PROMISE Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2126 To require the Small Business Administration to report on assistance provided to historically Black colleges or universities, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 16, 2019 Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina (for himself and Mr. COONS) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship A BILL To require the Small Business Administration to report on assistance provided to historically Black colleges or uni- versities, 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 ‘‘Promoting Robust Op- 4 portunities for Minority Institutions and Strengthening 5 Entrepreneurship Act’’ or the ‘‘PROMISE Act’’. 6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 7 In this Act— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 Jul 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2126.IS S2126 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2126 IS (1) the terms ‘‘Administration’’ and ‘‘Adminis- 1 trator’’ mean the Small Business Administration 2 and the Administrator thereof, respectively; 3 (2) the term ‘‘historically Black college or uni- 4 versity’’ means a part B institution, as defined in 5 section 322 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 6 (20 U.S.C. 1061); and 7 (3) the term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ 8 has the meaning given the term in section 101 of the 9 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001). 10 SEC. 3. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR THE SMALL BUSI- 11 NESS ADMINISTRATION ON HISTORICALLY 12 BLACK COLLEGES OR UNIVERSITIES. 13 (a) ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT PRO- 14 GRAMS.—The Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 631 et seq.) 15 is amended— 16 (1) in section 21 (15 U.S.C. 648), by adding at 17 the end the following: 18 ‘‘(o) REPORT ON CENTERS AT HISTORICALLY BLACK 19 COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES.— 20 ‘‘(1) DEFINITION.—In this subsection— 21 ‘‘(A) the term ‘historically Black college or 22 university’ means a part B institution, as de- 23 fined in section 322 of the Higher Education 24 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1061); and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 Jul 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2126.IS S2126 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 2126 IS ‘‘(B) the term ‘lead small business develop- 1 ment center’ means a small business develop- 2 ment center described in section 21 that admin- 3 isters and operates a network of small business 4 development centers. 5 ‘‘(2) REPORT.—The Administrator shall annu- 6 ally prepare a report— 7 ‘‘(A) which the Administrator shall make 8 publicly available; and 9 ‘‘(B) that includes— 10 ‘‘(i) the number of small business de- 11 velopment centers and lead small business 12 development centers that are located at 13 historically Black colleges or universities; 14 ‘‘(ii) the number of women’s business 15 centers and Veteran Business Outreach 16 Centers that have partnerships with his- 17 torically Black colleges or universities; 18 ‘‘(iii) the number of hours of training 19 and education provided by a program over- 20 seen by the Office of Entrepreneurial De- 21 velopment of the Administration to stu- 22 dents and graduates of historically Black 23 colleges or universities; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 Jul 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2126.IS S2126 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 2126 IS ‘‘(iv) each strategic alliance memo- 1 randum entered into between the Adminis- 2 tration and a historically Black college or 3 university; 4 ‘‘(v) the steps taken to ensure that 5 each memorandum described in clause (iv) 6 is upheld; 7 ‘‘(vi) the steps taken to partner the 8 resources provided by the Service Corps of 9 Retired Executives program authorized by 10 section 8(b)(1) with students and grad- 11 uates of historically Black colleges or uni- 12 versities; 13 ‘‘(vii) for that year, the plan of the 14 Administration prepared in accordance 15 with section 2(c) of Executive Order 13779 16 (82 Fed. Reg. 12499; relating to pro- 17 moting excellence and innovation at his- 18 torically Black colleges and universities); 19 ‘‘(viii) the steps taken by the Adminis- 20 tration to ensure that the plan described in 21 clause (vii) is carried out; and 22 ‘‘(ix) the process by which a histori- 23 cally Black college or university may apply 24 for a grant awarded by a small business 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 Jul 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2126.IS S2126 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 2126 IS development center, women’s business cen- 1 ter, or Veteran Business Outreach Cen- 2 ter.’’; and 3 (2) in section 29(j)(2) (15 U.S.C. 656(j)(2))— 4 (A) in subparagraph (E), by striking 5 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 6 (B) in subparagraph (F), by striking the 7 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 8 (C) by adding at the end the following: 9 ‘‘(G) the number of historically Black col- 10 leges or universities (as defined in section 11 21(o)(1)) served by the women’s business cen- 12 ter, and the hours of training provided to stu- 13 dents and graduates of historically Black col- 14 leges or universities.’’. 15 (b) SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION PROGRAMS 16 AT HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIVER- 17 SITIES.—Not later than 180 days after the date of enact- 18 ment of this Act, the Administrator shall submit to the 19 Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of 20 the Senate and the Committee on Small Business of the 21 House of Representatives a report that examines the num- 22 ber and scope of programs of the Administration at his- 23 torically Black colleges or universities, as compared with 24 other institutions of higher education. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 Jul 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2126.IS S2126 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 2126 IS SEC. 4. PROMOTING ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND SMALL 1 BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES AT HISTORI- 2 CALLY BLACK COLLEGES OR UNIVERSITIES. 3 The Administrator shall— 4 (1) on an annual basis, provide to each histori- 5 cally Black college or university a list of each intern- 6 ship or employment opportunity available at the Ad- 7 ministration; 8 (2) actively promote the programs and re- 9 sources of the Administration that would be helpful 10 for entrepreneurs who are students at, or graduates 11 of, historically Black colleges or universities; 12 (3) work to ensure that the Strategic Alliance 13 Memorandums between the Administration and his- 14 torically Black colleges or universities are enforced 15 by developing and executing a strategic plan that ac- 16 complishes the goals set forth in those memoran- 17 dums; 18 (4) conduct outreach to historically Black col- 19 leges or universities to provide awareness with re- 20 spect to resources, services, and opportunities pro- 21 vided by the Administration; and 22 (5) in order to enhance transparency, when de- 23 scribing the efforts of the Administration to 24 strengthen the capacity of historically Black colleges 25 or universities to participate in applicable Federal 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 Jul 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2126.IS S2126 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 2126 IS programs and initiatives in each plan prepared 1 under section 2(c) of Executive Order 13779 (82 2 Fed. Reg. 12499; relating to promoting excellence 3 and innovation at historically Black colleges and uni- 4 versities), provide rationales for those efforts. 5 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 Jul 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2126.IS S2126 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS