U.S. Sens. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) introduced legislation this week that aims to reauthorize and improve the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) Program.
The small business development centers deliver professional business advice and training focused on strategic planning, business development, financial planning, and cash flow management to small business owners. Currently, there are 62 lead centers, with nearly 1,000 outreach centers located nationwide.
Their bill, the Small Business Development Centers Improvement Act of 2022, would make several updates to the SBDC program, including requiring that the SBA provide annual reports to Congress on all entrepreneurial activities and the SBDC program. It would also require the SBA to report on their data-collecting practices. In addition, it would prohibit entities other than institutions of higher education from receiving new grants under the program.
“Small Business Development Centers provide much-needed counseling and support to business owners and entrepreneurs in Hawaii and throughout the nation,” Hirono said. “In 2021 alone, Hawaii SBDC helped small business owners create over 500 jobs and start more than 70 local businesses, strengthening our economy and our communities. SBDCs play an important role in providing the resources businesses need to succeed. As a member of the Senate Small Business Committee, I will continue working to support local businesses and entrepreneurs in Hawaii and across the country.”
Further, the bill would allow development centers to collect fees related to private partnerships or co-sponsorships, authorize the centers to market their services directly to small businesses, and modify provisions related to program funding, operations, data collection, and reporting.
A number of the lead centers are located at Minority Serving Institutions, including HBCUs, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions, and Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions. In FY2021, the SBDC network served 643,144 unique clients, helped start 22,589 new businesses, and supported over 2 million jobs.
In addition to Hirono and Cardin, the bill is cosponsored by Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Chris Coons (D-DE), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH).