Reaching America's Rural Minority Businesses Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4873 To authorize the Minority Business Development Agency of the Department of Commerce to establish business centers at historically Black colleges and universities, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES OCTOBER 26 (legislative day, OCTOBER 19), 2020 Mr. WICKER (for himself, Mr. KAINE, Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina, Mr. TILLIS, and Mr. COONS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Trans- portation A BILL To authorize the Minority Business Development Agency of the Department of Commerce to establish business cen- ters at historically Black colleges and universities, 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 ‘‘Reaching America’s 4 Rural Minority Businesses Act of 2020’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:07 Nov 04, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4873.IS S4873 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4873 IS SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 1 (1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Agency’’ means the 2 Minority Business Development Agency of the De- 3 partment of Commerce. 4 (2) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT- 5 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com- 6 mittees’’ means— 7 (A) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 8 and Transportation of the Senate; 9 (B) the Committee on Small Business and 10 Entrepreneurship of the Senate; 11 (C) the Committee on Energy and Com- 12 merce of the House of Representatives; and 13 (D) the Committee on Small Business of 14 the House of Representatives. 15 (3) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti- 16 ty’’ means— 17 (A) a historically Black college or univer- 18 sity; or 19 (B) a consortium of institutions of higher 20 education that is led by a historically Black col- 21 lege or university. 22 (4) HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGE OR UNI- 23 VERSITY.—The term ‘‘historically Black college or 24 university’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘part B 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:07 Nov 04, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4873.IS S4873 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4873 IS institution’’ in section 322 of the Higher Education 1 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1061). 2 (5) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 3 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 4 meaning given the term in section 101 of the Higher 5 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001). 6 (6) MBDA CENTER.—The term ‘‘MBDA cen- 7 ter’’ means any business center established by the 8 Agency. 9 (7) MBDC AGREEMENT.—The term ‘‘MBDC 10 agreement’’ means a collaborative agreement entered 11 into between the Agency and an eligible entity under 12 section 3(b)(2). 13 (8) MINORITY BUSINESS ENTERPRISE.—The 14 term ‘‘minority business enterprise’’ has the mean- 15 ing given the term in section 1108(a) of the CARES 16 Act (15 U.S.C. 9007(a)). 17 (9) RURAL AREA.—The term ‘‘rural area’’ 18 means an area located outside a metropolitan statis- 19 tical area (as designated by the Office of Manage- 20 ment and Budget). 21 (10) RURAL BUSINESS CENTER.—The term 22 ‘‘rural business center’’ means an MBDA center 23 with the functions described in section 3(c). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:07 Nov 04, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4873.IS S4873 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4873 IS (11) RURAL MINORITY BUSINESS ENTER- 1 PRISE.—The term ‘‘rural minority business enter- 2 prise’’ means a minority business enterprise located 3 in a rural area. 4 SEC. 3. BUSINESS CENTERS. 5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Agency may establish not 6 more than 10 rural business centers. 7 (b) PARTNERSHIP.— 8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The agency shall establish 9 each rural business center in partnership with an eli- 10 gible entity in accordance with paragraph (2). 11 (2) MBDC AGREEMENT.— 12 (A) IN GENERAL.—With respect to each 13 rural business center established by the Agency, 14 the Agency shall enter into a collaborative 15 agreement with an eligible entity that provides 16 that— 17 (i) the eligible entity shall provide 18 space, facilities, and staffing for the rural 19 business center; 20 (ii) the Agency shall provide funding 21 for, and oversight with respect to, the rural 22 business center; and 23 (iii) subject to subparagraph (B), the 24 eligible entity shall match 20 percent of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:07 Nov 04, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4873.IS S4873 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4873 IS the amount of the funding provided by the 1 Agency under clause (ii), which may be 2 calculated to include the costs of providing 3 the space, facilities, and staffing under 4 clause (i). 5 (B) LOWER MATCH REQUIREMENT.— 6 Based on the available resources of an eligible 7 entity, the Agency may enter into a collabo- 8 rative agreement with the eligible entity that 9 provides that the eligible entity shall match less 10 than 20 percent of the amount of the funding 11 provided by the Agency under subparagraph 12 (A)(ii). 13 (3) TERM.—The term of an MBDC agreement 14 shall be 5 years. 15 (4) RENEWAL.—The Agency and an eligible en- 16 tity may agree to extend the term of an MBDC 17 agreement with respect to a rural business center for 18 an additional 5 years. 19 (c) FUNCTIONS.—A rural business center shall— 20 (1) primarily serve clients that are— 21 (A) rural minority business enterprises; or 22 (B) minority business enterprises that are 23 located more than 50 miles from an MBDA 24 center (other than that rural business center); 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:07 Nov 04, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4873.IS S4873 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4873 IS (2) focus on issues relating to— 1 (A) the adoption of broadband internet ac- 2 cess service (as defined in section 8.1(b) of title 3 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any suc- 4 cessor regulation), digital literacy skills, and e- 5 commerce by rural minority business enter- 6 prises; 7 (B) advanced manufacturing; 8 (C) the promotion of manufacturing in the 9 United States; 10 (D) ways in which rural minority business 11 enterprises can meet gaps in the supply chain 12 of critical supplies and essential goods and serv- 13 ices for the United States; 14 (E) improving the connectivity of rural mi- 15 nority business enterprises through transpor- 16 tation and logistics; 17 (F) promoting trade and export opportuni- 18 ties by rural minority business enterprises; 19 (G) securing financial capital; and 20 (H) facilitating entrepreneurship in rural 21 areas; and 22 (3) provide education, training, and technical 23 assistance to minority business enterprises. 24 (d) APPLICATIONS.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:07 Nov 04, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4873.IS S4873 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4873 IS (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 1 the date of enactment of this Act, the Agency shall 2 issue a request for applications from eligible entities 3 that desire to enter into MBDC agreements with the 4 Agency. 5 (2) CRITERIA AND PRIORITY.—In selecting an 6 eligible entity with which to enter into an MBDC 7 agreement, the Agency shall— 8 (A) select an eligible entity that dem- 9 onstrates— 10 (i) the ability to collaborate with gov- 11 ernmental and private sector entities to le- 12 verage capabilities of minority business en- 13 terprises through public-private partner- 14 ships; 15 (ii) the research and extension capac- 16 ity to support minority business enter- 17 prises; 18 (iii) knowledge of the community that 19 the eligible entity serves and the ability to 20 conduct effective outreach to that commu- 21 nity to advance the goals of a rural busi- 22 ness center; 23 (iv) the ability to provide innovative 24 business solutions, including access to con- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:07 Nov 04, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4873.IS S4873 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 4873 IS tracting opportunities, markets, and cap- 1 ital; 2 (v) the ability to provide services that 3 advance the development of science, tech- 4 nology, engineering, and math jobs within 5 minority business enterprises; 6 (vi) the ability to leverage resources 7 from within the eligible entity to advance a 8 rural business center; 9 (vii) that the mission of the eligible 10 entity aligns with the mission of the Agen- 11 cy; and 12 (viii) the ability to leverage relation- 13 ships with rural minority business enter- 14 prises; and 15 (B) give priority to an eligible entity lo- 16 cated in a State or region that lacks an MBDA 17 center, as of the date of enactment of this Act. 18 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 19 are authorized to be appropriated to the Agency to estab- 20 lish rural business centers under this section $10,000,000 21 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 2025. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:07 Nov 04, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4873.IS S4873 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 4873 IS SEC. 4. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 1 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 2 of this Act, the Agency shall submit to the appropriate 3 congressional committees a report that includes— 4 (1) a summary of the efforts of the Agency to 5 provide services to minority business enterprises lo- 6 cated in States that lack an MBDA center, as of the 7 date of enactment of this Act, and especially in those 8 States that have significant minority populations; 9 and 10 (2) recommendations for extending the outreach 11 of the Agency to underserved areas. 12 SEC. 5. STUDY AND REPORT. 13 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Agency, in coordination with 14 the Administrator of the Small Business Administration, 15 shall conduct a study on the ways in which minority busi- 16 ness enterprises can meet gaps in the supply chain of the 17 United States, with a particular focus on the supply chain 18 of advanced manufacturing and essential goods and serv- 19 ices. 20 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 21 of enactment of this Act, the Agency shall submit to Con- 22 gress a report that includes— 23 (1) the results of the study conducted under 24 subsection (a); and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:07 Nov 04, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4873.IS S4873 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 4873 IS (2) recommendations on the ways in which mi- 1 nority business enterprises can meet gaps in the 2 supply chain of the United States. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:07 Nov 04, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4873.IS S4873 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS