administration, a report on the activities of the 

14 Office during the one-year period immediately pre15 ceding the date of submission of the report. 

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

17 paragraph (1) shall include the following: 

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

19 including the name of the Assistant Adminis20 trator, the budget of the Office, and the num21 ber of full-time employees employed by or de22 tailed to the Office. 

23 ‘‘(B) A summary of the activities con24 ducted under subsection (c). 


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1 ‘‘(C) The number of webinars and out2 reach events conducted by the Administration 

3 to promote policies and programs described in 

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

5 information described in (4) of such subsection. 

6 ‘‘(D) An analysis of gaps in lending pro7 grams of the Administration in serving the 

8 needs of rural small business concerns. 

9 ‘‘(E) Information gathered from any 

10 webinars and outreach events conducted by the 

11 Administration during the period covered by the 

12 report. 

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

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

15 ‘Assistant Administrator’ means the Assistant Ad16 ministrator of the Office of Rural Affairs appointed 

17 under subsection (b). 

18 ‘‘(2) RESOURCE PARTNERS.—The term ‘re19 source partners’ means— 

20 ‘‘(A) small business development centers; 

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

22 under section 29); 

23 ‘‘(C) chapters of the Service Corps of Re24 tired Executives (established under section 

25 8(b)(1)(B)); and 


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1 ‘‘(D) Veteran Business Outreach Centers 

2 (described under section 32). 

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

4 term ‘rural small business concern’ means a small 

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

Æ 


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