SOAR Act
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
Startup Opportunity Accelerator Act of 2017 or the SOAR Act
This bill amends the Small Business Act to require the Small Business Administration to develop and begin implementing a program to award cash prizes or grants of up to $50,000 to an organization to support new small businesses operating for five years or less. These awards may be used for construction costs, space acquisition, and programmatic purposes, but may not be used to provide capital or professional services to such businesses directly or through the subaward of funds.
The organization must be located in the United States, with a primary purpose to support new small businesses and be often classified as an accelerator. The term "accelerator" means an organization that (1) frequently provides, but is not exclusively designed to provide, seed investment in exchange for a small amount of equity; (2) works with a startup for a predetermined amount of time; (3) provides mentorship and instruction to scale businesses; or (4) offers startup capital or the opportunity to raise capital from outside investors.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on October 17, 2017. 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 17, 2017: 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 Senate
- Passage by the House
- 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 115th Congress (2017-18), 442 of the 11,421 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.9 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?
Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced it on October 17, 2017. No cosponsors are recorded.
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 October 17, 2017, 3250 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3250 days ago, on October 17, 2017.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 115th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2019 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
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers