H.R. 4549, Office of Rural Affairs Enhancement Act
- Issuer
- Congressional materials
- Document type
- 407289 2025 07 22 The House Committee On Small Business Reports Five Att1
- Date
- 2025-07-22
- Case
- 407289 2025 07 22 The House Committee On Small Business Reports Five Att1
Summary
The introduced text of H. R. 4549, the Office of Rural Affairs Enhancement Act, a bill in the 119th Congress introduced July 21, 2025 by Ms. Goodlander, for herself, Mr. Wied and Mr. Golden of Maine, and referred to the Committee on Small Business. The bill amends Section 26 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 653) to require that the Office of Rural Affairs be administered by an Assistant Administrator in the competitive service with rural and small business experience. It adds duties to host webinars and outreach events for rural small business concerns. It requires an annual report to the House and Senate small business committees, first due not later than 180 days after enactment, covering the office's budget, staffing, activities and an analysis of lending programs. It closes with definitions of resource partners and rural small business concern.
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Full text
I
119TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 4549
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) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Small
Business
A BILL
To amend the Small Business Act to clarify the responsibil-
ities of the Office of Rural Affairs of the Small Business
Administration, and for other purposes.
1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Office of Rural Affairs
5 Enhancement Act’’.
6 SEC. 2. OFFICE OF RURAL AFFAIRS OF THE SMALL BUSI-
7 NESS ADMINISTRATION.
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8 Section 26 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 653)
9 is amended—
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2
1 (1) by amending subsection (b) to read as fol-
2 lows:
3 ‘‘(b) APPOINTMENT OF ASSISTANT ADMINIS-
4 TRATOR.—
5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Office shall be admin-
6 istered by an Assistant Administrator, who shall be
7 an employee in the competitive service.
8 ‘‘(2) QUALIFICATIONS.—The Assistant Admin-
9 istrator shall—
10 ‘‘(A) have education or professional experi-
11 ence with, or knowledge of, rural affairs and
12 issues relating to small business concerns; and
13 ‘‘(B) have experience providing develop-
14 ment assistance to rural small business con-
15 cerns.’’;
16 (2) in subsection (c)—
17 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘small
18 business concerns located in rural areas’’ and
19 inserting ‘‘rural small business concerns’’;
20 (B) in paragraph (3)—
21 (i) by striking ‘‘provide information’’
22 and inserting ‘‘promote’’; and
23 (ii) by striking ‘‘concerning the’’ and
24 all that follows through the semicolon at
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25 the end and inserting the following: ‘‘on
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1 the policies and programs of the Adminis-
2 tration and of other Federal departments
3 and agencies for assisting rural small busi-
4 ness concerns;’’;
5 (C) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘; and’’
6 and inserting a semicolon;
7 (D) in paragraph (5)—
8 (i) by striking ‘‘the United States
9 Tourism and Travel Administration’’ and
10 inserting ‘‘the National Travel and Tour-
11 ism Office of the Department of Com-
12 merce’’;
13 (ii) by striking ‘‘small businesses in
14 rural areas’’ and inserting ‘‘rural small
15 business concerns’’; and
16 (iii) by striking the period at the end
17 and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and
18 (E) by adding at the end the following new
19 paragraph:
20 ‘‘(6) host webinars and outreach events for
21 rural small business concerns as described in sub-
22 section (d).’’; and
23 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub-
24 sections:
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1 ‘‘(d) OUTREACH.—The Assistant Administrator
2 shall—
3 ‘‘(1) host webinars and outreach events in var-
4 ious regions of the United States for rural small
5 business concerns; and
6 ‘‘(2) invite representatives from district offices
7 of the Administration, resource partners, Federal
8 and State agencies, and other interested persons to
9 participate in such webinars and outreach events.
10 ‘‘(e) REPORT.—
11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days
12 after the date of the enactment of this subsection,
13 and annually thereafter, the Administrator shall sub-
14 mit to the Committee on Small Business of the
15 House of Representatives and the Committee on
16 Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate,
17 and make publicly available on a website of the Ad-
18 ministration, a report on the activities of the Office
19 during the one-year period immediately preceding
20 the date of submission of the report.
21 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—Each report required under
22 paragraph (1) shall include the following:
23 ‘‘(A) The operational details of the Office,
24 including the name of the Assistant Adminis-
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25 trator, the budget of the Office, and the num-
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1 ber of full-time employees employed by or de-
2 tailed to the Office.
3 ‘‘(B) A summary of the activities con-
4 ducted under subsection (c).
5 ‘‘(C) The number of webinars and out-
6 reach events conducted by the Administration
7 to promote policies and programs described in
8 paragraph (3) of subsection (c) and to provide
9 information described in paragraph (4) of such
10 subsection.
11 ‘‘(D) An analysis of the lending programs
12 of the Administration in serving the needs of
13 rural small business concerns.
14 ‘‘(E) Information gathered from any
15 webinars and outreach events conducted by the
16 Administration during the period covered by the
17 report.
18 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:
19 ‘‘(1) ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR.—The term
20 ‘Assistant Administrator’ means the Assistant Ad-
21 ministrator of the Office of Rural Affairs appointed
22 under subsection (b).
23 ‘‘(2) RESOURCE PARTNERS.—The term ‘re-
24 source partners’ means—
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25 ‘‘(A) small business development centers;
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1 ‘‘(B) women’s business centers (described
2 under section 29);
3 ‘‘(C) chapters of the Service Corps of Re-
4 tired Executives (established under section
5 8(b)(1)(B)); and
6 ‘‘(D) Veteran Business Outreach Centers
7 (described under section 32).
8 ‘‘(3) RURAL SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN.—The
9 term ‘rural small business concern’ means a small
10 business concern located in a rural area (as defined
11 in section 7(b)(16) of this Act).’’.
Æ
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