Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2728 Compare Versions

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

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 2728
5	5	To require the Small Business Administration, the Appalachian Regional
6	6	Commission, and the Delta Regional Authority to enter into an agree-
7	7	ment to carry out activities to expand rural entrepreneurship, and for
8	8	other purposes.
9	9	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
10	10	APRIL8, 2025
11	11	Ms. L
12	12	ETLOW(for herself and Mr. DELUZIO) introduced the following bill;
13	13	which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastruc-
14	14	ture, and in addition to the Committees on Small Business, and Financial
15	15	Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
16	16	each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
17	17	tion of the committee concerned
18	18	A BILL
19	19	To require the Small Business Administration, the Appa-
20	20	lachian Regional Commission, and the Delta Regional
21	21	Authority to enter into an agreement to carry out activi-
22	22	ties to expand rural entrepreneurship, and for other pur-
23	23	poses.
24	24	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
25	25	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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29	29	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
30	30	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Growing Regional En-2
31	31	trepreneurship and Access To Economic Resilience Act’’ 3
32	32	or the ‘‘GREATER Act’’. 4
33	33	SEC. 2. MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING TO EXPAND 5
34	34	RURAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND SUPPORT 6
35	35	TO SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS WITHIN AP-7
36	36	PALACHIAN REGION AND THE DELTA RE-8
37	37	GION. 9
38	38	(a) I
39	39	NGENERAL.—Not later than 120 days after the 10
40	40	date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator of 11
41	41	the Small Business Administration, the appropriate head 12
42	42	of the Appalachian Regional Commission, and the appro-13
43	43	priate head of the Delta Regional Authority (in this sec-14
44	44	tion referred to as the ‘‘covered officials’’) shall enter into 15
45	45	a memorandum of understanding or other appropriate 16
46	46	agreement to carry out activities within the Appalachian 17
47	47	region and the Delta region, as applicable, to expand rural 18
48	48	entrepreneurship and to support covered small business 19
49	49	concerns. 20
50	50	(b) M
51	51	EMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING OR AGREE-21
52	52	MENT.—The covered officials shall carry out and coordi-22
53	53	nate the activities described in subsection (a) by entering 23
54	54	into one or more memoranda of understanding or other 24
55	55	appropriate agreements, as jointly determined by the cov-25
56	56	ered officials. 26
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59	59	•HR 2728 IH
60	60	(c) INCLUSION OFCOVEREDSMALLBUSINESSCON-1
61	61	CERNS.—In carrying out the activities described in sub-2
62	62	section (a), the covered officials shall ensure the inclusion 3
63	63	of covered small business concerns in such activities, as 4
64	64	appropriate. 5
65	65	(d) O
66	66	THERREQUIREMENTS.—In carrying out the ac-6
67	67	tivities described in subsection (a), the covered officials 7
68	68	may— 8
69	69	(1) carry out reimbursable agreements between 9
70	70	the Appalachian Regional Commission, Delta Re-10
71	71	gional Authority, the Small Business Administra-11
72	72	tion, and other appropriate entities in order to maxi-12
73	73	mize the effectiveness of activities carried out pursu-13
74	74	ant to a memorandum or agreement described in 14
75	75	subsection (b); and 15
76	76	(2) collaborate with other Federal agencies as 16
77	77	appropriate to carry out such activities. 17
78	78	(e) R
79	79	EPORT.—Not later than two years after the date 18
80	80	of the enactment of this Act, the covered officials shall 19
81	81	jointly submit to Congress a report on activities carried 20
82	82	out pursuant to a memorandum or agreement described 21
83	83	in subsection (b) that includes the following: 22
84	84	(1) Coordination between the covered officials 23
85	85	involved in such activities. 24
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88	88	•HR 2728 IH
89	89	(2) Potential opportunities to expand the ability 1
90	90	of the Appalachian Regional Commission, Delta Re-2
91	91	gional Authority, and the Small Business Adminis-3
92	92	tration to provide assistance to rural entrepreneurs 4
93	93	or covered small business concerns, as applicable. 5
94	94	(3) The number of rural entrepreneurs or cov-6
95	95	ered small business concerns assisted through activi-7
96	96	ties carried out pursuant to such memorandum or 8
97	97	agreement. 9
98	98	(4) Areas of future collaboration among the 10
99	99	covered officials for the benefit of rural entre-11
100	100	preneurs or covered small business concerns located 12
101	101	within the Appalachian region or Delta region, as 13
102	102	applicable. 14
103	103	(5) Plans of the covered officials to continue co-15
104	104	ordination on activities described in subsection (a). 16
105	105	(f) D
106	106	EFINITIONS.—In this Act: 17
107	107	(1) C
108	108	OVERED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN .—The 18
109	109	term ‘‘covered small business concern’’ means a 19
110	110	small business concern (as defined under section 3 20
111	111	of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632)) located 21
112	112	within the Appalachian region or Delta region. 22
113	113	(2) A
114	114	PPALACHIAN REGIONAL COMMISSION .— 23
115	115	The term ‘‘Appalachian Regional Commission’’ 24
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118	118	•HR 2728 IH
119	119	means the commission established by section 1
120	120	14301(a) of title 40, United States Code. 2
121	121	(3) D
122	122	ELTA REGION.—The term ‘‘Delta region’’ 3
123	123	has the meaning given the term ‘‘region’’ in section 4
124	124	382A of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Develop-5
125	125	ment Act (7 U.S.C. 2009aa). 6
126	126	(4) D
127	127	ELTA REGIONAL AUTHORITY .—The term 7
128	128	‘‘Delta Regional Authority’’ means the entity estab-8
129	129	lished under subtitle F of the Consolidated Farm 9
130	130	and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 2009aa et 10
131	131	seq.). 11
132	132	Æ
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