On July 13, the Senate passed, by unanimous consent, H.R. 2965, the Enhancing Small Business Research and Innovation Act, after striking, by unanimous consent, the House-passed text of H.R. 2965 (see The Source 7/10/09), and inserting the text of S. 1233, as amended. The Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee approved its version of the bill on June 18.
Like the House bill, the S. 1233 emphasizes the need to support women- and minority-owned and rural small businesses’ efforts to research and develop new technologies. The Senate committee report also requires the administration to report on outreach efforts to women-owned and socially or economically disadvantaged small businesses.
The Senate agreed, by unanimous consent, to an amendment by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) to reauthorize the Small Business Research and Innovation (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs for eight years, instead of 14 years as recommended by the committee. The Coburn amendment also would increase the guidelines for program awards from $100,000 to $150,000 for businesses in Phase I and from $750,000 to $1 million for businesses in Phase II of the programs.
