On May 23, the House Small Business Committee approved, by voice vote, several bills to improve the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) entrepreneurial development programs. The bills under the committee’s consideration included the SBA Women’s Business Programs Act (H.R. 2397) and the SBA Veterans’ Programs Act (H.R. 2366).
Highlighting the importance of small businesses nationwide, Chair Nydia Velázquez (D-NY) said, “Because they provide three out of every four new jobs, there is no question that high quality technical assistance and energy efficient resources should be available to small business owners. One of the most important objectives of the SBA is to provide direction and resources to those looking to start and grow their firms. To do this, the agency has a number of initiatives that were designated to meet the needs of small business owners. However, as the economy has changed, so [too] have the challenges facing this nation’s entrepreneurs.” Rep. Velázquez went on to say, “The bills before us today provide SBA’s entrepreneurial development programs with the capacity to ensure small businesses can address the specific issues they face in current economic conditions.”
Sponsored by Rep. Mary Fallin (R-OK), H.R. 2397 would revise the current funding formula for the Women’s Business Centers (WBCs) by creating a three-tiered system that would “dedicate funding for the establishment of new WBCs while maintaining resources for existing centers.” In the first tier, 40 percent of the total funds would be allocated to provide five-year project grants to eligible new centers. In the second tier, 20 percent of the funds would be allocated to provide three-year project grants to eligible existing centers reapplying for their second round of grants, while 40 percent of the funds would be allocated to provide three-year project grants to eligible existing centers reapplying for their third round of renewable grants. Performance measures based on socioeconomic “benchmarks” would be established for centers in the third tier.
H.R. 2397 also would require the National Women’s Business Council to conduct a one-year study that evaluates the problems hindering the success of women entrepreneurs and to provide on a biannual basis a report on the status of its initiatives, policies, programs, and plans.
Of her bill, Rep. Fallin said, “In the mid nineties, the federal government began awarding grants to Women’s Business Centers that were operating as nonprofit organizations in conjunction with institutions of higher learning. Originally, these grants were intended to be awarded to business centers in their first five years, with the understanding that after this five-year period had ended, the center would be financially self-sustaining. Although many Women’s Business Centers did meet this goal, some have not, for a variety of reasons. As a result, a greater percentage of the funding for this program has been consumed by the operating costs of potentially unviable centers, rather than the intended purpose of establishing new business centers.” Rep. Fallin continued, “The SBA Women’s Business Programs Act of 2007 restores the original priorities held by the federal government when this program was created.”
Sponsored by Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL), H.R. 2366 would require the Office of Veterans Business Development (OVBD) to provide technical assistance to servicemembers interested in starting small businesses and would establish the Women Veterans Business Training Program within the OVBD. The training program would “compile information on resources available to women veterans for business training and disseminate the information through Veteran Business Outreach Centers and women’s business centers.”
The committee also approved, by voice vote, the SBA Entrepreneurial Development Act (H.R. 2359), the Native American Small Business Development Act (H.R. 2284), and the Small Energy Efficient Businesses Act (H.R. 2389).
