II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2770 

To amend the Small Business Act to establish a Veterans Business Center 

program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 10, 2009 

Mrs. GILLIBRAND introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship 

A BILL 

To amend the Small Business Act to establish a Veterans 

Business Center program, 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 ‘‘Veterans Business 

5 Center Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. VETERANS BUSINESS CENTER PROGRAM. 

7 Section 32 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

8 657b) is amended— 


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1 (1) in subsection (f), by inserting ‘‘(other than 

2 subsections (g), (h), and (i))’’ after ‘‘this section’’; 

3 and 

4 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘(g) VETERANS BUSINESS CENTER PROGRAM.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall es7 tablish a Veterans Business Center program within 

8 the Administration to provide entrepreneurial train9 ing and counseling to veterans in accordance with 

10 this subsection. 

11 ‘‘(2) DIRECTOR.—The Administrator shall ap12 point a Director of the Veterans Business Center 

13 program, who shall implement and oversee such pro14 gram and who shall report directly to the Associate 

15 Administrator for Veterans Business Development. 

16 ‘‘(3) DESIGNATION OF VETERANS BUSINESS

17 CENTERS.—The Director shall establish by regula18 tion an application, review, and notification process 

19 to designate entities as veterans business centers for 

20 purposes of this section. The Director shall make 

21 publicly known the designation of an entity as a vet22 erans business center and the award of a grant to 

23 such center under this subsection. 

24 ‘‘(4) FUNDING FOR VETERANS BUSINESS CEN25 TERS.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) INITIAL GRANTS.—The Director is 

2 authorized to make a grant (hereinafter in this 

3 subsection referred to as an ‘initial grant’) to 

4 each veterans business center each year for not 

5 more than 5 years in the amount of $200,000. 

6 ‘‘(B) GROWTH FUNDING GRANTS.—After a 

7 veterans business center has received 5 years of 

8 initial grants under subparagraph (A), the Di9 rector is authorized to make a grant (herein10 after in this subsection referred to as a ‘growth 

11 funding grant’) to such center each year for not 

12 more than 3 years in the amount of $150,000. 

13 After such center has received 3 years of 

14 growth funding grants, the Director shall re15 quire such center to meet performance bench16 marks established by the Director to be eligible 

17 for growth funding grants in subsequent years. 

18 ‘‘(5) CENTER RESPONSIBILITIES.—Each vet19 erans business center receiving a grant under this 

20 subsection shall use the funds primarily on veteran 

21 entrepreneurial development, counseling of veteran22 owned small businesses through one-on-one instruc23 tion and classes, and providing government procure24 ment assistance to veterans. 


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1 ‘‘(6) MATCHING FUNDS.—Each veterans busi2 ness center receiving a grant under this subsection 

3 shall be required to provide a non-Federal match of 

4 50 percent of the Federal funds such center receives 

5 under this subsection. The Director may issue to a 

6 veterans business center, upon request, a waiver 

7 from all or a portion of such matching requirement 

8 upon a determination of hardship. The Director may 

9 waive the matching funds requirement under this 

10 paragraph with respect to veterans business centers 

11 that serve communities with a per capita income less 

12 than 75 percent of the national per capita income 

13 and an unemployment rate at least 150 percent 

14 higher than the national average. 

15 ‘‘(7) TARGETED AREAS.—The Director shall 

16 give priority to applications for designations and 

17 grants under this subsection that will establish a 

18 veterans business center in a geographic area, as de19 termined by the Director, that is not currently 

20 served by a veterans business center and in which— 

21 ‘‘(A) the population of veterans exceeds the 

22 national median of such measure; or 

23 ‘‘(B) the population of veterans of Oper24 ation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring 


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1 Freedom exceeds the national median of such 

2 measure. 

3 ‘‘(8) TRAINING PROGRAM.—The Director shall 

4 develop and implement, directly or by contract, an 

5 annual training program for the staff and personnel 

6 of designated veterans business centers to provide 

7 education, support, and information on best prac8 tices with respect to the establishment and operation 

9 of such centers. The Director shall develop such 

10 training program in consultation with veterans busi11 ness centers, the interagency task force established 

12 under subsection (c), and veterans service organiza13 tions. 

14 ‘‘(9) INCLUSION OF OTHER ORGANIZATIONS IN

15 PROGRAM.—Upon the date of the enactment of this 

16 subsection, each Veterans Business Outreach Center 

17 established by the Administrator under the authority 

18 of section 8(b)(17) and each center that received 

19 funds during fiscal year 2006 from the National 

20 Veterans Business Development Corporation estab21 lished under section 33 and that remains in oper22 ation shall be treated as designated as a veterans 

23 business center for purposes of this subsection and 

24 shall be eligible for grants under this subsection. 


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1 ‘‘(10) RURAL AREAS.—The Director shall sub2 mit annually to the Administrator a report on 

3 whether a sufficient percentage, as determined by 

4 the Director, of veterans in rural areas have ade5 quate access to a veterans business center. If the Di6 rector submits a report under this paragraph that 

7 does not demonstrate that a sufficient percentage of 

8 veterans in rural areas have adequate access to a 

9 veterans business center, the Director shall give pri10 ority during the 1-year period following the date of 

11 the submission of such report to applications for 

12 designations and grants under this subsection that 

13 will establish veterans business centers in rural 

14 areas. 

15 ‘‘(11) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

16 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

17 this subsection $12,000,000 for fiscal year 2010 and 

18 $14,000,000 for fiscal year 2011. 

19 ‘‘(h) ADDITIONAL GRANTS AVAILABLE TO VETERANS

20 BUSINESS CENTERS.— 

21 ‘‘(1) ACCESS TO CAPITAL GRANT PROGRAM.— 

22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the 

23 Veterans Business Center program shall estab24 lish a grant program under which the Director 

25 is authorized to make, to veterans business cenVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:00 Nov 11, 2009 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2770.IS S2770

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1 ters designated under subsection (g), grants for 

2 the following: 

3 ‘‘(i) Developing specialized programs 

4 to assist veteran-owned small businesses to 

5 secure capital and repair damaged credit. 

6 ‘‘(ii) Providing informational seminars 

7 on securing loans to veteran-owned small 

8 businesses. 

9 ‘‘(iii) Providing one-on-one counseling 

10 to veteran-owned small businesses to im11 prove the financial presentations of such 

12 businesses to lenders. 

13 ‘‘(iv) Facilitating the access of vet14 eran-owned small businesses to both tradi15 tional and non-traditional financing 

16 sources. 

17 ‘‘(v) Providing one-on-one or group 

18 counseling to owners of small business con19 cerns who are members of the reserve com20 ponents of the armed forces, as specified in 

21 section 10101 of title 10, United States 

22 Code, to assist such owners to effectively 

23 prepare their small businesses for periods 

24 when such owners are deployed in support 

25 of a contingency operation. 


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1 ‘‘(vi) Developing specialized programs 

2 to assist unemployed veterans to become 

3 entrepreneurs. 

4 ‘‘(B) AWARD SIZE.—The Director may not 

5 award a veterans business center more than 

6 $75,000 in grants under this paragraph. 

7 ‘‘(C) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA8 TIONS.—There is authorized to be appropriated 

9 to carry out this paragraph $1,500,000 for each 

10 of fiscal years 2010 and 2011. 

11 ‘‘(2) PROCUREMENT ASSISTANCE GRANT PRO12 GRAM.— 

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall es14 tablish a grant program under which the Direc15 tor is authorized to make, to veterans business 

16 centers designated under subsection (g), grants 

17 for the following: 

18 ‘‘(i) Assisting veteran-owned small 

19 businesses to identify contracts that are 

20 suitable to such businesses. 

21 ‘‘(ii) Preparing veteran-owned small 

22 businesses to be ready as subcontractors 

23 and prime contractors for contracts made 

24 available through the American Recovery 

25 and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public 


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1 Law 111–5) through training and business 

2 advisement, particularly with respect to the 

3 construction trades. 

4 ‘‘(iii) Providing veteran-owned small 

5 businesses technical assistance with respect 

6 to the Federal procurement process, in7 cluding assisting such businesses to comply 

8 with Federal regulations and bonding re9 quirements. 

10 ‘‘(B) AWARD SIZE.—The Director may not 

11 award a veterans business center more than 

12 $75,000 in grants under this paragraph. 

13 ‘‘(C) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA14 TIONS.—There is authorized to be appropriated 

15 to carry out this paragraph $1,500,000 for each 

16 of fiscal years 2010 and 2011. 

17 ‘‘(3) SERVICE-DISABLED VETERAN-OWNED

18 SMALL BUSINESS GRANT PROGRAM.— 

19 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall es20 tablish a grant program under which the Direc21 tor is authorized to make, to veterans business 

22 centers designated under subsection (g), grants 

23 for the following: 


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1 ‘‘(i) Developing outreach programs for 

2 service-disabled veterans to promote self3 employment opportunities. 

4 ‘‘(ii) Providing training to service-dis5 abled veterans with respect to business 

6 plan development, marketing, budgeting, 

7 accounting, and merchandising. 

8 ‘‘(iii) Assisting service-disabled vet9 eran-owned small businesses to locate and 

10 secure business opportunities. 

11 ‘‘(B) AWARD SIZE.—The Director may not 

12 award a veterans business center more than 

13 $75,000 in grants under this paragraph. 

14 ‘‘(C) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA15 TIONS.—There is authorized to be appropriated 

16 to carry out this paragraph $1,500,000 for each 

17 of fiscal years 2010 and 2011. 

18 ‘‘(i) VETERANS ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT

19 SUMMIT.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Vet21 erans Business Center program is authorized to 

22 carry out an event, once every two years, for the 

23 purpose of providing networking opportunities, out24 reach, education, training, and support to veterans 

25 business centers funded under this section, veteranVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:00 Nov 11, 2009 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2770.IS S2770

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1 owned small businesses, veterans service organiza2 tions, and other entities as determined appropriate 

3 for inclusion by the Director. Such event shall in4 clude education and training with respect to improv5 ing outreach to veterans in areas of high unemploy6 ment. 

7 ‘‘(2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

8 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

9 this subsection $450,000 for fiscal years 2010 and 

10 2011. 

11 ‘‘(j) INCLUSION OF SURVIVING SPOUSES.—For pur12 poses of subsections (g), (h), and (i) the following apply: 

13 ‘‘(1) The term ‘veteran’ includes a surviving 

14 spouse of the following: 

15 ‘‘(A) A member of the Armed Forces, in16 cluding a reserve component thereof. 

17 ‘‘(B) A veteran. 

18 ‘‘(2) The term ‘veteran-owned small business’ 

19 includes a small business owned by a surviving 

20 spouse of the following: 

21 ‘‘(A) A member of the Armed Forces, in22 cluding a reserve component thereof. 

23 ‘‘(B) A veteran. 


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1 ‘‘(k) INCLUSION OF RESERVE COMPONENTS.—For 

2 purposes of subsections (g), (h), and (i) the following 

3 apply: 

4 ‘‘(1) The term ‘veteran’ includes a member of 

5 the reserve components of the Armed Forces as 

6 specified in section 10101 of title 10, United States 

7 Code. 

8 ‘‘(2) The term ‘veteran-owned small business’ 

9 includes a small business owned by a member of the 

10 reserve components of the Armed Forces as specified 

11 in section 10101 of title 10, United States Code.’’. 

12 SEC. 3. REPORTING REQUIREMENT FOR INTERAGENCY 

13 TASK FORCE. 

14 Section 32(c) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

15 657b(c)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

16 ‘‘(4) REPORT.—The Administrator shall submit 

17 to Congress biannually a report on the appointments 

18 made to and activities of the task force.’’. 

19 SEC. 4. COMPTROLLER GENERAL STUDY OF SMALL BUSI20 NESS CONCERNS OWNED AND CONTROLLED 

21 BY VETERANS. 

22 The Comptroller General shall carry out a study on 

23 the effects of this Act and the amendments made by this 

24 Act on small business concerns owned and controlled by 

25 veterans and submit to Congress a report on the results 


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1 of such study. Such report shall include the recommenda2 tions of the Comptroller General with respect to how this 

3 Act and the amendments made by this Act may be imple4 mented to more effectively serve small business concerns 

5 owned and controlled by veterans. 

Æ 


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