[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3896 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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117th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 3896
To amend the Small Business Act relating to small business concerns
owned and controlled by women, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 22, 2022
Ms. Ernst (for herself and Mrs. Capito) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business
and Entrepreneurship
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Small Business Act relating to small business concerns
owned and controlled by women, 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 ``Empowering Women in Small Business
Act''.
SEC. 2. TREATMENT OF FUNDING BY SMALL BUSINESS INVESTMENT COMPANIES.
Section 8 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637) is amended--
(1) in subsection (a)(21)(E), by inserting ``, and except
as provided under subsection (m)(9),'' after ``law,''; and
(2) in subsection (m), by adding at the end the following:
``(9) Treatment of funding by small business investment
companies.--
``(A) Definition.--In this paragraph, the term
`covered small business concern' means a small business
concern--
``(i)(I) owned and controlled by women; or
``(II) owned and controlled by women
described in paragraph (2)(A) and certified
under paragraph (2)(E); and
``(ii) that receives funding from a small
business investment company licensed under
title III of the Small Business Investment Act
of 1958 (15 U.S.C. 681 et seq.).
``(B) Retained certification.--Any covered small
business concern shall retain certification as a
covered small business concern under this subsection
for a period of not more than 7 years if, during that
period, ownership interests in the covered small
business concern that are held by a small business
investment company licensed under title III of the
Small Business Investment Act of 1958 (15 U.S.C. 681 et
seq.) would reduce the percentage required under
section 3(n) or paragraph (2)(A) of this subsection, as
applicable, to less than 51 percent.''.
SEC. 3. REQUIRED TRAINING AND REPORTING ON GOVERNMENTWIDE GOALS.
Section 15(g)(2) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(g)(2)) is
amended by adding at the end the following:
``(G) Required training.--
``(i) In general.--Notwithstanding the goals
established under this subsection for each Federal
agency, the Administration, in consultation with the
National Women's Business Council established under
section 405 of the Women's Business Ownership Act of
1988 (15 U.S.C. 7105), shall provide training to
employees with responsibility for procurement or
acquisition at any Federal agency that awards less than
5 percent of prime contracts and subcontracts to small
business concerns owned and controlled by women in a
fiscal year.
``(ii) Guidance.--The Administration shall issue
publicly available guidance for each Federal agency
identified in a report submitted under clause (iii) to
meet the 5 percent goal described in clause (iii)(I).
``(iii) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the
date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter,
the Administration shall submit to Congress--
``(I) a list of each Federal agency that
awarded less than 5 percent of the prime
contracts and subcontracts of the Federal
agency to small business concerns owned and
controlled by women in the fiscal year covered
by the report;
``(II) the number of training sessions
provided under clause (i) to each Federal
agency described in subclause (I);
``(III) an overview of the content of each
training session described in subclause (II);
and
``(IV) the result of each training session
described in subclause (II), including whether
additional contracting opportunities were
provided to small business concerns owned and
controlled by women and the 5 percent threshold
described in clause (i) was met by the Federal
agency.''.
SEC. 4. INTERAGENCY REPORT.
(a) Definition.--In this section--
(1) the term ``covered agency'' means--
(A) the Department of Commerce;
(B) the Small Business Administration;
(C) the Department of Agriculture; and
(D) the Department of the Treasury;
(2) the term ``covered small business concern'' means--
(A) a small business concern owned and controlled
by women; and
(B) a small business concern owned and controlled
by women described in and certified under subparagraphs
(A) and (E), respectively, of section 8(m)(2) of the
Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638(m)(2)); and
(3) the term ``small business concern owned and controlled
by women'' has the meaning given the term in section 3 of the
Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632).
(b) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of
this Act, the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with the
Administrator of the Small Business Administration, the Secretary of
Agriculture, and the Secretary of the Treasury, shall submit to
Congress an interagency report that--
(1) identifies the leading economic barriers for small
business concerns owned and controlled by women, particularly
for industries underrepresented by small business concerns
owned and controlled by women;
(2) includes a detailed description of the impact of
inflation and supply chain disruptions on small business
concerns owned and controlled by women during the 3-year period
preceding the report;
(3) makes recommendations to improve access to capital for
small business concerns owned and controlled by women; and
(4) in consultation with the Office of Small Business and
Disadvantaged Business Utilization of each covered agency,
identifies Federal contract opportunities for covered small
business concerns.
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