II 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3020 

To direct the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to reform 

and improve the HUBZone program for small business concerns, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 23, 2010 

Ms. SNOWE (for herself, Ms. LANDRIEU, Mr. BOND, and Mr. MERKLEY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship 

A BILL 

To direct the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to reform and improve the HUBZone program 

for small business concerns, 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 ‘‘HUBZone Improve5 ment Act of 2010’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act— 


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1 (1) the terms ‘‘Administration’’ and ‘‘Adminis2 trator’’ mean the Small Business Administration 

3 and the Administrator thereof, respectively; 

4 (2) the terms ‘‘HUBZone’’ and ‘‘HUBZone 

5 small business concern’’ and ‘‘HUBZone map’’ have 

6 the meanings given those terms in section 3(p) of 

7 the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632(p)), as 

8 amended by this Act; and 

9 (3) the term ‘‘recertification’’ means a deter10 mination by the Administrator that a business con11 cern that was previously determined to be a qualified 

12 HUBZone small business concern is a qualified 

13 HUBZone small business concern under section 

14 3(p)(5) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

15 632(p)(5)). 

16 SEC. 3. PURPOSE; FINDINGS. 

17 (a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to reform 

18 and improve the HUBZone program of the Administra19 tion. 

20 (b) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 

21 (1) the HUBZone program was established 

22 under the HUBZone Act of 1997 (Public Law 105– 

23 135; 111 Stat. 2627) to stimulate economic develop24 ment through increased employment and capital in25 vestment by providing Federal contracting prefVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:00 Feb 24, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3020.IS S3020

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1 erences to small business concerns in those areas, in2 cluding inner cities and rural counties, that have low 

3 household incomes, high unemployment, and suf4 fered from a lack of investment; and 

5 (2) according to the Government Accountability 

6 Office, the weakness in the oversight of the 

7 HUBZone program by the Administration has ex8 posed the Government to fraud and abuse. 

9 SEC. 4. HUBZONE IMPROVEMENTS. 

10 The Administrator shall— 

11 (1) ensure the HUBZone map— 

12 (A) is accurate and up-to-date; and 

13 (B) revised as new data is made available 

14 to maintain the accuracy and currency of the 

15 HUBZone map; 

16 (2) implement policies for ensuring that only 

17 HUBZone small business concerns determined to be 

18 qualified under section 3(p)(5) of the Small Busi19 ness Act (15 U.S.C. 632(p)(5)) are participating in 

20 the HUBZone program, including through the ap21 propriate use of technology to control costs and 

22 maximize, among other benefits, uniformity, com23 pleteness, simplicity, and efficiency; 

24 (3) submit to the Committee on Small Business 

25 and Entrepreneurship of the Senate and the ComVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:46 Feb 24, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3020.IS S3020

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1 mittee on Small Business of the House of Rep2 resentatives a report regarding any application to be 

3 designated as a HUBZone small business concern or 

4 for recertification for which the Administrator has 

5 not made a determination as of the date that is 60 

6 days after the date on which the application was 

7 submitted or initiated, which shall include a plan 

8 and timetable for ensuring the timely processing of 

9 the applications; and 

10 (4) develop measures and implement plans to 

11 assess the effectiveness of the HUBZone program 

12 that— 

13 (A) require the identification of a baseline 

14 point in time to allow the assessment of eco15 nomic development under the HUBZone pro16 gram, including creating additional jobs; and 

17 (B) take into account— 

18 (i) the economic characteristics of the 

19 HUBZone; and 

20 (ii) contracts being counted under 

21 multiple socioeconomic subcategories. 

22 SEC. 5. EMPLOYMENT PERCENTAGE. 

23 Section 3(p) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

24 632(p)) is amended— 


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1 (1) in paragraph (5), by adding at the end the 

2 following: 

3 ‘‘(E) EMPLOYMENT PERCENTAGE DURING

4 INTERIM PERIOD.— 

5 ‘‘(i) DEFINITION.—In this subpara6 graph, the term ‘interim period’ means the 

7 period beginning on the date on which the 

8 Administrator determines that a HUBZone 

9 small business concern is qualified under 

10 subparagraph (A) and ending on the day 

11 before the date on which a contract under 

12 the HUBZone program for which the 

13 HUBZone small business concern submits 

14 a bid is awarded. 

15 ‘‘(ii) INTERIM PERIOD.—During the 

16 interim period, the Administrator may not 

17 determine that the HUBZone small busi18 ness is not qualified under subparagraph 

19 (A) based on a failure to meet the applica20 ble employment percentage under subpara21 graph (A)(i)(I), unless the HUBZone small 

22 business concern— 

23 ‘‘(I) has not attempted to main24 tain the applicable employment perVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:00 Feb 24, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3020.IS S3020

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1 centage under subparagraph (A)(i)(I); 

2 or 

3 ‘‘(II) does not meet the applica4 ble employment percentage— 

5 ‘‘(aa) on the date on which 

6 the HUBZone small business 

7 concern submits a bid for a con8 tract under the HUBZone pro9 gram; or 

10 ‘‘(bb) on the date on which 

11 the HUBZone small business 

12 concern is awarded a contract 

13 under the HUBZone program.’’; 

14 and 

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

16 ‘‘(8) HUBZONE PROGRAM.—The term 

17 ‘HUBZone program’ means the program established 

18 under section 31. 

19 ‘‘(9) HUBZONE MAP.—The term ‘HUBZone 

20 map’ means the map used by the Administration to 

21 identify HUBZones.’’. 

22 SEC. 6. REDESIGNATED AREAS. 

23 Section 3(p)(4)(C)(i) of the Small Business Act (15 

24 U.S.C. 632(p)(4)(C)(i)) is amended to read as follows: 


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1 ‘‘(i) 3 years after the first date on 

2 which the Administrator publishes a 

3 HUBZone map that is based on the results 

4 from the 2010 decennial census; or’’. 

Æ 


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