Coordinated Support for Rural Small Businesses Act

Bill: 118-s-4764
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Shaheen, Jeanne [D-NH]
Introduced: 2024-07-24
Policy area: Commerce
Subjects: Food industry and services

Rural conditions and development

Small business
Latest action: action_date: 2024-09-18
text: Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Hearings held.

Summaries:

tv_txt: II 118th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 4764 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES July 24, 2024 Mrs. Shaheen (for herself and Mr. Kennedy ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship A BILL To amend the Small Business Act to enhance the Office of Rural Affairs, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Coordinated Support for Rural Small Businesses Act . 2. Office of Rural Affairs of the Small Business Administration Section 26 of the Small Business Act ( 15 U.S.C. 653 ) is amended— (1) by redesignating subsections (a), (b), and (c) as subsections (b), (c), and (d), respectively; (2) by inserting before subsection (b) the following: (a) Definitions In this section: (1) Assistant Administrator The term Assistant Administrator means the Assistant Administrator of the Office. (2) HUBZone The term HUBZone has the meaning given the term in section 31(b). (3) Office The term Office means the Office of Rural Affairs established under subsection (b). (4) Resource partners The term resource partners means— (A) small business development centers; (B) women’s business centers described in section 29; (C) chapters of the Service Corps of Retired Executives established under section 8(b)(1)(B); and (D) Veteran Business Outreach Centers described in section 32. (5) Rural small business concern The term rural small business concern means a small business concern located in a rural area. ; (3) in subsection (b), as so redesignated— (A) by inserting Establishment .— before There ; and (B) by striking (hereafter in this section referred to as the Office ) ; (4) by amending subsection (c), as so redesignated, to read as follows: (c) Appointment of Assistant Administrator (1) In general The Office shall be administered by an Assistant Administrator, who shall be an employee in the competitive service. (2) Qualifications The Assistant Administrator shall— (A) have education or professional experience with, or knowledge of, rural affairs and issues relating to small business concerns; and (B) have experience providing development assistance to rural small business concerns. ; (5) in subsection (d), as so redesignated— (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by inserting Duties .— before The ; (B) in paragraph (1), by striking small business concerns located in rural areas and inserting rural small business concerns ; (C) by amending paragraph (3) to read as follows: (3) promote the policies and programs of the Administration and of other Federal departments and agencies for assisting rural small business concerns to industries, organizations, and State and local governments; ; (D) in paragraph (4), by striking ; and and inserting a semicolon; (E) in paragraph (5)— (i) by striking the United States Tourism and Travel Administration and inserting the National Travel and Tourism Office of the Department of Commerce ; (ii) by striking small businesses in rural areas and inserting rural small business concerns ; and (iii) by striking the period at the end and inserting ; and ; and (F) by adding at the end the following: (6) host webinars and outreach events for rural small business concerns as described in subsection (e). ; and (6) by adding at the end the following: (e) Outreach The Assistant Administrator shall— (1) host webinars and outreach events in various 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 the webinars and outreach events described in paragraph (1). (f) Interagency cooperation The Assistant Administrator shall coordinate with the Department of Agriculture to— (1) conduct outreach regarding programs of the Administration and the Department of Agriculture and to improve awareness and utilization of the existing programs and services of each agency; and (2) convene interagency working groups to address issues including— (A) capital access and investment in rural areas of the United States, which may include— (i) identifying synergies between the business loan programs of the Administration and the Department of Agriculture, including where intermediaries, such as those under the microloan program under section 7(m), as defined in paragraph (11) of such section, and the rural microentrepreneur assistance program established under section 379E of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act ( 7 U.S.C. 2008s ) and the intermediary relending program established under section 310H of that Act ( 7 U.S.C. 1936b ), may be able to participate in programs at both agencies; (ii) assessing opportunities for the Administration to facilitate the delivery of programs of the Department of Agriculture to rural communities through the district offices of the Administration, relationships with rural lenders, resource partners of the Administration, and joint outreach and marketing efforts, as well as opportunities for the Department of Agriculture to facilitate the delivery of programs of the Administration to rural communities; (iii) improving information sharing and discussion of best practices between the Administration and the Department of Agriculture; (iv) examining coordination between the small business investment company program under part A of title III of the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 ( 15 U.S.C. 681 et seq. ) and related programs at the Department of Agriculture, including the Rural Business Investment Program of the Department of Agriculture; (v) examining opportunities for coordination between the Administration, the Department of Agriculture, and community and nonprofit partners in the small business ecosystem, including resource partners, Regional Food Business Centers, and innovation clusters; and (vi) addressing barriers and examining opportunities for cooperatives to participate in programs and access resources of the Administration that are similar to the financing programs of the Department of Agriculture that serve cooperatives; and (B) assisting businesses in rural areas of the United States, which may include— (i) identifying overlap among the rural markets identified by the Department of Agriculture, HUBZones, rural census tracts identified by the Administration, and underserved rural communities; (ii) exploring opportunities to support innovation clusters in rural areas; (iii) coordinating effective support initiatives that benefit Native Americans; and (iv) collaborating on technical assistance, especially with respect to exportation and procurement. (g) Report (1) In general Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this subsection, and annually thereafter, the Administrator shall submit to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate and the Committee on Small Business of the House of Representatives, and make publicly make available on a website of the Administration, a report on the activities of the Office during the 1-year period immediately preceding the date of submission of the report. (2) Contents Each report required under paragraph (1) shall include the following: (A) The operational details of the Office, including the name of the Assistant Administrator, the budget of the Office, and the number of full-time employees employed by or detailed to the Office. (B) A summary of the activities conducted under subsection (d). (C) The number of webinars and outreach events conducted by the Administration to promote policies and programs and provide information described in paragraphs (3) and (4), respectively, of subsection (c). (D) An analysis of gaps in lending programs of the Administration in serving the needs of rural small business concerns. (E) Information gathered from any webinars and outreach events conducted by the Administration during the period covered by the report. (F) A summary of activities conducted under subsection (f), including— (i) the status of any memorandum of understanding between the Administration and the Department of Agriculture to further the goals of improving service delivery, advice, and assistance for rural small business concerns; (ii) a summary of outreach efforts under subsection (f)(1); (iii) a summary of working groups created under subsection (f)(2), including any synergies identified in capital access programs under subparagraph (A) of such subsection; and (iv) efforts to coordinate outreach under subsection (f)(2)(B). .