ness, focusing on business advisement and 
training for manufacturers; 
‘‘(F) provide ongoing professional develop-
ment to personnel of the Center and of other 
resource partners; and 
‘‘(G) develop and report performance, 
using common evaluation metrics and outcome 
measurements. 
‘‘(3) MINIMUM
AMOUNT.—Each grant under 
this subsection shall be for at least $150,000. 
‘‘(4) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—A grant under this 
subsection may not exceed $500,000. 
‘‘(5) FUNDING.—Subject to amounts approved 
in advance in appropriations Acts and separate from 
amounts approved to carry out section 21(a)(1), the 
Administrator may make grants or enter into coop-
erative agreements to carry out this subsection.’’. 
SEC. 204. MATURE ENTREPRENEURS ASSISTANCE PRO-
GRAM. 
Section 21 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
648), as amended by this Act, is amended by adding at 
the end the following: 
‘‘(q) MATURE ENTREPRENEURS ASSISTANCE PRO-
GRAM.— 
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‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A lead Small Business De-
velopment Center may apply for an additional grant 
to carry out a mature entrepreneurs assistance pro-
gram. 
‘‘(2) ELEMENTS OF PROGRAM.—Under a pro-
gram under paragraph (1), the Center shall— 
‘‘(A) provide advisors and training re-
sources to assist business owners in recognizing 
and developing transition plans, including by— 
‘‘(i) providing training and edu-
cational screening processes on the poten-
tial benefits and hazards of self-employ-
ment; and 
‘‘(ii) developing courses, consulting 
processes, and highly targeted resource 
materials, and deploying them throughout 
the Small Business Development Center 
network; 
‘‘(B) link business owners with additional 
resource service providers to prepare businesses 
for transition, including by increasing partner-
ship opportunities, particularly with the Service 
Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE); 
‘‘(C) identify business opportunities for 
those interested in acquiring businesses; 
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‘‘(D) help individuals identify and acquire 
financing for acquisition; and 
‘‘(E) provide continuing support once tran-
sition has occurred. 
‘‘(3) MINIMUM
AMOUNT.—Each grant under 
this subsection shall be for at least $175,000. 
‘‘(4) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—A grant under this 
subsection may not exceed $350,000. 
‘‘(5) FUNDING.—Subject to amounts approved 
in advance in appropriations Acts and separate from 
amounts approved to carry out section 21(a)(1), the 
Administrator may make grants or enter into coop-
erative agreements to carry out this subsection.’’. 
SEC. 205. SMALL BUSINESS SUSTAINABILITY INITIATIVE. 
Section 21 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
648), as amended by this Act, is amended by adding at 
the end the following: 
‘‘(r) SMALL
BUSINESS
SUSTAINABILITY
INITIA-
TIVE.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A lead Small Business De-
velopment Center may apply for an additional grant 
to carry out a small business sustainability initiative 
program. 
‘‘(2) ELEMENTS OF PROGRAM.—Under a pro-
gram under paragraph (1), the Center shall— 
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‘‘(A) provide necessary support to smaller 
and medium-sized businesses to— 
‘‘(i) evaluate energy efficiency and 
green building opportunities; 
‘‘(ii) understand the cost benefits of 
energy efficiency and green building oppor-
tunities; 
‘‘(iii) secure financing to achieve en-
ergy efficiency or to construct green build-
ings; and 
‘‘(iv) empower management to imple-
ment energy efficiency projects; 
‘‘(B) assist entrepreneurs with clean tech-
nology development and technology commer-
cialization through— 
‘‘(i) technology assessment; 
‘‘(ii) intellectual property; 
‘‘(iii) Small Business Innovation Re-
search submissions; 
‘‘(iv) strategic alliances; 
‘‘(v) business model development; and 
‘‘(vi) preparation for investors; and 
‘‘(C) help small business improve environ-
mental performance by shifting to less haz-
ardous materials and reducing waste and emis-
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sions at the source, including by providing as-
sistance for businesses to adapt the materials 
they use, the processes they operate, and the 
products and services they produce. 
‘‘(3) MINIMUM
AMOUNT.—Each grant under 
this subsection shall be for at least $150,000. 
‘‘(4) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—A grant under this 
subsection may not exceed $300,000. 
‘‘(5) FUNDING.—Subject to amounts approved 
in advance in appropriations Acts and separate from 
amounts approved to carry out section 21(a)(1), the 
Administrator may make grants or enter into coop-
erative agreements to carry out this subsection.’’. 
SEC. 206. GRANTS TO SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT 
CENTERS TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE IN SE-
CURING AFFORDABLE HEALTH INSURANCE. 
(a) GRANT AUTHORITY.—The Administrator of the 
Small Business Administration (hereafter in this section 
referred to as the Administrator) may award a grant 
under this section to a lead small business development 
center (as described under section 21 of the Small Busi-
ness Act (15 U.S.C. 648)). 
(b) USE OF FUNDS.—A recipient of a grant under 
this section shall use the grant only for the purpose of 
providing to the owner of a small business concern assist-
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ance in identifying and securing affordable health insur-
ance for their business and employees. A recipient of such 
a grant shall identify Federal, State, and local initiatives 
designed to assist small businesses and provide such edu-
cation information to small business concerns seeking as-
sistance on obtaining health insurance. A recipient of such 
a grant shall also work with health insurance providers 
in the area to identify premiums charged on health insur-
ance for small business. A recipient of such a grant shall 
also attempt to negotiate lower health insurance premiums 
for small business concerns that seek the assistance of the 
recipient. 
(c) MINIMUM GRANT AMOUNT.—A grant under this 
section may not be in an amount less than $200,000. 
(d) APPLICATION.—Each applicant for a grant under 
this section shall submit to the Administrator an applica-
tion in such form as the Administrator may require. The 
application shall include information regarding the appli-
cant’s goals and objectives for helping address entre-
preneur’s concerns with health insurance costs. 
(e) REPORT TO ADMINISTRATOR.—As a condition of 
receiving a grant under this section, the Administrator 
shall require the recipient of a grant to submit to the Ad-
ministrator, not later than 18 months after the date on 
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which the grant is received, a report describing how the 
grant funds were used. 
(f) COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS AND CONTRACTS.— 
The Administrator may enter into a cooperative agree-
ment or contract with the recipient of a grant under this 
section to provide additional assistance that furthers the 
purposes of this section. 
(g) APPLICABILITY OF GRANT REQUIREMENTS.—An 
applicant for a grant under this section shall comply with 
all of the requirements applicable to a grantee under sec-
tion 21 of the Small Business Act, except that the match-
ing funds requirements of such section shall not apply. 
(h) EVALUATION
OF PROGRAM.—Not later than 
March 31, 2009, the Administrator shall submit to Con-
gress a report that contains an evaluation of the grant 
program under this section. 
(i) FUNDING.—Subject to amounts approved in ad-
vance in appropriations Acts and separate from amounts 
approved to carry out section 21(a)(1), the Administrator 
may make grants or enter into cooperative agreements to 
carry out this subsection. 
SEC. 207. NATIONAL REGULATORY ASSISTANCE. 
The Small Business Act is amended by inserting after 
section 21 (15 U.S.C. 648) the following: 
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‘‘SEC. 21A. SMALL BUSINESS REGULATORY ASSISTANCE. 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following 
definitions apply: 
‘‘(1) ASSOCIATION.—The term ‘Association’ 
means the association recognized by the Adminis-
trator of the Small Business Administration under 
section 21(a)(3)(A). 
‘‘(2) PARTICIPATING SMALL BUSINESS DEVEL-
OPMENT
CENTER.—The term ‘participating Small 
Business Development Center’ means a Small Busi-
ness Development Center participating in the pro-
gram. 
‘‘(3) PROGRAM.—The term ‘program’ means 
the regulatory assistance program established under 
this section. 
‘‘(4) REGULATORY COMPLIANCE ASSISTANCE.— 
The term ‘regulatory compliance assistance’ means 
assistance provided by a Small Business Develop-
ment Center to a small business concern to enable 
the concern to comply with Federal regulatory re-
quirements. 
‘‘(5) SMALL
BUSINESS
DEVELOPMENT
CEN-
TER.—The term ‘Small Business Development Cen-
ter’ means a lead Small Business Development Cen-
ter described in section 21. 
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‘‘(6) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means each of 
the several States, the District of Columbia, the 
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, 
Guam, and American Samoa. 
‘‘(b) AUTHORITY.—In accordance with this section, 
the Administrator shall establish a program to provide 
regulatory compliance assistance to small business con-
cerns through selected Small Business Development Cen-
ters, the Association of Small Business Development Cen-
ters, and Federal compliance partnership programs. 
‘‘(c) SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTERS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the pro-
gram, the Administrator shall enter into arrange-
ments with selected Small Business Development 
Centers under which such Centers shall provide— 
‘‘(A) access to information and resources, 
including current Federal and State nonpuni-
tive compliance and technical assistance pro-
grams similar to those established under section 
507 of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7661f); 
‘‘(B) training and educational activities; 
‘‘(C) confidential, free-of-charge, one-on- 
one, in-depth counseling to the owners and op-
erators of small business concerns regarding 
compliance with Federal and State regulations, 
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as long as such counseling is not considered to 
be the practice of law in a State in which a 
Small Business Development Center is located 
or in which such counseling is conducted; 
‘‘(D) technical assistance; 
‘‘(E) referrals to experts and other pro-
viders of compliance assistance who meet such 
standards for educational, technical, and profes-
sional competency as are established by the Ad-
ministrator; and 
‘‘(F) access to the Internet and training on 
Internet use, including the use of the Internet 
website established by the Administrator under 
subsection (d)(1)(C). 
‘‘(2) REPORTS.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each selected Small 
Business Development Center shall transmit to 
the Administrator a quarterly report that in-
cludes— 
‘‘(i) a summary of the regulatory com-
pliance assistance provided by the center 
under the program; and 
‘‘(ii) any data and information ob-
tained by the center from a Federal agency 
regarding regulatory compliance that the 
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agency intends to be disseminated to small 
business concerns. 
‘‘(B) ELECTRONIC FORM.—Each report re-
quired under subparagraph (A) shall be trans-
mitted in electronic form. 
‘‘(C) INTERIM REPORTS.—A participating 
Small Business Development Center may trans-
mit to the Administrator such interim reports 
as the Center considers appropriate. 
‘‘(D) LIMITATION
ON
DISCLOSURE
RE-
QUIREMENTS.—The Administrator shall not re-
quire a Small Business Development Center to 
disclose the name or address of any small busi-
ness concern that received or is receiving assist-
ance under the program, except that the Ad-
ministrator shall require such a disclosure if or-
dered to do so by a court in any civil or crimi-
nal action. 
‘‘(d) DATA REPOSITORY AND CLEARINGHOUSE.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the pro-
gram, the Administrator shall— 
‘‘(A) act as the repository of and clearing-
house for data and information submitted by 
Small Business Development Centers; 
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‘‘(B) submit to the President, the Com-
mittee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship 
of the Senate, and the Committee on Small 
Business of the House of Representatives an 
annual report that includes— 
‘‘(i) a description of the types of as-
sistance provided by participating Small 
Business Development Centers under the 
program; 
‘‘(ii) data regarding the number of 
small business concerns that contacted 
participating Small Business Development 
Centers regarding assistance under the 
program; 
‘‘(iii) data regarding the number of 
small business concerns assisted by partici-
pating Small Business Development Cen-
ters under the program; 
‘‘(iv) data and information regarding 
outreach activities conducted by partici-
pating Small Business Development Cen-
ters under the program, including any ac-
tivities conducted in partnership with Fed-
eral agencies; 
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