SCORE Act of 2023

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1896 To reauthorize the SCORE program, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 8, 2023 Ms. ERNST introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship A BILL To reauthorize the SCORE program, 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 ‘‘SCORE Act of 2023’’. 4 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE SCORE PROGRAM. 5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 8 of the Small Business 6 Act (15 U.S.C. 637) is amended— 7 (1) in subsection (b)(1)— 8 (A) in subparagraph (A)(i)(II)(aa), by in- 9 serting ‘‘with relevant knowledge of modern 10 business practices’’ after ‘‘institutions’’; and 11 (B) in subparagraph (B)— 12 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:43 Jul 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1896.IS S1896 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1896 IS (i) by striking ‘‘a Service Corps of Re- 1 tired Executives (SCORE) and an Active 2 Corps of Executive (ACE)’’ and inserting 3 ‘‘a Supporting Coaching Opportunities for 4 Resilient Entrepreneurs (SCORE) pro- 5 gram’’; and 6 (ii) by striking ‘‘SCORE may’’ and in- 7 serting ‘‘the SCORE Program may’’; and 8 (2) by striking subsection (c) and inserting the 9 following: 10 ‘‘(c) SCORE PROGRAM.— 11 ‘‘(1) COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT.— 12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 13 days after the date of enactment of the SCORE 14 Act of 2023, the Administrator shall enter into 15 a cooperative agreement with an organization 16 described in subparagraph (B) to carry out the 17 SCORE program, which shall provide business 18 coaching to entrepreneurs seeking to form, 19 grow, scale, or sell their small business concern. 20 ‘‘(B) ELIGIBLE ORGANIZATION.—The 21 awardee of the cooperative agreement under 22 subparagraph (A) shall be an organization 23 that— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:43 Jul 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1896.IS S1896 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1896 IS ‘‘(i) is well-equipped to provide funda- 1 mental, modern, and relevant business 2 training and counseling to individuals in 3 both rural and urban areas; and 4 ‘‘(ii) shall be able to effectively reach 5 underserved individuals while overseeing 6 the volunteers participating in the SCORE 7 program. 8 ‘‘(C) RECOMPETE PROCESS.—Not later 9 than 5 years after the date on which the Ad- 10 ministrator enters into a cooperative agreement 11 under subparagraph (A), and every 5 years 12 thereafter, the Administrator shall engage in a 13 competitive bidding process to enter into a co- 14 operative agreement with an organization de- 15 scribed in subparagraph (B). 16 ‘‘(2) ADMINISTRATOR DUTIES.—The Adminis- 17 trator shall— 18 ‘‘(A) assist the Office of Inspector General 19 of the Administration in conducting their audit 20 of the SCORE program that shall occur once 21 every 3 years; and 22 ‘‘(B) establish a process to certify eligible 23 coaches under the SCORE program, which 24 shall— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:43 Jul 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1896.IS S1896 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1896 IS ‘‘(i) ensure that the business invest- 1 ments, affiliations, or connections of a 2 coach do not present a conflict of interest 3 with any individual participant that the 4 coach is actively coaching, as determined 5 by the National Women’s Business Coach- 6 es; and 7 ‘‘(ii) determine whether the individual 8 applying to be a coach has— 9 ‘‘(I) relevant knowledge of mod- 10 ern business practices, including ac- 11 counting, marketing, and hiring per- 12 sonnel; and 13 ‘‘(II) a general understanding of 14 the opportunities for growth that the 15 internet and e-commerce poses for 16 owners of small business concerns. 17 ‘‘(3) SCORE ASSOCIATION DUTIES.—The 18 SCORE Association shall— 19 ‘‘(A) in addition to providing in-person 20 services, maintain and expand online counseling 21 services including webinars, electronic men- 22 toring platforms, e-commerce, and online tool- 23 kits to further support entrepreneurs; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:43 Jul 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1896.IS S1896 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1896 IS ‘‘(B) maintain and enforce requirements 1 for volunteers participating in the SCORE pro- 2 gram, including requirements that— 3 ‘‘(i) each volunteer shall meet the per- 4 formance standards established under sub- 5 paragraph (C); 6 ‘‘(ii) if a volunteer fails to meet per- 7 formance standards, as evaluated through 8 an annual review, the volunteer shall ad- 9 here to a performance improvement plan 10 for the duration of 1 year; and 11 ‘‘(iii) if the volunteer continues to fail 12 to meet performance standards after con- 13 ducting a year-long performance improve- 14 ment plan described in clause (ii), the vol- 15 unteer shall be terminated and dismissed 16 from all participation in the SCORE pro- 17 gram. 18 ‘‘(4) JOINT DUTIES.—The Administrator, in 19 consultation with the SCORE Association, shall en- 20 sure that the SCORE program and each chapter of 21 the SCORE program— 22 ‘‘(A) develop and implement plans and 23 goals to effectively and efficiently provide serv- 24 ices to individuals in rural areas, including 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:43 Jul 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1896.IS S1896 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1896 IS plans for virtual and web-based initiatives, 1 chapter expansion, partnerships, and the devel- 2 opment of new skills by volunteers participating 3 in the SCORE program; 4 ‘‘(B) recruit diverse volunteers for the 5 chapters of the SCORE program, in conjunc- 6 tion with the National Women’s Business 7 Coaches; and 8 ‘‘(C) establish performance standards for 9 all coaches and employees of the SCORE pro- 10 gram. 11 ‘‘(5) GAO STUDY.—Not later than 180 days 12 after the date of enactment of the SCORE Act of 13 2023, the Comptroller General of the United States 14 shall— 15 ‘‘(A) conduct a study to identify how many 16 SCORE program chapters are located in rural 17 areas and understand how well the SCORE 18 program is servicing rural areas; 19 ‘‘(B) examine the efficacy of performance 20 standards established under paragraph (3)(C); 21 and 22 ‘‘(C) submit to the Committee on Small 23 Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate 24 and the Committee on Small Business of the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:43 Jul 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1896.IS S1896 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1896 IS House of Representatives a report on the mat- 1 ters described in subparagraphs (A) and (B). 2 ‘‘(6) REAUTHORIZATION.—The SCORE pro- 3 gram shall sunset on the date that is 4 years after 4 the date of enactment of the SCORE Act of 2023, 5 and shall be subject to reauthorization thereafter.’’. 6 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 7 (1) SMALL BUSINESS ACT.—The Small Busi- 8 ness Act (15 U.S.C. 631 et seq.) is amended— 9 (A) in section 3 (15 U.S.C. 632), by add- 10 ing at the end the following: 11 ‘‘(gg) SCORE PROGRAM DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 12 ‘‘(1) SCORE PROGRAM.—The term ‘SCORE 13 program’ means the Supporting Coaching Opportu- 14 nities for Resilient Entrepreneurs program described 15 in section 8(c). 16 ‘‘(2) SCORE ASSOCIATION.—The term 17 ‘SCORE Association’ means the Supporting Coach- 18 ing Opportunities for Resilient Entrepreneurs Asso- 19 ciation or any successor or other organization that 20 enters into a cooperative agreement described in sec- 21 tion 8(c)(1) with the Administrator to operate the 22 SCORE program.’’; 23 (B) in section 7 (15 U.S.C. 636)— 24 (i) in subsection (b)(12)— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:43 Jul 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1896.IS S1896 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1896 IS (I) in the paragraph heading, by 1 striking ‘‘SCORE’’ and inserting 2 ‘‘SCORE PROGRAM’’; and 3 (II) in subparagraph (A), by 4 striking ‘‘Service Corps of Retired Ex- 5 ecutives’’ and inserting ‘‘SCORE pro- 6 gram’’; and 7 (ii) in subsection (m)(3)(A)(i)(VIII), 8 by striking ‘‘Service Corps of Retired Ex- 9 ecutives’’ and inserting ‘‘SCORE pro- 10 gram’’; 11 (C) in section 20(d)(1)(E) (15 U.S.C. 631 12 note), by striking ‘‘Service Corps of Retired Ex- 13 ecutives program’’ and inserting ‘‘SCORE pro- 14 gram’’; and 15 (D) in section 22 (15 U.S.C. 649)— 16 (i) in subsection (b)— 17 (I) in paragraph (1), by striking 18 ‘‘Service Corps of Retired Executives 19 authorized by section (8)(b)(1)’’ and 20 inserting ‘‘SCORE program’’; and 21 (II) in paragraph (3), by striking 22 ‘‘Service Corps of Retired Executives’’ 23 and inserting ‘‘SCORE program’’; 24 and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:43 Jul 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1896.IS S1896 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1896 IS (ii) in subsection (c)(12), by striking 1 ‘‘Service Corps of Retired Executives au- 2 thorized by section 8(b)(1)’’ and inserting 3 ‘‘SCORE program’’. 4 (2) OTHER LAWS.— 5 (A) SMALL BUSINESS REAUTHORIZATION 6 ACT OF 1997.—Section 707 of the Small Busi- 7 ness Reauthorization Act of 1997 (15 U.S.C. 8 631 note) is amended by striking ‘‘Service 9 Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) pro- 10 gram’’ and inserting ‘‘SCORE program de- 11 scribed in section 8(c) of the Small Business 12 Act (15 U.S.C. 637(c))’’. 13 (B) VETERANS ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND 14 SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 15 1999.—Section 301 of the Veterans Entrepre- 16 neurship and Small Business Development Act 17 of 1999 (15 U.S.C. 657b note) is amended— 18 (i) in subsection (a)— 19 (I) in the matter preceding para- 20 graph (1), by striking ‘‘Service Core 21 of Retired Executives (described in 22 section 8(b)(1)(B) of the Small Busi- 23 ness Act (15 U.S.C. 637(b)(1)(B)) 24 and in this section referred to as 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:43 Jul 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1896.IS S1896 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1896 IS ‘SCORE’)’’ and inserting ‘‘SCORE 1 program described in section 8(c) of 2 the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 3 637(c)) (in this section referred to as 4 the ‘SCORE program’)’’; 5 (II) in paragraphs (1), (2), and 6 (3), by striking ‘‘SCORE’’ each place 7 the term appears and inserting ‘‘the 8 SCORE program’’; and 9 (III) in paragraph (2), by strik- 10 ing ‘‘the’’ before ‘‘establishing’’; and 11 (ii) in subsection (b), by striking 12 ‘‘SCORE’’ each place the term appears 13 and inserting ‘‘the SCORE program’’. 14 (C) MILITARY RESERVIST AND VETERAN 15 SMALL BUSINESS REAUTHORIZATION AND OP- 16 PORTUNITY ACT OF 2008.—The Military Reserv- 17 ist and Veteran Small Business Reauthorization 18 and Opportunity Act of 2008 (15 U.S.C. 636 19 note) is amended— 20 (i) in section 3, by striking paragraph 21 (5) and inserting the following: 22 ‘‘(5) the term ‘SCORE program’ means the 23 SCORE program described in section 8(c) of the 24 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(c));’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:43 Jul 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1896.IS S1896 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •S 1896 IS (ii) in section 201(c)(2)(B)(i), by 1 striking ‘‘Service Corps of Retired Execu- 2 tives’’ and inserting ‘‘SCORE program’’. 3 (D) CHILDREN’S HEALTH INSURANCE PRO- 4 GRAM REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2009.—Sec- 5 tion 621 of the Children’s Health Insurance 6 Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (15 7 U.S.C. 657p) is amended— 8 (i) in subsection (a), by striking para- 9 graph (4) and inserting the following: 10 ‘‘(4) the term ‘SCORE program’ means the 11 SCORE program described in section 8(c) of the 12 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(c));’’; and 13 (ii) in subsection (b)(4)(A)(iv), by 14 striking ‘‘Service Corps of Retired Execu- 15 tives’’ and inserting ‘‘SCORE program’’. 16 (E) ENERGY POLICY AND CONSERVATION 17 ACT.—Section 337(d)(2)(A) of the Energy Pol- 18 icy and Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 19 6307(d)(2)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘Service 20 Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE)’’ and in- 21 serting ‘‘SCORE program described in section 22 8(c) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 23 637(c))’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:43 Jul 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1896.IS S1896 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •S 1896 IS SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE NATIONAL WOMEN’S BUSI- 1 NESS COUNCIL. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title IV of the Women’s Business 3 Ownership Act of 1988 (15 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.) is amend- 4 ed— 5 (1) in section 402(c) (15 U.S.C. 7102(c))— 6 (A) in the subsection heading, by striking 7 ‘‘COUNCIL’’ and inserting ‘‘NWBC’’; and 8 (B) by striking ‘‘Council’’ each place that 9 term appears and inserting ‘‘NWBC’’; 10 (2) in section 403 (15 U.S.C. 7103)— 11 (A) in subsection (a)(2)(B)— 12 (i) by striking ‘‘Small Business’’; and 13 (ii) by striking ‘‘National Women’s 14 Business Council established under section 15 405’’ and inserting ‘‘NWBC’’; and 16 (B) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘of the 17 Small Business Administration’’; 18 (3) by striking sections 405, 406, and 407 (15 19 U.S.C. 7105, 7106, 7107) and inserting the fol- 20 lowing: 21 ‘‘SEC. 405. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NATIONAL WOMEN’S 22 BUSINESS COACHES. 23 ‘‘There is established a group to be known as the Na- 24 tional Women’s Business Coaches, which shall carry out 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Jul 03, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1896.IS S1896 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 13 •S 1896 IS the duties described in section 406 and be composed of 1 the members and staff described in section 407. 2 ‘‘SEC. 406. DUTIES OF THE NWBC. 3 ‘‘The NWBC shall— 4 ‘‘(1) collaborate with the SCORE program de- 5 scribed in section 8(c) of the Small Business Act (15 6 U.S.C. 637(c)) to pair women entrepreneurs with 7 coaches under the SCORE program and other mem- 8 bers of the NWBC; 9 ‘‘(2) promote the online webinars and other 10 tools and programs of the Administration and re- 11 source partners of the Administration for women en- 12 trepreneurs; 13 ‘‘(3) develop workshops on— 14 ‘‘(A) the opportunities of internet sales; 15 ‘‘(B) e-commerce training, in particular 16 how rural businesses can leverage online market 17 platforms to grow their business; 18 ‘‘(C) the different internet-based market 19 platforms that are available to small business 20 concerns; 21 ‘‘(D) utilizing social media for marketing 22 and hiring purposes; and 23 ‘‘(E) how to grow and scale a small busi- 24 ness through an inc [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]