Small Business Relief Accessibility Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2360 To establish a program to increase small business awareness of, and participa- tion in, Small Business Administration programs, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 5, 2021 Mr. DELGADO introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Small Business A BILL To establish a program to increase small business awareness of, and participation in, Small Business Administration programs, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Small Business Relief 4 Accessibility Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6 In this Act: 7 (1) ADMINISTRATION.—The term ‘‘Administra- 8 tion’’ means the Small Business Administration. 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:53 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2360.IH H2360 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2360 IH (2) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis- 1 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Small Busi- 2 ness Administration. 3 (3) COMMUNITY NAVIGATOR SERVICES.—The 4 term ‘‘community navigator services’’ means the out- 5 reach, education, and technical assistance provided 6 by community navigators that target eligible busi- 7 nesses to increase awareness of, and participation in, 8 programs of the Small Business Administration. 9 (4) COMMUNITY NAVIGATOR.—The term ‘‘com- 10 munity navigator’’ means a community organization, 11 community financial institution as defined in section 12 7(a)(36)(A) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 13 636(a)(36)(A)), or other private nonprofit organiza- 14 tion engaged in the delivery of community navigator 15 services. 16 (5) ELIGIBLE BUSINESS.—The term ‘‘eligible 17 business’’ means any small business concern, with 18 priority for small business concerns owned and con- 19 trolled by women (as defined in section 3(n) of the 20 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632(n))), small busi- 21 ness concerns owned and controlled by veterans (as 22 defined in section 3(q) of such Act (15 U.S.C. 23 632(q))), and socially and economically disadvan- 24 taged small business concerns (as defined in section 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:53 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2360.IH H2360 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2360 IH 8(a)(4)(A) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 1 637(a)(4)(A))). 2 (6) PRIVATE NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION.—The 3 term ‘‘private nonprofit organization’’ means an en- 4 tity that is described in section 501(c) of the Inter- 5 nal Revenue Code of 1986 and exempt from tax 6 under section 501(a) of such Code. 7 (7) RESOURCE PARTNER.—The term ‘‘resource 8 partner’’ means— 9 (A) a small business development center 10 (as defined in section 3 of the Small Business 11 Act (15 U.S.C. 632)); 12 (B) a women’s business center (as de- 13 scribed in section 29 of the Small Business Act 14 (15 U.S.C. 656)); and 15 (C) a chapter of the Service Corps of Re- 16 tired Executives (as defined in section 17 8(b)(1)(B) of the Act (15 U.S.C. 18 637(b)(1)(B))). 19 (8) SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN.—The term 20 ‘‘small business concern’’ has the meaning given 21 under section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 25 22 U.S.C. 632). 23 (9) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means a State 24 of the United States, the District of Columbia, the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:53 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2360.IH H2360 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2360 IH Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, 1 American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the North- 2 ern Mariana Islands, and Guam, or an agency, in- 3 strumentality, or fiscal agent thereof. 4 (10) UNIT OF GENERAL LOCAL GOVERN- 5 MENT.—The term ‘‘unit of general local govern- 6 ment’’ means a county, city, town, village, or other 7 general purpose political subdivision of a State. 8 SEC. 3. COMMUNITY NAVIGATOR PILOT PROGRAM. 9 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the Small 10 Business Administration shall establish a Community 11 Navigator pilot program to make grants to, or enter into 12 contracts or cooperative agreements with, private non- 13 profit organizations, resource partners, States, Tribes, 14 and units of local government to ensure the delivery of 15 free community navigator services to current or prospec- 16 tive owners of eligible businesses in order to improve ac- 17 cess to assistance programs and resources made available 18 because of the COVID–19 pandemic by Federal, State, 19 Tribal, and local entities. 20 (b) APPROPRIATIONS.—In addition to amounts other- 21 wise available, there is appropriated to the Administrator 22 for fiscal year 2021, out of any money in the Treasury 23 not otherwise appropriated, $100,000,000, to remain 24 available until expended, for carrying out this section. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:53 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2360.IH H2360 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2360 IH SEC. 4. OUTREACH AND EDUCATION. 1 (a) PROMOTION.—The Administrator shall develop 2 and implement a program to promote community navi- 3 gator services to current or prospective owners of eligible 4 businesses. 5 (b) CALL CENTER.—The Administrator shall estab- 6 lish a telephone hotline to offer information about Federal 7 programs to assist eligible businesses and offer referral 8 services to resource partners, community navigators, po- 9 tential lenders, and other persons that the Administrator 10 determines appropriate for current or prospective owners 11 of eligible businesses. 12 (c) OUTREACH.—The Administrator shall— 13 (1) conduct outreach and education, in the 10 14 most commonly spoken languages in the United 15 States, to current or prospective owners of eligible 16 businesses on community navigator services and 17 other Federal programs to assist eligible businesses; 18 (2) improve the website of the Administration 19 to describe such community navigator services and 20 other Federal programs; and 21 (3) implement an education campaign by adver- 22 tising in media targeted to current or prospective 23 owners of eligible businesses. 24 (d) APPROPRIATIONS.—In addition to amounts other- 25 wise available, there is appropriated to the Administrator 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:53 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2360.IH H2360 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2360 IH for fiscal year 2021, out of any money in the Treasury 1 not otherwise appropriated, $75,000,000, to remain avail- 2 able until expended, for carrying out this section. 3 (e) SUNSET.—The authority of the Administrator to 4 make grants under this Act shall terminate on December 5 31, 2025. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:53 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2360.IH H2360 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS