Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB77 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	118THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 77
5	5	To reauthorize the State Trade Expansion Program of the Small Business
6	6	Administration, and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
8	8	JANUARY25, 2023
9	9	Mrs. S
10	10	HAHEENintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and
11	11	referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
12	12	A BILL
13	13	To reauthorize the State Trade Expansion Program of the
14	14	Small Business Administration, and for other purposes.
15	15	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
16	16	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
17	17	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
18	18	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘STEP Improvement 4
19	19	Act of 2023’’. 5
20	20	SEC. 2. STATE TRADE EXPANSION PROGRAM. 6
21	21	(a) A
22	22	PPLICATIONREQUIREMENTS.—Section 22(l)(3) 7
23	23	of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 649(l)(3)) is amend-8
24	24	ed— 9
25	25	(1) in subparagraph (D)— 10
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28	28	•S 77 IS
29	29	(A) in clause (i), by inserting ‘‘, including 1
30	30	a budget plan for use of funds awarded under 2
31	31	this subsection’’ before the period at the end; 3
32	32	and 4
33	33	(B) by adding at the end the following: 5
34	34	‘‘(iii) T
35	35	IMING.—The Associate Admin-6
36	36	istrator shall— 7
37	37	‘‘(I) publish information on how 8
38	38	to apply for a grant under this sub-9
39	39	section, including specific calculations 10
40	40	and other determinations used to 11
41	41	award such a grant, not later than 12
42	42	March 31 of each year; 13
43	43	‘‘(II) establish a deadline for the 14
44	44	submission of applications that is not 15
45	45	earlier than 60 days after the date on 16
46	46	which the information is published 17
47	47	under subclause (I) and that is not 18
48	48	later than May 31; and 19
49	49	‘‘(III) announce grant recipients 20
50	50	not later than August 31 of each 21
51	51	year.’’; and 22
52	52	(2) by adding at the end the following: 23
53	53	‘‘(E) A
54	54	PPLICATION INFORMATION .—The 24
55	55	Associate Administrator shall clearly commu-25
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58	58	•S 77 IS
59	59	nicate to applicants and grant recipients any in-1
60	60	formation about the State Trade Expansion 2
61	61	Program, including— 3
62	62	‘‘(i) for each unsuccessful applicant 4
63	63	for a grant awarded under this subsection, 5
64	64	recommendations to improve a subsequent 6
65	65	application for such a grant; and 7
66	66	‘‘(ii) for each successful applicant for 8
67	67	such a grant, an explanation for the 9
68	68	amount awarded, if different from the 10
69	69	amount requested in the application. 11
70	70	‘‘(F) B
71	71	UDGET PLAN REVISIONS.— 12
72	72	‘‘(i) I
73	73	N GENERAL.—A State receiving 13
74	74	a grant under this subsection may revise 14
75	75	the budget plan of the State submitted 15
76	76	under subparagraph (D) after the dis-16
77	77	bursal of grant funds if— 17
78	78	‘‘(I) the revision complies with al-18
79	79	lowable uses of grant funds under this 19
80	80	subsection; and 20
81	81	‘‘(II) such State submits notifica-21
82	82	tion of the revision to the Associate 22
83	83	Administrator. 23
84	84	‘‘(ii) E
85	85	XCEPTION.—If a revision under 24
86	86	clause (i) reallocates 10 percent or more of 25
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89	89	•S 77 IS
90	90	the amounts described in the budget plan 1
91	91	of the State submitted under subparagraph 2
92	92	(D), the State may not implement the re-3
93	93	vised budget plan without the approval of 4
94	94	the Associate Administrator, unless the As-5
95	95	sociate Administrator fails to approve or 6
96	96	deny the revised plan within 20 days after 7
97	97	receipt of such revised plan.’’. 8
98	98	(b) S
99	99	URVEY.—Section 22(l) of the Small Business 9
100	100	Act (15 U.S.C. 649(l)) is amended— 10
101	101	(1) by redesignating paragraphs (7) through 11
102	102	(9) as paragraphs (8) through (10), respectively; 12
103	103	and 13
104	104	(2) by inserting after paragraph (6) the fol-14
105	105	lowing: 15
106	106	‘‘(7) S
107	107	URVEY.—The Associate Administrator 16
108	108	shall conduct an annual survey of each State that 17
109	109	received a grant under this subsection during the 18
110	110	preceding year to solicit feedback on the program 19
111	111	and develop best practices for grantees.’’. 20
112	112	(c) A
113	113	NNUALREPORT.—Paragraph (8)(B) of section 21
114	114	22(l) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 649(l)), as 22
115	115	so redesignated by subsection (b), is amended— 23
116	116	(1) in clause (i)— 24
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120	120	(A) in subclause (III), by inserting ‘‘, in-1
121	121	cluding the total number of eligible small busi-2
122	122	ness concerns assisted by the program 3
123	123	(disaggregated by socially and economically dis-4
124	124	advantaged small business concerns, small busi-5
125	125	ness concerns owned and controlled by women, 6
126	126	and rural small business concerns)’’ before the 7
127	127	semicolon at the end; 8
128	128	(B) in subclause (IV), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 9
129	129	the end; 10
130	130	(C) in subclause (V)— 11
131	131	(i) by striking ‘‘description of best 12
132	132	practices’’ and inserting ‘‘detailed descrip-13
133	133	tion of best practices’’; and 14
134	134	(ii) by striking the period at the end 15
135	135	and inserting a semicolon; and 16
136	136	(D) by adding at the end the following: 17
137	137	‘‘(VI) an analysis of the perform-18
138	138	ance metrics described in clause (iii), 19
139	139	including a determination of whether 20
140	140	or not any goals relating to such per-21
141	141	formance metrics were met, and an 22
142	142	analysis of the survey described in 23
143	143	paragraph (7); and 24
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147	147	‘‘(VII) a description of lessons 1
148	148	learned by grant recipients under this 2
149	149	subsection that may apply to other as-3
150	150	sistance provided by the Administra-4
151	151	tion.’’; and 5
152	152	(2) by adding at the end the following: 6
153	153	‘‘(iii) P
154	154	ERFORMANCE METRICS .—An-7
155	155	nually, the Associate Administrator shall 8
156	156	collect data on eligible small business con-9
157	157	cerns assisted by the program for the fol-10
158	158	lowing performance metrics: 11
159	159	‘‘(I) Total number of such con-12
160	160	cerns, disaggregated by socially and 13
161	161	economically disadvantaged small 14
162	162	business concerns, small business con-15
163	163	cerns owned and controlled by women, 16
164	164	and rural small business concerns. 17
165	165	‘‘(II) Total dollar amount of ex-18
166	166	port sales by eligible small business 19
167	167	concerns assisted by the program. 20
168	168	‘‘(III) Number of such concerns 21
169	169	that have not previously participated 22
170	170	in an activity described in paragraph 23
171	171	(2). 24
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175	175	‘‘(IV) Number of such concerns 1
176	176	that, because of participation in the 2
177	177	program, have accessed a new market. 3
178	178	‘‘(V) Number of such concerns 4
179	179	that, because of participation in the 5
180	180	program, have created new jobs. 6
181	181	‘‘(VI) Number of such concerns 7
182	182	participating in foreign trade missions 8
183	183	or trade show exhibitions, 9
184	184	disaggregated by socially and eco-10
185	185	nomically disadvantaged small busi-11
186	186	ness concerns, small business concerns 12
187	187	owned and controlled by women, and 13
188	188	rural small business concerns.’’. 14
189	189	(d) E
190	190	XPANSION OFDEFINITION OFELIGIBLESMALL 15
191	191	B
192	192	USINESSCONCERN.—Section 22(l)(1)(A) of the Small 16
193	193	Business Act (15 U.S.C. 649(l)(1)(A)) is amended— 17
194	194	(1) in clause (iii)(II), by adding ‘‘and’’ at the 18
195	195	end; 19
196	196	(2) by striking clause (iv); and 20
197	197	(3) by redesignating clause (v) as clause (iv). 21
198	198	(e) A
199	199	UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Para-22
200	200	graph (10) of section 22(l) of the Small Business Act (15 23
201	201	U.S.C. 649(l)), as so redesignated by subsection (b), is 24
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205	205	amended by striking ‘‘fiscal years 2016 through 2020’’ 1
206	206	and inserting ‘‘fiscal years 2024 through 2028’’. 2
207	207	(f) R
208	208	EPORT TOCONGRESS.—Not later than 1 year 3
209	209	after the date of enactment of this Act, the Associate Ad-4
210	210	ministrator for International Trade of the Small Business 5
211	211	Administration shall submit to Congress a report on the 6
212	212	State Trade Expansion Program established under section 7
213	213	22(l) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 649(l)), as 8
214	214	amended by this section, that includes a description of— 9
215	215	(1) the process developed for review of revised 10
216	216	budget plans submitted under subparagraph (F) of 11
217	217	section 22(l)(3) of the Small Business Act (15 12
218	218	U.S.C. 649(l)(3)), as added by this Act; 13
219	219	(2) any changes made to streamline the applica-14
220	220	tion process to remove duplicative requirements and 15
221	221	create a more transparent process; 16
222	222	(3) the process developed to share best prac-17
223	223	tices by States described in paragraph (8)(B)(i)(V) 18
224	224	of section 22(l) of the Small Business Act (15 19
225	225	U.S.C. 649(l)), as so redesignated by this Act, par-20
226	226	ticularly for first-time grant recipients under the 21
227	227	State Trade Expansion Program or grant recipients 22
228	228	that are facing problems using grant funds; and 23
229	229	(4) the process developed to communicate, both 24
230	230	verbally and in writing, relevant information about 25
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234	234	the State Trade Expansion Program to all grant re-1
235	235	cipients in a timely manner. 2
236	236	Æ
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