Title: To amend the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 and the Small Business Act to include small business investment companies in the Small Business Innovation Research Program and the Small Business Technology Transfer Program, and for other purposes.
Policy area: Commerce

Summary:
This bill amends the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 to require the Small Business Administration (SBA), when calculating the outstanding leverage of a small business investment company (SBIC), to exclude investments made in Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) participants and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) participants. (SBICs are subject to a limit on their outstanding leverage. SBIR and STTR participants are small business concerns that receive SBA contracts or grants for research and development.)
The Small Business Act is amended to include SBICs as a type of investor (along with venture capital, hedge fund, and private equity firms) whose investment must be considered for various purposes under the SBIR and STTR programs.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2489 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2489

   To amend the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 and the Small 
  Business Act to include small business investment companies in the 
   Small Business Innovation Research Program and the Small Business 
          Technology Transfer Program, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 17, 2017

Ms. Velazquez introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Small Business

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 and the Small 
  Business Act to include small business investment companies in the 
   Small Business Innovation Research Program and the Small Business 
          Technology Transfer Program, 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. CALCULATION OF LEVERAGE OF SMALL BUSINESS INVESTMENT 
              COMPANIES THAT INVEST IN SBIR OR STTR PARTICIPANTS.

    Section 303(b)(2) of the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 (15 
U.S.C. 683(b)(2)) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
subparagraph:
                    ``(E) Investments in sbir and sttr participants.--
                            ``(i) In general.--Subject to clause (ii), 
                        in calculating the outstanding leverage of a 
                        company for purposes of subparagraph (A), the 
                        Administrator shall exclude the amount of any 
                        investment made in an SBIR or STTR participant, 
                        if such investment is made in the first fiscal 
                        year after the date of enactment of this 
                        subparagraph or any fiscal year thereafter by a 
                        company licensed in the applicable fiscal year.
                            ``(ii) Limitations.--
                                    ``(I) Amount of exclusion.--The 
                                amount excluded under clause (i) for a 
                                company shall not exceed 33 percent of 
                                the private capital of that company.
                                    ``(II) Maximum investment.--A 
                                company shall not make an investment in 
                                any one SBIR or STTR participant in an 
                                amount equal to more than 20 percent of 
                                the private capital of that company.
                                    ``(III) Other terms.--The exclusion 
                                of amounts under clause (i) shall be 
                                subject to such terms as the 
                                Administrator may impose to ensure that 
                                there is no cost (as that term is 
                                defined in section 502 of the Federal 
                                Credit Reform Act of 1990 (2 U.S.C. 
                                661a)) with respect to purchasing or 
                                guaranteeing any debenture involved.
                            ``(iii) Definitions.--In this subsection, 
                        the term `SBIR or STTR participant' means a 
                        small business concern that receives contracts 
                        or grants pursuant to section 9 of the Small 
                        Business Act.''.

SEC. 2. INCLUSION OF SMALL BUSINESS INVESTMENT COMPANIES IN SBIR AND 
              STTR.

    Section 9 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``or private equity firm investment'' each 
        place such term appears and inserting ``private equity firm, or 
        SBIC investment'';
            (2) by striking ``or private equity firms'' and inserting 
        ``private equity firms, or SBICs'';
            (3) in subsection (e)--
                    (A) in paragraph (12)(B), by striking ``and'' at 
                the end;
                    (B) in paragraph (13)(B), by striking the period at 
                the end and inserting ``; and''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following new 
                paragraph:
            ``(14) the term `SBIC' means a small business investment 
        company as defined in section 103 of the Small Business 
        Investment Act of 1958.''; and
            (4) in the heading for subsection (dd), by striking ``or 
        Private Equity Firms'' and inserting ``Private Equity Firms, or 
        SBICs''.
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