I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3032 
To amend the Small Business Act to establish the Office of Environment, 
Energy, and Climate Change and to establish the Climate Change Center 
and Clearinghouse to provide support and information on climate change 
to small business concerns. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 24, 2009 
Mr. WELCH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Small Business 
A BILL 
To amend the Small Business Act to establish the Office 
of Environment, Energy, and Climate Change and to 
establish the Climate Change Center and Clearinghouse 
to provide support and information on climate change 
to small business concerns. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Climate Change Center 
and Clearinghouse Act of 2009’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
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(1) There are 26.8 million small business con-
cerns in the United States, and they are the back-
bone of the American economy. However, small busi-
ness concerns face overwhelming obstacles in ad-
dressing climate change issues, such as reducing 
their carbon footprint while balancing business needs 
to remain economically competitive. 
(2) The United States Government is the larg-
est purchaser of goods and services in the world and 
plays a large role in influencing the overall business 
marketplace. In 2006, the United States Govern-
ment spent over $417 billion on goods and services 
in 8.3 million separate contract actions. Small busi-
ness concerns won approximately $80 billion in con-
tracts which is about 21.5 percent of the remaining 
prime contracts. 
(3) The Small Business Act of 1953 specified 
that small business concerns should be given every 
opportunity to compete fairly for the award of Fed-
eral contracts. Congress has long recognized the 
value of small business concerns because they are 
important sources of job creation and economic 
growth; however, small business concerns are typi-
cally disadvantaged in competing against large 
firms. 
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(4) The United States Environmental Protec-
tion Agency has created a directory to help small 
business concerns access financial services by State 
or service type (i.e. loans, consulting, credit, etc.) to 
help small business concerns achieve energy effi-
ciency through their Energy Star Small Business— 
Financial Resources Directory. 
(5) The fusion of a powerful purchasing mecha-
nism with green business practices provides a small 
business concern with significant incentives and op-
portunities for market penetration of environ-
mentally preferable products, for the development of 
green services, and for the adoption of green prac-
tices in their own facilities. 
(6) Many small businesses have taken the first 
step in incorporating sustainable practices into their 
own business, however small business concerns face 
obstacles in comparing the cost, performance, and 
life cycle environmental impacts of alternatives. Most 
small business concerns do not have the scientific 
and technical capability to fully assess the issues 
and choices to address the impact of climate change. 
In addition, small business concerns offering green 
products and services often face barriers to market 
acceptance of environmentally preferable products 
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