Topic: Domestic Commerce — Small Businesses
Subject: Commerce
Date: 2009-05-12 00:00:00

Job Creation Through Entrepreneurship Act of 2009 - Title I: Establishment of Veterans Business Center Program - (Sec. 101) Amends the Small Business Act to direct the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) to establish a Veterans Business Center Program to provide entrepreneurial training and counseling to veterans. Requires the Program to be headed by a Director, who shall establish a process to designate entities as veterans business centers. Provides funding for such centers. Requires each center to provide veterans' entrepreneurial development, counseling of veteran-owned small businesses, and government procurement assistance to veterans. Targets for such centers areas where the population of veterans, and the population of veterans of Operations Iraqi Freedom or Enduring Freedom, exceed the national median. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Program Director to report annually to the Administrator on whether a sufficient percentage of veterans in rural areas have adequate access to a veterans business center, and, if not, to give priority to applicants that will establish such centers in rural areas. Requires the Program Director to establish a grant program for: (1) access to business capital; (2) procurement assistance; and (3) service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses. Authorizes appropriations for each grant program. Authorizes the Program Director to carry out a biennial veterans entrepreneurial development summit. (Sec. 102) Requires the Administrator to report biannually to Congress on appointments to, and activities of, an interagency task force for veterans business programs. (Sec. 103) Directs the Comptroller General to: (1) carry out a study on the effects of this Act and its amendments on small businesses owned and controlled by veterans; and (2) report study results to Congress. Title II: Educating and Networking Entrepreneurs Through Today's Technology - (Sec. 201) Directs the Administrator to contract with third-party vendors for: (1) entrepreneurial distance learning content and the development of communications technology that distributes such content to potential and existing entrepreneurs throughout the United States; and (2) the establishment of a nationwide online network for the exchange of peer-to-peer technical assistance. Requires a biannual report from the Administrator to Congress on the implementation of this section. Authorizes appropriations. Title III: Enhancing Native American Entrepreneurship - (Sec. 301) Establishes within the SBA an Office of Native American Affairs, headed by an Associate Administrator for Native American Affairs. Directs the Office to: (1) develop and implement tools and strategies to increase Native American entrepreneurship; (2) expand access of Native American entrepreneurs to business training, capital, and federal small business contracts; (3) expand outreach to Native American communities and market entrepreneurial development services to such communities; and (4) represent the SBA with respect to Native American entrepreneurial development. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes the Administrator to operate a Tribal Business Information Centers program that provides Native American populations with business training and entrepreneurial development assistance. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 302) Allows SBA small business development center (SBDC) participants to apply for an additional grant to assist with outreach, development, and enhancement of small business startups and expansions owned by Indian tribe members, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians. Authorizes appropriations. Title IV: Broadening the Women's Business Center Program - (Sec. 401) Revises the SBA's women's business center program to direct the Administrator to: (1) annually publish the amount of grants made to each center; and (2) establish a process to communicate with such centers regarding program administrative matters. (Sec. 403) Removes the five-year limit on SBA financial assistance to private nonprofit organizations to conduct projects for the benefit of small businesses owned and controlled by women. Requires such assistance to be provided in three tiers, with the first tier a five-year project, and the second and third tiers three-year projects. Allocates project funding. Provides maximum funding to projects that possess the capacity to train existing or potential business owners in the fields of green technology, clean technology, or energy efficiency. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 404) Directs the Administrator to establish women's business centers' performance measures, including the amount of job creation or economic activity generated in the local community as a result of efforts made by a center. Requires each center to submit an annual center plan. (Sec. 405) Requires National Women's Business Council studies to include the impact of the 2008-2009 financial markets crisis on women-owned businesses, as well as the use of SBA programs by such businesses. Requires such studies in 2010 and 2011. (Sec. 406) Requires the Administrator, in evaluating and ranking applicants for the women's business center program, to consider whether the applicant has the capacity to train existing or potential business owners in the fields of green technology, clean technology, or energy efficiency. Title V: SCORE Program Improvements - (Sec. 501) Revises the SBA's Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) program to direct the Administrator to ensure that SCORE: (1) develops a plan to increase the proportion of mentors from socially or economically disadvantaged backgrounds; (2) establishes benchmarks for evaluating its performance and the performance of its volunteers; and (3) establishes a mentoring program of one-on-one advice to small businesses from qualified counselors. (Sec. 503) Changes the program name to SCORE. (Sec. 504) Authorizes appropriations for SCORE for FY2010-FY2011. Title VI: Expanding Entrepreneurship - (Sec. 601) Directs the Administrator to: (1) develop and submit to Congress a plan for using the SBA's entrepreneurial development programs to create jobs during FY2010-FY2011; (2) develop and implement a data collection process for all entrepreneurial development programs; (3) report annually to Congress on opportunities to foster coordination, limit duplication, and improve program delivery for federal entrepreneurial development programs; (4) establish a database of entrepreneurial development services, and make such database available through the SBA's website; (5) designate in each district office an entrepreneurial development community specialist; and (6) publish a design for a web-based portal to provide comprehensive information on SBA entrepreneurial development programs. Title VII: Modernizing the Small Business Development Center Program - (Sec. 701) Makes miscellaneous SBDC operational changes. Limits funds distributed to an SBDC in a state served by more than one SBDC. (Sec. 702) Directs the Administrator to establish a grant program for SBDCs for increasing small business access to credit and capital. Limits grant amounts to $300,000 per entity. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 703) Directs the Administrator to establish a grant program for SBDCs for small business contract procurement training and assistance. Limits grant amounts to $300,000 per entity. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 704) Directs the Administrator to establish a grant program for SBDCs for green entrepreneurship training. Limits grant amounts to $300,000 per entity. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 705) Directs the Administrator to establish a grant program for SBDCs for small business helplines in each U.S. state and territory, as well as related small business advice and resources assistance. Limits grant amounts to $250,000 per entity. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 706) Prohibits SBDC program funds obtained through the assessment of fees to small business clients from being used as matching funds. (Sec. 707) Authorizes appropriations for the SBDC program for FY2010-FY2011. (Sec. 708) Directs the Administrator to establish a grant program to assist small manufacturers in transitioning operations to another industry sector or reorganizing operations to increase efficiency and profitability. Limits grant amounts to $250,000 per entity. Authorizes appropriations. Title VIII: Microenterprise Training Center Program - (Sec. 801) Directs the Administrator to establish and carry out a microenterprise training center program for providing low-income and unemployed individuals with training and counseling on starting a microenterprise (a business with not more than six employees and begun with an initial investment of not more than $40,000). Requires the Administrator to establish at least ten such centers in geographically diverse areas. Title IX: Military Entrepreneurs Program - (Sec. 901) Directs the Administrator to establish and carry out a program to provide business counseling and entrepreneurial development assistance to members of the Armed Forces (members) to facilitate the development of small businesses. Requires the Administrator to establish a liaison to facilitate outreach to members concerning such counseling and assistance. Authorizes appropriations. Title X: Rural Entrepreneurship Advisory Council - (Sec. 1001) Directs the Administrator to establish a rural entrepreneurship advisory council to report to the Administrator and Congress on entrepreneurship in rural communities, barriers to such entrepreneurship, and federal policies for fostering such entrepreneurship. Title XI: Assistance Related To Carbon Emission Tax - (Sec. 1101) Requires services provided by a SBDC to include providing information and technical assistance to a small business owner facing an increase in costs resulting from a program to impose a tax on carbon emissions.