H.R. 4549 Reported, Office of Rural Affairs Enhancement Act
- Issuer
- Congressional materials
- Document type
- 407344 2025 12 01 House Committee On Small Business Celebrates Five Att4
- Date
- 2025-12-01
- Case
- 407344 2025 12 01 House Committee On Small Business Celebrates Five Att4
Summary
The reported print of H. R. 4549, the Office of Rural Affairs Enhancement Act, 119th Congress, 1st Session, placed on the Union Calendar as No. 183 with Report No. 119–225. The bill was introduced July 21, 2025 by Ms. Goodlander with Mr. Wied and Mr. Golden and referred to the Committee on Small Business; on August 15, 2025 it was committed to the Committee of the Whole House. It 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 small business experience. It adds duties to host webinars and outreach events and requires an annual report to the House and Senate small business committees, first due within 180 days of enactment. It also defines resource partners and rural small business concern.
Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used
Full text
IB
Union Calendar No. 183
119TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 4549
[Report No. 119–225]
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
AUGUST 15, 2025
Additional sponsor: Mr. FITZPATRICK
AUGUST 15, 2025
Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union
and ordered to be printed
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:25 Aug 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H4549.RH H4549
2
A BILL
To amend the Small Business Act to clarify the responsibil-
ities of the Office of Rural Affairs of the Small Business
Administration, and for other purposes.
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
•HR 4549 RH
VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:25 Aug 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H4549.RH H4549
3
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.
8 Section 26 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 653)
9 is amended—
10 (1) by amending subsection (b) to read as fol-
11 lows:
12 ‘‘(b) APPOINTMENT OF ASSISTANT ADMINIS-
13 TRATOR.—
14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Office shall be admin-
15 istered by an Assistant Administrator, who shall be
16 an employee in the competitive service.
17 ‘‘(2) QUALIFICATIONS.—The Assistant Admin-
18 istrator shall—
19 ‘‘(A) have education or professional experi-
20 ence with, or knowledge of, rural affairs and
21 issues relating to small business concerns; and
22 ‘‘(B) have experience providing develop-
23 ment assistance to rural small business con-
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
24 cerns.’’;
25 (2) in subsection (c)—
•HR 4549 RH
VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:25 Aug 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4549.RH H4549
4
1 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘small
2 business concerns located in rural areas’’ and
3 inserting ‘‘rural small business concerns’’;
4 (B) in paragraph (3)—
5 (i) by striking ‘‘provide information’’
6 and inserting ‘‘promote’’; and
7 (ii) by striking ‘‘concerning the’’ and
8 all that follows through the semicolon at
9 the end and inserting the following: ‘‘on
10 the policies and programs of the Adminis-
11 tration and of other Federal departments
12 and agencies for assisting rural small busi-
13 ness concerns;’’;
14 (C) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘; and’’
15 and inserting a semicolon;
16 (D) in paragraph (5)—
17 (i) by striking ‘‘the United States
18 Tourism and Travel Administration’’ and
19 inserting ‘‘the National Travel and Tour-
20 ism Office of the Department of Com-
21 merce’’;
22 (ii) by striking ‘‘small businesses in
23 rural areas’’ and inserting ‘‘rural small
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
24 business concerns’’; and
•HR 4549 RH
VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:25 Aug 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4549.RH H4549
5
1 (iii) by striking the period at the end
2 and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and
3 (E) by adding at the end the following new
4 paragraph:
5 ‘‘(6) host webinars and outreach events for
6 rural small business concerns as described in sub-
7 section (d).’’; and
8 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub-
9 sections:
10 ‘‘(d) OUTREACH.—The Assistant Administrator
11 shall—
12 ‘‘(1) host webinars and outreach events in var-
13 ious regions of the United States for rural small
14 business concerns; and
15 ‘‘(2) invite representatives from district offices
16 of the Administration, resource partners, Federal
17 and State agencies, and other interested persons to
18 participate in such webinars and outreach events.
19 ‘‘(e) REPORT.—
20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days
21 after the date of the enactment of this subsection,
22 and annually thereafter, the Administrator shall sub-
23 mit to the Committee on Small Business of the
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
24 House of Representatives and the Committee on
25 Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate,
•HR 4549 RH
VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:25 Aug 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4549.RH H4549
6
1 and make publicly available on a website of the Ad-
2 ministration, a report on the activities of the Office
3 during the one-year period immediately preceding
4 the date of submission of the report.
5 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—Each report required under
6 paragraph (1) shall include the following:
7 ‘‘(A) The operational details of the Office,
8 including the name of the Assistant Adminis-
9 trator, the budget of the Office, and the num-
10 ber of full-time employees employed by or de-
11 tailed to the Office.
12 ‘‘(B) A summary of the activities con-
13 ducted under subsection (c).
14 ‘‘(C) The number of webinars and out-
15 reach events conducted by the Administration
16 to promote policies and programs described in
17 paragraph (3) of subsection (c) and to provide
18 information described in paragraph (4) of such
19 subsection.
20 ‘‘(D) An analysis of the lending programs
21 of the Administration in serving the needs of
22 rural small business concerns.
23 ‘‘(E) Information gathered from any
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
24 webinars and outreach events conducted by the
•HR 4549 RH
VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:25 Aug 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4549.RH H4549
7
1 Administration during the period covered by the
2 report.
3 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:
4 ‘‘(1) ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR.—The term
5 ‘Assistant Administrator’ means the Assistant Ad-
6 ministrator of the Office of Rural Affairs appointed
7 under subsection (b).
8 ‘‘(2) RESOURCE PARTNERS.—The term ‘re-
9 source partners’ means—
10 ‘‘(A) small business development centers;
11 ‘‘(B) women’s business centers (described
12 under section 29);
13 ‘‘(C) chapters of the Service Corps of Re-
14 tired Executives (established under section
15 8(b)(1)(B)); and
16 ‘‘(D) Veteran Business Outreach Centers
17 (described under section 32).
18 ‘‘(3) RURAL SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN.—The
19 term ‘rural small business concern’ means a small
20 business concern located in a rural area (as defined
21 in section 7(b)(16) of this Act).’’.
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
•HR 4549 RH
VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:25 Aug 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4549.RH H4549
Union Calendar No. 183
119TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. R. 4549
[Report No. 119–225]
H4549
A BILL
E:\BILLS\H4549.RH
To amend the Small Business Act to clarify the re-
sponsibilities of the Office of Rural Affairs of the
Small Business Administration, and for other
purposes.
AUGUST 15, 2025 Sfmt 6651
Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the
Fmt 6651
State of the Union and ordered to be printed
Frm 00008
PO 00000
Jkt 059200
21:25 Aug 15, 2025
VerDate Sep 11 2014
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
File and source
- File
- 407344_2025-12-01_house-committee-on-small-business-celebrates-five-_att4.pdf
- Size
- 233,462 bytes
- SHA-256
- 0433fec2ae4b3ff8bb1bf8adf8d8f7b5cb3b833201f55ac79492cf9a39c98422
- Original
- No public link identified.