Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “White House Conference on Small Business Act of 2018”.
White House Conference on Small Business Act of 2018
A BILL
To reauthorize the White House Conference on Small Business Authorization Act, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Reauthorization of the White House Conference on Small Business
Public Law 101–409 (the White House Conference on Small Business Authorization Act; 15 U.S.C. 631 note) is amended—
in section 2(a)—
by striking “The President” and inserting “Subject to amounts collected under section 10, the President”;
by striking “not earlier than May 1, 1995, and not later than September 30, 1995” and inserting “not earlier than December 31, 2018, and not later than December 1, 2019”; and
by striking “March 1, 1994” and inserting “October 1, 2018”;
in section 3—
by striking “contribution of small business” and inserting “contribution of small business to the national economy”;
by striking “to identify the problems” and inserting “to identify and prioritize the problems impacting”;
by striking “particularly” and inserting “including”;
by striking “as may be appropriate for maintaining and encouraging” and inserting “that maintain, encourage, and expand”;
by inserting “to evaluate the small business assistance programs of the Small Business Administration and other Federal agencies and recommend potential improvements for those programs;” after “Nation;”; and
by striking “1986” and inserting “1995”;
in section 4—
in subsection (a), by striking “$10” and inserting “$200”;
by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:
“(b) Participants
“(1) National Conference—An individual may not participate in the National Conference unless such individual has been selected as a delegate by a State conference and by a regional meeting of delegates and is an owner, officer, or employee of a small business.
“(2) Delegates—Delegates to the National Conference shall include—
“(A) one delegate appointed by each Governor or chief executive official of a State;
“(B) one delegate appointed by each Member of the Senate, each Member of the House of Representatives, each Delegate to the House of Representatives, and the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico;
“(C) one hundred delegates appointed by the President; and
“(D) the delegates elected by participants at each State Conference.
“(3) Alternates—Each delegate shall have an alternate, appointed or elected in the same manner as the delegate.”
in section 5—
by striking “Subsequent to the date of enactment of this Act, but not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the” and inserting “The”;
by striking “GS–18” each place such term appears and inserting “GS–15”; and
in subsection (h), by striking “Chairperson” and inserting “Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business Administration”;
in section 6(a)—
in paragraph (2), by striking “and” at the end;
in paragraph (3), by striking the period at the end and inserting “; and”; and
by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
“(4) shall establish an electronic communication system for use by delegates and alternates for communication before, during, and for at least 4 years after the National Conference to allow State delegations and issue area groups to collaboratively define the problems faced by small businesses, refine suggested solutions to those problems, prioritize and select final recommendations, and monitor later legislative or regulatory action on the recommendations.”
by striking section 9 and inserting the following:
“9. Co-sponsorship of activities
“(a) Authorization—The Administrator of the Small Business Administration, after consultation with the General Counsel of the Small Business Administration, may sponsor activities or cosponsor activities with an eligible entity, including recognition events, for small businesses.
“(b) Eligible entity—In this section, the term eligible entity means any for-profit or not-for-profit entity, any State, or local government official, or any State, or local government entity.
“(c) Prohibition on endorsements—The Administrator shall ensure that any eligible entities that cosponsor activities receive appropriate recognition for such cosponsorship, and that such recognition is not considered to be an endorsement by the Small Business Administration of any product or service of such eligible entity.
“10. Funding national conference
“(a) Authorization of appropriations—The activities authorized by this Act shall be funded, to the extent and in the amount provided in advance in appropriations Acts, exclusively by amounts (if any) collected under subsection (b). No other amounts are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act.
“(b) Authority To accept gifts
“(1) In general—Except as provided in paragraph (2), for purposes of carrying out this Act, the Commission, the Administrator of the Small Business Administration, and the Administrator of the General Service Administration may—
“(A) solicit ownership, accept, and hold gifts, devises, and bequests of cash, property (including tangible, intangible, real and personal), or subsistence from non-Federal sources; and
“(B) enter into an agreement with any organization described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of such Code to solicit the donations described under subparagraph (A).
“(2) Conflict of interest—No gift, devise, or bequest shall be solicited or accepted under the authority of this subsection if such solicitation or acceptance would, in the determination of the Inspector General of the Small Business Administration create a conflict of interest.
“(c) Funds remaining at termination—On the date of termination of the National Conference, any unobligated amounts collected under this section shall be deposited in the general fund of the Treasury.
“11. State defined
“For purposes of this Act, the term State includes the several States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and any other territory or possession of the United States.”