Women’s Business Centers Improvements Act of 2019
Latest action. Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
Women's Business Centers Improvements Act of 2019
This bill reauthorizes the Women's Business Center Program through FY2023, raises the cap on individual center grants, establishes an accreditation program for grant recipients, and revises the duties of the Office of Women's Business Ownership. Specifically, the bill modifies the Women's Business Center Program to enable the Small Business Administration (SBA) to provide initial and continuation grants to eligible entities to operate women's business centers for the benefit of women-owned small businesses. An entity must agree to obtain matching, non-federal funds, and the SBA must (1) ensure an applicant has sufficient resources to provide the services for which the grant is being made, and (2) conduct an annual compliance review. The SBA must also publish standards for a program to accredit entities that receive grants from the Women's Business Center Program, and such entities' receipt of continuation grants shall be contingent upon their obtaining accreditation.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Passed House" stage on October 21, 2019. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on October 22, 2019: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 116th Congress (2019-20), 344 of the 14,345 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.4 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Sharice Davids (D-KS) introduced it on September 19, 2019, and 17 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 14 Democrats, 3 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on September 19, 2019, 2548 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 2515 days ago, on October 22, 2019.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 116th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2021 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers