Native American Entrepreneurial and Opportunity Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1735 To establish an Office of Native American Affairs within the Small Business Administration, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 20, 2021 Mr. HICKENLOOPER (for himself, Ms. LUMMIS, Ms. HIRONO, and Mr. INHOFE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship A BILL To establish an Office of Native American Affairs within the Small Business Administration, 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 ‘‘Native American En- 4 trepreneurial and Opportunity Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. OFFICE OF NATIVE AMERICAN AFFAIRS. 6 The Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 631 et seq.) is 7 amended— 8 (1) by redesignating section 49 (15 U.S.C. 631 9 note) as section 50; and 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1735.IS S1735 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1735 IS (2) by inserting after section 48 (15 U.S.C. 1 657u) the following: 2 ‘‘SEC. 49. OFFICE OF NATIVE AMERICAN AFFAIRS. 3 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 4 ‘‘(1) ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR.—The term 5 ‘Associate Administrator’ means the Associate Ad- 6 ministrator for Native American Affairs appointed 7 under subsection (c). 8 ‘‘(2) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘Indian Tribe’ 9 has the meaning given the term ‘Indian tribe’ in sec- 10 tion 8(a)(13). 11 ‘‘(3) NATIVE HAWAIIAN ORGANIZATION.—The 12 term ‘Native Hawaiian Organization’ has the mean- 13 ing given the term in section 8(a)(15). 14 ‘‘(4) OFFICE.—The term ‘Office’ means the Of- 15 fice of Native American Affairs described in this sec- 16 tion. 17 ‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT.— 18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is established within 19 the Administration the Office of Native American 20 Affairs, which shall be responsible for establishing a 21 working relationship with Indian Tribes and Native 22 Hawaiian Organizations by targeting programs of 23 the Administration relating to entrepreneurial devel- 24 opment, contracting, and capital access to revitalize 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1735.IS S1735 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1735 IS Native businesses and economic development in In- 1 dian country. 2 ‘‘(2) CONNECTION WITH OTHER PROGRAMS.— 3 To the extent reasonable, the Office shall connect 4 Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian Organizations to 5 programs administered by other Federal agencies re- 6 lated to the interests described in paragraph (1). 7 ‘‘(3) FIELD OFFICES.—The Office may estab- 8 lish field offices within such regional offices of the 9 Administration as may be necessary, with initial 10 focus on those parts of Indian Country most eco- 11 nomically disadvantaged, to perform efficiently the 12 functions and responsibilities of the Office. 13 ‘‘(c) ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR.—The Office shall 14 be headed by an Associate Administrator for Native Amer- 15 ican Affairs, who shall— 16 ‘‘(1) be appointed by and report to the Admin- 17 istrator; 18 ‘‘(2) have knowledge of Native American cul- 19 tures and experience providing culturally tailored 20 small business development assistance to Native 21 Americans; 22 ‘‘(3) carry out the program to provide assist- 23 ance to Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian Organi- 24 zations and small business concerns owned and con- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1735.IS S1735 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1735 IS trolled by individuals who are members of those 1 groups; 2 ‘‘(4) administer and manage Native American 3 outreach expansion; 4 ‘‘(5) enhance assistance to Native Americans by 5 formulating and promoting policies, programs, and 6 assistance that better address their entrepreneurial, 7 capital access, business development, and con- 8 tracting needs, and collaborate with other Associate 9 Administrators and intergovernmental leaders with 10 similar missions across Federal agencies on the de- 11 velopment of policies and plans to implement new 12 programs of the Administration, while 13 supplementing existing Federal programs to holis- 14 tically serve those needs; 15 ‘‘(6) act as an ombudsman for Native Ameri- 16 cans for programs of the Administration; 17 ‘‘(7) provide grants, contracts, cooperative 18 agreements, or other financial assistance to Indian 19 Tribes and Native Hawaiian Organizations, or to 20 private nonprofit organizations governed by mem- 21 bers of those entities, that have the experience and 22 capability to— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1735.IS S1735 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1735 IS ‘‘(A) deploy training, counseling, work- 1 shops, educational outreach, and supplier 2 events; and 3 ‘‘(B) access the entrepreneurial, capital, 4 and contracting programs of the Administra- 5 tion, including the Community Navigator pilot 6 program; 7 ‘‘(8) assist the Administrator in conducting, or 8 conduct, Tribal consultation to solicit input and fa- 9 cilitate discussion of potential modifications to pro- 10 grams and procedures of the Administration; and 11 ‘‘(9) recommend annual budgets for the Office. 12 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 13 is authorized to be appropriated to the Office to carry out 14 this section $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 15 through 2026.’’. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1735.IS S1735 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS