HR 1839

HR 1839 IH

To amend the Small Business Act to improve SCORE, and for other purposes.

April 1, 2009

Mr. BUCHANAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Small Business

To amend the Small Business Act to improve SCORE, 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. EXPANSION OF VOLUNTEER REPRESENTATION AND BENCHMARK REPORTS.

(a) Expansion of Volunteer Representation- Section 8(b)(1)(B) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(b)(1)(B)) is amended by inserting ‘(i)’ after ‘(B)’ and by adding at the end the following:

‘(ii) The Administrator shall ensure that SCORE, established under this subparagraph, carries out a plan to increase the proportion of mentors who are from socially or economically disadvantaged backgrounds and, on an annual basis, reports to the Administrator on the implementation of this subparagraph.’.

(b) Benchmark Reports- Section 8(b)(1)(B) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(b)(1)(B)), as amended, is further amended by adding at the end the following:

‘(iii) The Administrator shall ensure that SCORE, established under this subparagraph, establishes benchmarks for use in evaluating the performance of its activities and the performance of its volunteers. The benchmarks shall include benchmarks relating to the demographic characteristics and the geographic characteristics of persons assisted by SCORE, benchmarks relating to the hours spent mentoring by volunteers, and benchmarks relating to the performance of the persons assisted by SCORE. SCORE shall report, on an annual basis, to the Administrator the extent to which the benchmarks established under this clause are being attained.’.

SEC. 2. MENTORING AND NETWORKING.

Section 8(b)(1)(B) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(b)(1)(B)), as amended, is further amended by adding at the end the following:

‘(iv) The Administrator shall ensure that SCORE, established under this subparagraph, establishes a mentoring program for small business concerns that provides one-on-one advice to small business concerns from qualified counselors. For purposes of this clause, qualified counselors are counselors with at least 10 years experience in the industry sector or area of responsibility of the small business concern seeking advice.

‘(v) The Administrator shall carry out a networking program through SCORE, established under this subparagraph, that provides small business concerns with the opportunity to make business contacts in their industry or geographic region.’.

SEC. 3. NAME OF PROGRAM CHANGED TO SCORE.

(a) Name Change- The Small Business Act is amended--

(1) in section 8(b)(1)(B) (15 U.S.C. 637(b)(1)(B)), by striking ‘Executives (SCORE)’ and inserting ‘Executives (in this Act referred to as ‘SCORE’)’;

(2) in section 7(m)(3)(A)(i)(VIII) (15 U.S.C. 636(m)(3)(A)(i)(VIII)), by striking ‘the Service Corps of Retired Executives’ and inserting ‘SCORE’;

(3) in section 20 (15 U.S.C. 631 note)--

(A) in subsection (d)(1)(E), by striking ‘the Service Corps of Retired Executives program’ and inserting ‘SCORE’; and

(B) in subsection (e)(1)(E), by striking ‘the Service Corps of Retired Executives program’ and inserting ‘SCORE’; and

(4) in section 33(b)(2) (15 U.S.C. 657c(b)(2), by striking ‘the Service Corps of Retired Executives program’ and inserting ‘SCORE’.

(b) Elimination of ACE- Section 8(b)(1)(B) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(b)(1)(B)), as amended, is further amended by striking ‘and an Active Corps of Executive (ACE)’.

SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

Section 20 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 631 note) is amended by inserting the following new subsection after subsection (e):

‘(f) Authorization of Appropriations for SCORE- There is authorized to be appropriated $7,000,000 for SCORE under section 8(b)(1) for each of the fiscal years 2010 and 2011.’.