119-hr4549

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4549 Reported in House

    (RH) ]

<DOC>

 Union Calendar No. 183
119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 4549

 [Report No. 119-225]

To amend the Small Business Act to clarify the responsibilities of the 
 Office of Rural Affairs of the Small Business Administration, and for 
 other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 July 21, 2025

 Ms. Goodlander (for herself, Mr. Wied, and Mr. Golden of Maine) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
 Small Business

 August 15, 2025

 Additional sponsor: Mr. Fitzpatrick

 August 15, 2025

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union 
 and ordered to be printed

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

To amend the Small Business Act to clarify the responsibilities of the 
 Office of Rural Affairs of the Small Business Administration, and for 
 other purposes.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Office of Rural Affairs Enhancement 
Act''.

SEC. 2. OFFICE OF RURAL AFFAIRS OF THE SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION.

 

Section 26 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 653) is amended--

    (1) by amending subsection

    (b) to read as follows:
 ``

    (b) Appointment of Assistant Administrator.--
 ``

    (1) In general.--The Office shall be administered by an 
 Assistant Administrator, who shall be an employee in the 
 competitive service.
 ``

    (2) Qualifications.--The Assistant Administrator shall--
 ``
        (A) have education or professional experience 
 with, or knowledge of, rural affairs and issues 
 relating to small business concerns; and
 ``
        (B) have experience providing development 
 assistance to rural small business concerns.'';

    (2) in subsection
            (c) --
        (A) in paragraph

    (1) , by striking ``small business 
 concerns located in rural areas'' and inserting ``rural 
 small business concerns'';
        (B) in paragraph

    (3) --
            (i) by striking ``provide information'' and 
 inserting ``promote''; and
            (ii) by striking ``concerning the'' and all 
 that follows through the semicolon at the end 
 and inserting the following: ``on the policies 
 and programs of the Administration and of other 
 Federal departments and agencies for assisting 
 rural small business concerns;'';
            (C) in paragraph

    (4) , by striking ``; and'' and 
 inserting a semicolon;
            (D) in paragraph

    (5) --
            (i) by striking ``the United States Tourism 
 and Travel Administration'' and inserting ``the 
 National Travel and Tourism Office of the 
 Department of Commerce'';
            (ii) by striking ``small businesses in 
 rural areas'' and inserting ``rural small 
 business concerns''; and
            (iii) by striking the period at the end and 
 inserting ``; and''; and
        (E) by adding at the end the following new 
 paragraph:
 ``

    (6) host webinars and outreach events for rural small 
 business concerns as described in subsection
            (d) .''; and

    (3) by adding at the end the following new subsections:
 ``
            (d) Outreach.--The Assistant Administrator shall--
 ``

    (1) host webinars and outreach events in various regions 
 of the United States for rural small business concerns; and
 ``

    (2) invite representatives from district offices of the 
 Administration, resource partners, Federal and State agencies, 
 and other interested persons to participate in such webinars 
 and outreach events.
 ``

    (e) Report.--
 ``

    (1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date 
 of the enactment of this subsection, and annually thereafter, 
 the Administrator shall submit to the Committee on Small 
 Business of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
 Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate, and make 
 publicly available on a website of the Administration, a report 
 on the activities of the Office during the one-year period 
 immediately preceding the date of submission of the report.
 ``

    (2) Contents.--Each report required under paragraph

    (1) shall include the following:
 ``
        (A) The operational details of the Office, 
 including the name of the Assistant Administrator, the 
 budget of the Office, and the number of full-time 
 employees employed by or detailed to the Office.
 ``
        (B) A summary of the activities conducted under 
 subsection
            (c) .
 ``
            (C) The number of webinars and outreach events 
 conducted by the Administration to promote policies and 
 programs described in paragraph

    (3) of subsection
            (c) and to provide information described in paragraph

    (4) of such subsection.
 ``
            (D) An analysis of the lending programs of the 
 Administration in serving the needs of rural small 
 business concerns.
 ``
        (E) Information gathered from any webinars and 
 outreach events conducted by the Administration during 
 the period covered by the report.
 ``

    (f) 

=== Definitions. ===
-In this section:
 ``

    (1) Assistant administrator.--The term `Assistant 
 Administrator' means the Assistant Administrator of the Office 
 of Rural Affairs appointed under subsection

    (b) .
 ``

    (2) Resource partners.--The term `resource partners' 
 means--
 ``
        (A) small business development centers;
 ``
        (B) women's business centers (described under 
 

section 29);
 ``
            (C) chapters of the Service Corps of Retired 
 Executives (established under 

section 8

    (b)

    (1)
        (B) ); and
 ``
            (D) Veteran Business Outreach Centers (described 
 under 

section 32).
 ``

    (3) Rural small business concern.--The term `rural small 
 business concern' means a small business concern located in a 
 rural area (as defined in 

section 7

    (b)

    (16) of this Act).''.
 Union Calendar No. 183

119th CONGRESS

 1st Session

 H. R. 4549

 [Report No. 119-225]

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

To amend the Small Business Act to clarify the responsibilities of the 
 Office of Rural Affairs of the Small Business Administration, and for 
 other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 August 15, 2025

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union 
 and ordered to be printed