IIB 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2284 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
JUNE 21, 2007 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and 
Entrepreneurship 
AN ACT 
To amend the Small Business Act to expand and improve 
the assistance provided by Small Business Development 
Centers to Indian tribe members, Alaska Natives, and 
Native Hawaiians. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) The rate for American Indians and Alaskan 
Natives living below 50 percent the poverty level is 
11.2 percent, nearly double the rate of the general 
population. 
(2) The unemployment rate for American Indi-
ans and Alaskan Natives 16 years and over is 13.6 
percent, nearly double the rate of the general popu-
lation. 
(3) Indian tribe members and Alaska Natives 
own more than 201,000 businesses and generate 
more than $26,000,000,000 in revenues. The con-
struction industry accounted for 16 percent of these 
businesses and 22.5 percent of their total receipts. 
The next largest was the service industry (13.2 per-
cent and 3.4 percent, respectively). The third largest 
was the health care and social assistance industry 
(12.1 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively). 
(4) The Small Business Development Center 
program is cost effective. Clients receiving long-term 
counseling under the program in 2005 generated ad-
ditional tax revenues of $248,000,000, nearly 2.8 
times the cost of the program to the Federal Gov-
ernment. 
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(5) Using the existing infrastructure of the 
Small Business Development Center program, small 
businesses owned by Indian tribe members, Alaska 
Natives, and Native Hawaiians receiving services 
under the program will have a higher survival rate 
than the average small business not receiving such 
services. 
(6) Business counseling and technical assist-
ance is critical on Indian lands where similar serv-
ices are scarce and expensive. 
(7) Increased assistance through counseling 
under the Small Business Development Center pro-
gram has been shown to reduce the default rate as-
sociated with lending programs of the Small Busi-
ness Administration. 
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are as fol-
lows: 
(1) To stimulate economies on Indian lands. 
(2) To foster economic development on Indian 
lands. 
(3) To assist in the creation of new small busi-
nesses owned by Indian tribe members, Alaska Na-
tives, and Native Hawaiians and expand existing 
ones. 
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(4) To provide management, technical, and re-
search assistance to small businesses owned by In-
dian tribe members, Alaska Natives, and Native Ha-
waiians. 
(5) To seek the advice of local Tribal Councils 
on where small business development assistance is 
most needed. 
(6) To ensure that Indian tribe members, Alas-
ka Natives, and Native Hawaiians have full access 
to existing business counseling and technical assist-
ance available through the Small Business Develop-
ment Center program. 
SEC. 2. SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER ASSIST-
ANCE TO INDIAN TRIBE MEMBERS, ALASKA 
NATIVES, AND NATIVE HAWAIIANS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 21(a) of the Small Busi-
ness Act (15 U.S.C. 648(a)) is amended by adding at the 
end the following: 
‘‘(8) ADDITIONAL
GRANT
TO
ASSIST
INDIAN 
TRIBE MEMBERS, ALASKA NATIVES, AND NATIVE HA-
WAIIANS.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Any applicant in an 
eligible State that is funded by the Administra-
tion as a Small Business Development Center 
may apply for an additional grant to be used 
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solely to provide services described in subsection 
(c)(3) to assist with outreach, development, and 
enhancement on Indian lands of small business 
startups and expansions owned by Indian tribe 
members, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawai-
ians. 
‘‘(B) ELIGIBLE STATES.—For purposes of 
subparagraph (A), an eligible State is a State 
that has a combined population of Indian tribe 
members, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawai-
ians that comprises at least 1 percent of the 
State’s total population, as shown by the latest 
available census. 
‘‘(C) GRANT APPLICATIONS.—An applicant 
for a grant under subparagraph (A) shall sub-
mit to the Administration an application that is 
in such form as the Administration may re-
quire. The application shall include information 
regarding the applicant’s goals and objectives 
for the services to be provided using the grant, 
including— 
‘‘(i) the capability of the applicant to 
provide training and services to a rep-
resentative number of Indian tribe mem-
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bers, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawai-
ians; 
‘‘(ii) the location of the Small Busi-
ness Development Center site proposed by 
the applicant; 
‘‘(iii) the required amount of grant 
funding needed by the applicant to imple-
ment the program; and 
‘‘(iv) the extent to which the applicant 
has consulted with local Tribal Councils. 
‘‘(D) APPLICABILITY OF GRANT REQUIRE-
MENTS.—An applicant for a grant under sub-
paragraph (A) shall comply with all of the re-
quirements of this section, except that the 
matching funds requirements under paragraph 
(4)(A) shall not apply. 
‘‘(E) MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF GRANTS.—No 
applicant may receive more than $300,000 in 
grants under this paragraph for one fiscal year. 
‘‘(F) REGULATIONS.—After providing no-
tice and an opportunity for comment and after 
consulting with the Association recognized by 
the Administration pursuant to paragraph 
(3)(A) (but not later than 180 days after the 
date of enactment of this paragraph), the Ad-
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ministration shall issue final regulations to 
carry out this paragraph, including regulations 
that establish— 
‘‘(i) standards relating to educational, 
technical, and support services to be pro-
vided by Small Business Development Cen-
ters receiving assistance under this para-
graph; and 
‘‘(ii) standards relating to any work 
plan that the Administration may require a 
Small Business Development Center receiv-
ing assistance under this paragraph to de-
velop. 
‘‘(G) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the 
following definitions apply: 
‘‘(i) INDIAN
LANDS.—The term ‘In-
dian lands’ has the meaning given the term 
‘Indian country’ in section 1151 of title 18, 
United States Code, the meaning given the 
term ‘Indian reservation’ in section 151.2 
of title 25, Code of Federal Regulations 
(as in effect on the date of enactment of 
this paragraph), and the meaning given 
the term ‘reservation’ in section 4 of the 
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Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (25 
U.S.C. 1903). 
‘‘(ii) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘In-
dian tribe’ means any band, nation, or or-
ganized group or community of Indians lo-
cated in the contiguous United States, and 
the Metlakatla Indian Community, whose 
members are recognized as eligible for the 
services provided to Indians by the Sec-
retary of the Interior because of their sta-
tus as Indians. 
‘‘(iii) INDIAN
TRIBE
MEMBER.—The 
term ‘Indian tribe member’ means a mem-
ber of an Indian tribe (other than a Alaska 
Native). 
‘‘(iv) ALASKA
NATIVE.—The term 
‘Alaska Native’ has the meaning given the 
term ‘Native’ in section 3(b) of the Alaska 
Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 
1602(b)). 
‘‘(v) NATIVE
HAWAIIAN.—The term 
‘Native Hawaiian’ means any individual 
who is— 
‘‘(I) a citizen of the United 
States; and 
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‘‘(II) a descendant of the aborigi-
nal people, who prior to 1778, occu-
pied and exercised sovereignty in the 
area that now constitutes the State of 
Hawaii. 
‘‘(vi) TRIBAL
ORGANIZATION.—The 
term ‘tribal organization’ has the meaning 
given that term in section 4(l) of the In-
dian Self-Determination and Education 
Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b(l)). 
‘‘(H) AUTHORIZATION
OF
APPROPRIA-
TIONS.—There is authorized to be appropriated 
to carry out this paragraph $7,000,000 for each 
of fiscal years 2008 through 2010. 
‘‘(I) FUNDING LIMITATIONS.— 
‘‘(i) NONAPPLICABILITY OF CERTAIN 
LIMITATIONS.—Funding under this para-
graph shall be in addition to the dollar 
program limitations specified in paragraph 
(4). 
‘‘(ii) 
LIMITATION
ON
USE
OF 
FUNDS.—The Administration may carry 
out this paragraph only with amounts ap-
propriated in advance specifically to carry 
out this paragraph.’’. 
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SEC. 3. STATE CONSULTATION WITH TRIBAL ORGANIZA-
TIONS. 
Section 21(c) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
648(c)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(9) ADVICE
OF
LOCAL
TRIBAL
ORGANIZA-
TIONS.—A Small Business Development Center re-
ceiving a grant under this section shall request the 
advice of tribal organization on how best to provide 
assistance to Indian tribe members, Alaska Natives, 
and Native Hawaiians and where to locate satellite 
centers to provide such assistance.’’. 
Passed the House of Representatives June 20, 2007. 
Attest: 
LORRAINE C. MILLER, 
Clerk. 
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