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This Week in Washington

The House passed five bi-partisan small business bills earlier this week including reauthorization for the Women’s Business Center Program and SCORE and improvements for the Small Business Development Centers.

A list is below of the small business bills that passed. They will now move to the Senate.

  1. H.R. 6454 – Small Business Advocacy Improvements Act of 2022 (Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer R-MO):Will clarify that SBA’s Office of Advocacy has the authority to examine international economic data, and represent small business interests in international discussions, particularly in trade negotiations.
  2. H.R. 6450 – SCORE for Small Business Act of 2022 (By Rep. Young Kim R-CA):Reauthorizes $13.5 million for the program for two years and intends to help SBA prevent abuse and misuse of funds. The bill expands counseling and training programs to provide online webinars, electronic mentoring platforms and online toolkits to small businesses. 
  3. H.R. 6445 – Small Business Development Centers Improvement Act of 2022 (Rep. Jared Golden D-ME):Requires an annual report on entrepreneurial development programs at the SBA. The bill also expands SBA’s marketing services and data collection at SBDCs and allows SBDCs to collect fees from private partnerships and co-sponsorships. 
  4. H.R. 6441 – Women’s Business Centers Improvement Act of 2022 (Rep. Sharice Davids D-KS):Reauthorizes the WBC program for four years, increases the authorization level from $18 million annually to $31.5 million, and increases the cap on individual center grants to $300,000. The bill also establishes an accreditation program run by the Association of Small Business Development Centers to ensure all WBCs provide quality service and counseling. 
  5. H.R. 4877 – One Stop Shop for Small Business Compliance Act of 2021 (Rep. Antonio Delgado and Rep. Beth Van Duyne):Requires the Ombudsman to maintain a website with hyperlinks to the small business compliance guides of each federal agency, as well as the relevant points of contact for the guides. The bill also requires the Ombudsman to include an assessment of federal agency compliance in their annual report.