SEPTEMBER ADVOCACY UPDATE

For those of you unable to attend this month's Advocacy Zoom, please send your comments via email.**The recording is coming soon.** Here are the questions we discussed:

What challenges are you facing when it comes to hiring workers?
What do you believe will help you retain workers?
Are you working with more full-time employees or contractors?
As a business owner, how do you re-skill and up-skill your employees to meet your needs?
Are you concerned about the PRO Act? If so, what are your concerns?

Mark your calendars!! Next month's meeting is on October 18^th at 12 PM ET. I will send out a Zoom link soon that will include the next month's discussion topic and questions for your chapters.

Chapter Shares:

NAWBO Houston started a Let's Talk Advocacy! Live stream on Facebook every Thursday at 2 p.m. They would appreciate the "follows" and participation from other chapters!!

Hill Updates:

We're still waiting on a solution to keep the government funded, and Congress is getting very close to the deadline of October 1^st.
Today, the House passed the Presidential Electoral Reform Act. The legislation clarifies the vice president's role as strictly a figurehead whose job is oversight of the counting process and expands the threshold necessary for Members of Congress to object to a state's election results.
- The Senate is also on track to amend the 1887 Electoral Count Act to further declare a ceremonial role for the vice president in the election certification process rather than an acting role.
Yesterday, the United States Senate unanimously passed the SBIR & STTR Reauthorization Act of 2022—bipartisan legislation introduced by U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship Chair Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) to reauthorize the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs through September 30, 2025. The current authorization for the programs expires on September 30, 2022. Under the SBIR program, federal agencies that budget at least $100 million annually for outside research must allocate a portion—3.2 percent since Fiscal Year 2017—to support R&D in small businesses. The STTR program, meanwhile, requires federal agencies and departments that spend at least $1 billion on outside research to allocate at least 0.45 percent of the funds to small businesses and academic research institutions. You can see the small businesses' contributions to RnD in this SBA Advocacy Fact Sheet.
Last week, Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), Chairman of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, introduced the Women's Business Centers Improvement Act of 2022. The legislation is the companion bill to H.R. 6441 introduced by Congresswoman Sharice Davids (D-KS) and Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (R-NY). The Senate bill would:
- Authorize $31.5 million through fiscal year 2025 in annual funding for the WBC program
- Increase the cap on individual center grants to $300,000
- Establish an accreditation program
- Require notification and transparency around grants, site visits, and evaluations
- Recognize and consult with a WBC organization if majority of women's business centers are members
- Establish key components in the role of OWBO at the SBA
- Require the SBA to submit an annual report on WBC effectiveness to the House and Senate Committees on Small Business
- Ensured protections for existing WBCs to meet the new requirements

House Hearings

No hearings are scheduled.

Senate Hearings

No hearings are scheduled.

Biden Administration Updates:

TOMORROW! Combating Inflation as a Small Business Owner
Understanding how to deal with the impact of inflation due to the pandemic and other global factors and knowing where to look for and navigate available resources to tackle it can sometimes be daunting. Join SBA and Small Business Majority for a free webinar on Friday, September 23, 2022, at 2:00 p.m. E.T. to learn about funding options available to small businesses and new and existing resources to tackle inflation. Click here to register. Speakers include:
- Veronica Pugin, Senior Advisor, Office of Capital Access, U.S. Small Business Administration
- Gary Cunningham, President & CEO, Prosperity Now
- Stephanie DeVane, Vice President, Entrepreneurship & Business Development, National Urban League
- Mark Madrid, Associate Administrator, Office of Entrepreneurial Development, U.S. Small Business Administration
SBA Announces Inaugural Small Business Cyber Summit to Take Place During National Cybersecurity Month
On October 26, the SBA will convene experts from the cybersecurity and business worlds to share best practices and practical tools to help small businesses bolster their cyber defenses. Registration for the event is open to all and free. Sign up at www.bit.ly/SBACyberSummit.
Small Business Facts: Small Business Innovation Measured by Patenting Activity
Experts often use patenting activity as a proxy for innovation. Data from the National Science Foundation show that small businesses that engage in R&D generate more patents per employee than larger businesses that engage in R&D. However, small business patenting activity fell significantly following 2010. The decline is now reversing. Small businesses recovered to two-thirds of peak patent application levels from 2015 to 2018 and recovered to half of peak patents received levels in the same timeframe. For more, read Small Business Facts: Small Business Innovation Measured by Patenting Activity.
SBA Announces Expansion of Ascent Online Digital Platform Programming
The digital platform, which provides women-owned small businesses with training resources, offers a new course on expanding into international markets. "Growing Globally" specifically explores ways women entrepreneurs can expand their small businesses into new, global markets. The six modules you need to master the topic include:
- The Value of Growing Globally
- Opportunities for Growing Globally
- Exploring International Markets
- Social Entrepreneurship in International Business
- Exporting to World Markets
- Importing from World Markets