IB 
Union Calendar No. 183 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4549 
[Report No. 119–225] 
To amend the Small Business Act to clarify the responsibilities of the Office 
of Rural Affairs of the Small Business Administration, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 21, 2025 
Ms. GOODLANDER (for herself, Mr. WIED, and Mr. GOLDEN of Maine) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Small 
Business 
AUGUST 15, 2025 
Additional sponsor: Mr. FITZPATRICK 
AUGUST 15, 2025 
Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union 
and ordered to be printed 
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A BILL 
To amend the Small Business Act to clarify the responsibil-
ities of the Office of Rural Affairs of the Small Business 
Administration, and for other purposes. 
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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 ‘‘Office of Rural Affairs 
Enhancement Act’’. 
SEC. 2. OFFICE OF RURAL AFFAIRS OF THE SMALL BUSI-
NESS ADMINISTRATION. 
Section 26 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 653) 
is amended— 
(1) by amending subsection (b) to read as fol-
lows: 
‘‘(b) 
APPOINTMENT
OF
ASSISTANT
ADMINIS-
TRATOR.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Office shall be admin-
istered by an Assistant Administrator, who shall be 
an employee in the competitive service. 
‘‘(2) QUALIFICATIONS.—The Assistant Admin-
istrator shall— 
‘‘(A) have education or professional experi-
ence with, or knowledge of, rural affairs and 
issues relating to small business concerns; and 
‘‘(B) have experience providing develop-
ment assistance to rural small business con-
cerns.’’; 
(2) in subsection (c)— 
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(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘small 
business concerns located in rural areas’’ and 
inserting ‘‘rural small business concerns’’; 
(B) in paragraph (3)— 
(i) by striking ‘‘provide information’’ 
and inserting ‘‘promote’’; and 
(ii) by striking ‘‘concerning the’’ and 
all that follows through the semicolon at 
the end and inserting the following: ‘‘on 
the policies and programs of the Adminis-
tration and of other Federal departments 
and agencies for assisting rural small busi-
ness concerns;’’; 
(C) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘; and’’ 
and inserting a semicolon; 
(D) in paragraph (5)— 
(i) by striking ‘‘the United States 
Tourism and Travel Administration’’ and 
inserting ‘‘the National Travel and Tour-
ism Office of the Department of Com-
merce’’; 
(ii) by striking ‘‘small businesses in 
rural areas’’ and inserting ‘‘rural small 
business concerns’’; and 
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(iii) by striking the period at the end 
and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(E) by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph: 
‘‘(6) host webinars and outreach events for 
rural small business concerns as described in sub-
section (d).’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following new sub-
sections: 
‘‘(d) 
OUTREACH.—The 
Assistant 
Administrator 
shall— 
‘‘(1) host webinars and outreach events in var-
ious regions of the United States for rural small 
business concerns; and 
‘‘(2) invite representatives from district offices 
of the Administration, resource partners, Federal 
and State agencies, and other interested persons to 
participate in such webinars and outreach events. 
‘‘(e) REPORT.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 
after the date of the enactment of this subsection, 
and annually thereafter, the Administrator shall sub-
mit to the Committee on Small Business of the 
House of Representatives and the Committee on 
Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate, 
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Administration during the period covered by the 
report. 
‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) ASSISTANT
ADMINISTRATOR.—The term 
‘Assistant Administrator’ means the Assistant Ad-
ministrator of the Office of Rural Affairs appointed 
under subsection (b). 
‘‘(2) RESOURCE
PARTNERS.—The term ‘re-
source partners’ means— 
‘‘(A) small business development centers; 
‘‘(B) women’s business centers (described 
under section 29); 
‘‘(C) chapters of the Service Corps of Re-
tired Executives (established under section 
8(b)(1)(B)); and 
‘‘(D) Veteran Business Outreach Centers 
(described under section 32). 
‘‘(3) RURAL SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN.—The 
term ‘rural small business concern’ means a small 
business concern located in a rural area (as defined 
in section 7(b)(16) of this Act).’’. 
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Union Calendar No. 183 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 4549 
[Report No. 119–225] 
A BILL 
To amend the Small Business Act to clarify the re-
sponsibilities of the Office of Rural Affairs of the 
Small Business Administration, and for other 
purposes. 
AUGUST 15, 2025 
Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 
State of the Union and ordered to be printed 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:25 Aug 15, 2025
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