United States HR 7396: Native American Entrepreneurial Opportunity Act

Bill Text

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119TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION H. R. 7396
To establish an Office of Native American Affairs within the Small Business
Administration, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 5, 2026
Ms. DAVIDS of Kansas (for herself, Mr. ELLZEY, Ms. MORRISON, and Mr.
CRANE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Small Business
A BILL
To establish an Office of Native American Affairs within
the Small Business Administration, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Native American En-4
trepreneurial Opportunity Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. OFFICE OF NATIVE AMERICAN AFFAIRS. 6
The Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 631 et seq.) is 7
amended— 8
(1) by redesignating section 49 (15 U.S.C. 631 9
note) as section 50; and 10
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(2) by inserting after section 48 (15 U.S.C. 1
657u) the following: 2
‘‘SEC. 49. OFFICE OF NATIVE AMERICAN AFFAIRS. 3
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 4
‘‘(1) ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR.—The term 5
‘Assistant Administrator’ means the Assistant Ad-6
ministrator for Native American Affairs appointed 7
under subsection (c). 8
‘‘(2) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘Indian Tribe’ 9
has the meaning given the term ‘Indian tribe’ in sec-10
tion 8(a)(13). 11
‘‘(3) NATIVE HAWAIIAN ORGANIZATION.—The 12
term ‘Native Hawaiian Organization’ has the mean-13
ing given the term in section 8(a)(15). 14
‘‘(4) OFFICE.—The term ‘Office’ means the Of-15
fice of Native American Affairs described in this sec-16
tion. 17
‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT.— 18
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is established within 19
the Administration the Office of Native American 20
Affairs, which shall be responsible for establishing a 21
working relationship with Indian Tribes and Native 22
Hawaiian Organizations by targeting programs of 23
the Administration relating to entrepreneurial devel-24
opment, contracting, and capital access to— 25
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‘‘(A) establish or expand small business 1
concerns owned and controlled by individuals 2
who are members of Indian Tribes or Native 3
Hawaiian Organizations; and 4
‘‘(B) promote economic development in In-5
dian country (as defined in section 1151 of title 6
18, United States Code). 7
‘‘(2) CONNECTION WITH OTHER PROGRAMS.— 8
To the extent reasonable, the Office shall educate 9
Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian Organizations 10
about programs administered by other Federal agen-11
cies related to the interests described in paragraph 12
(1). 13
‘‘(c) ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR.—The Office shall 14
be headed by an Assistant Administrator for Native Amer-15
ican Affairs, who shall— 16
‘‘(1) be appointed by and report to the Admin-17
istrator; 18
‘‘(2) have knowledge of Native American cul-19
tures and experience providing culturally tailored 20
small business development assistance to Native 21
Americans; 22
‘‘(3) provide assistance to Indian Tribes and 23
Native Hawaiian Organizations and small business 24
concerns owned and controlled by individuals who 25
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are members of Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian 1
Organizations; 2
‘‘(4) formulate policies, and promote policies 3
and existing programs, to better address the entre-4
preneurial, capital access, business development, and 5
contracting needs of persons described in paragraph 6
(3); 7
‘‘(5) collaborate with Associate Administrators 8
within the Administration and officials of other Fed-9
eral agencies to develop policies and plans to imple-10
ment programs of the Administration to holistically 11
address the needs described in paragraph (4); 12
‘‘(6) provide assistance, including grants, con-13
tracts, cooperative agreements, or other financial as-14
sistance, to Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian Or-15
ganizations, or to private nonprofit organizations 16
governed by members of Indian Tribes or Native 17
Hawaiian Organizations that have the experience 18
and capability to use the assistance to— 19
‘‘(A) deploy training, counseling, work-20
shops, educational outreach, and supplier 21
events; and 22
‘‘(B) access the entrepreneurial, capital, 23
and contracting programs of the Administra-24
tion; 25
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‘‘(7) assist the Administrator in conducting, or 1
conduct, Tribal consultation to solicit input and fa-2
cilitate discussion of potential modifications to pro-3
g