Empowering Women in Small Business Act
Bill: S.3896 | Sponsor: Sen. Ernst, Joni (R-IA)
Policy area: Commerce

Summary:
Empowering Women in Small Business Act
This bill permits certain women-owned small businesses to retain for seven years their certification under the Small Business Administration's Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Federal Contracting program even if the ownership interests in the small business are held by a licensed small business investment company that would otherwise reduce the ownership percentage below the threshold required for participation in the WOSB program.

To amend the Small Business Act relating to small business concerns 
         owned and controlled by women, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Empowering Women in Small Business 
Act''.

SEC. 2. TREATMENT OF FUNDING BY SMALL BUSINESS INVESTMENT COMPANIES.

    Section 8 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(21)(E), by inserting ``, and except 
        as provided under subsection (m)(9),'' after ``law,''; and
            (2) in subsection (m), by adding at the end the following:
            ``(9) Treatment of funding by small business investment 
        companies.--
                    ``(A) Definition.--In this paragraph, the term 
                `covered small business concern' means a small business 
                concern--
                            ``(i)(I) owned and controlled by women; or
                            ``(II) owned and controlled by women 
                        described in paragraph (2)(A) and certified 
                        under paragraph (2)(E); and
                            ``(ii) that receives funding from a small 
                        business investment company licensed under 
                        title III of the Small Business Investment Act 
                        of 1958 (15 U.S.C. 681 et seq.).
                    ``(B) Retained certification.--Any covered small 
                business concern shall retain certification as a 
                covered small business concern under this subsection 
                for a period of not more than 7 years if, during that 
                period, ownership interests in the covered small 
                business concern that are held by a small business 
                investment company licensed under title III of the 
                Small Business Investment Act of 1958 (15 U.S.C. 681 et 
                seq.) would reduce the percentage required under 
                section 3(n) or paragraph (2)(A) of this subsection, as 
                applicable, to less than 51 percent.''.

SEC. 3. REQUIRED TRAINING AND REPORTING ON GOVERNMENTWIDE GOALS.

    Section 15(g)(2) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(g)(2)) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(G) Required training.--
                    ``(i) In general.--Notwithstanding the goals 
                established under this subsection for each Federal 
                agency, the Administration, in consultation with the 
                National Women's Business Council established under 
                section 405 of the Women's Business Ownership Act of 
                1988 (15 U.S.C. 7105), shall provide training to 
                employees with responsibility for procurement or 
                acquisition at any Federal agency that awards less than 
                5 percent of prime contracts and subcontracts to small 
                business concerns owned and controlled by women in a 
                fiscal year.
                    ``(ii) Guidance.--The Administration shall issue 
                publicly available guidance for each Federal agency 
                identified in a report submitted under clause (iii) to 
                meet the 5 percent goal described in clause (iii)(I).
                    ``(iii) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the 
                date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, 
                the Administration shall submit to Congress--
                            ``(I) a list of each Federal agency that 
                        awarded less than 5 percent of the prime 
                        contracts and subcontracts of the Federal 
                        agency to small business concerns owned and 
                        controlled by women in the fiscal year covered 
                        by the report;
                            ``(II) the number of training sessions 
                        provided under clause (i) to each Federal 
                        agency described in subclause (I);
                            ``(III) an overview of the content of each 
                        training session described in subclause (II); 
                        and
                            ``(IV) the result of each training session 
                        described in subclause (II), including whether 
                        additional contracting opportunities were 
                        provided to small business concerns owned and 
                        controlled by women and the 5 percent threshold 
                        described in clause (i) was met by the Federal 
                        agency.''.

SEC. 4. INTERAGENCY REPORT.

    (a) Definition.--In this section--
            (1) the term ``covered agency'' means--
                    (A) the Department of Commerce;
                    (B) the Small Business Administration;
                    (C) the Department of Agriculture; and
                    (D) the Department of the Treasury;
            (2) the term ``covered small business concern'' means--
                    (A) a small business concern owned and controlled 
                by women; and
                    (B) a small business concern owned and controlled 
                by women described in and certified under subparagraphs 
                (A) and (E), respectively, of section 8(m)(2) of the 
                Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638(m)(2)); and
            (3) the term ``small business concern owned and controlled 
        by women'' has the meaning given the term in section 3 of the 
        Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632).
    (b) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of 
this Act, the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with the 
Administrator of the Small Business Administration, the Secretary of 
Agriculture, and the Secretary of the Treasury, shall submit to 
Congress an interagency report that--
            (1) identifies the leading economic barriers for small 
        business concerns owned and controlled by women, particularly 
        for industries underrepresented by small business concerns 
        owned and controlled by women;
            (2) includes a detailed description of the impact of 
        inflation and supply chain disruptions on small business 
        concerns owned and controlled by women during the 3-year period 
        preceding the report;
            (3) makes recommendations to improve access to capital for 
        small business concerns owned and controlled by women; and
            (4) in consultation with the Office of Small Business and 
        Disadvantaged Business Utilization of each covered agency, 
        identifies Federal contract opportunities for covered small 
        business concerns.
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