text: SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
  
      This Act may be cited as the ``Small Business Reform Act of 2010'' 
  or the ``Not Too Small to Succeed in Business Act of 2010''.
  
  SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
  
      Congress finds the following:
              (1) Small businesses are a vital part of the economy of the 
          United States.
              (2) The 26,800,000 small businesses in the United States 
          account for more than 99.7 percent of all employer firms.
              (3) Small businesses employ just over half of all private 
          sector employees.
              (4) Four million one-hundred thousand small businesses 
          owned by individuals who are members of economically 
          disadvantaged groups generate approximately $694,000,000,000 in 
          revenues and employ approximately 4,800,000 individuals each 
          year.
              (5) Small businesses need help to remain competitive in the 
          global economy, particularly during difficult economic times.
              (6) Economically disadvantaged-owned businesses receive 
          less than 7 percent of venture capital.
              (7) Seventy percent of small businesses survive at least 2 
          years, but less than half survive 5 years.
              (8) The Small Business Administration was established in 
          1953 by the Federal Government to aid, counsel, assist, and 
          protect the interests of small business concerns, to preserve 
          free competitive enterprise, and to maintain and strengthen the 
          overall economy of the United States.
              (9) The Small Business Administration assists firms owned 
          and controlled by economically disadvantaged individuals to 
          enter the economic mainstream by providing firm-specific 
          analysis, counseling, management training, professional 
          consulting and monitoring services, and access to business 
          development opportunities under section 8(a) of the Small 
          Business Act.
              (10) Although the program under section 8(a) is well 
          intended, the problems of the program are well known.
              (11) The program under section 8(a) has a record of 
          graduating companies that are not sufficiently prepared to 
          compete for contracts with large and established companies in 
          the private sector, resulting in a large number of former 
          participants in the program failing to remain in business 
          shortly after leaving the program.
              (12) The problem of graduating companies from the program 
          under section 8(a) that are not sufficiently prepared to 
          compete for contracts with large and established companies in 
          the private sector is caused by the reliance of the Small 
          Business Administration on outdated measures of adjusted gross 
          income and net worth in determining whether a company 
          participating in the program continues to be economically 
          disadvantaged.
              (13) Reliance by the Small Business Administration on 
          measures that do not reflect contemporary conditions has had, 
          and will continue to have, the unintended consequence of 
          keeping small businesses too small to succeed, which is as 
          undesirable as protecting companies that are too big to fail.
  
  SEC. 3. IMPROVEMENT OF PROGRAM UNDER SECTION 8(A) OF THE SMALL BUSINESS 
                ACT.
  
      (a) Period of Eligibility.--
              (1) Extension.--Section 7(j)(15) of the Small Business Act 
          (15 U.S.C. 636(j)(15)) is amended--
                      (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A) by 
                  striking ``nine years'' and inserting ``11 years''; and
                      (B) in subparagraph (B) by striking ``five years'' 
                  and inserting ``7 years''.
              (2) Completed periods.--A small business concern that 
          completed a 9-year period of participation in the program under 
          section 8(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(a)) prior 
          to the date of enactment of this Act and that is otherwise 
          eligible to participate in such program except for having 
          completed such 9-year period, and current net worth exceeds 
          $750,000 but still less than $2,250,000, may participate in 
          such program during the 2-year period beginning on the date of 
          enactment of this Act.
      (b) Net Worth and Income Limitations.--
              (1) Increase.--Section 8(a)(6)(A) of the Small Business Act 
          (15 U.S.C. 637(a)(6)(A)) is amended by inserting after 
          ``disadvantaged individual.'' the following: ``For purposes of 
          eligibility for admission as a Program Participant the net 
          worth of such individual may be any amount not exceeding 
          $750,000 and for purposes of continued eligibility after 
          admission the net worth of such individual may be any amount 
          not exceeding $2,250,000. For purposes of eligibility for 
          admission as a Program Participant and continued eligibility 
          after admission, the modified adjusted gross income (as such 
          term is defined in section 25A(d)(3) of the Internal Revenue 
          Code of 1986) of such individual for an applicable taxable year 
          may be any amount not exceeding $500,000.''.
              (2) Completed periods of participation.--If the 
          Administrator of the Small Business Administration graduated a 
          small business concern from the program under section 8(a) of 
          the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(a)) prior to the date of 
          enactment of this Act as a result of a determination that such 
          concern did not meet standards relating to economic 
          disadvantage and such concern meets requirements under such 
          section as amended by this Act, such concern may participate in 
          such program for a period--
                      (A) of 11 years less the period of time such 
                  concern previously participated in such program; and
                      (B) beginning on the date of enactment of this Act.
target: Small Business Reform Act of 2010 or Not Too Small to Succeed in Business Act of 2010 - Amends the Small Business Act to extend from: (1) 9 to 11 years the period that a small business may receive developmental assistance under the Minority Small Business and Capital Ownership Development Program (Program); and (2) five to seven years the period that such a small business may spend in the Program's transitional stage. Allows small businesses that previously completed the 9-year period, above, and whose current net worth exceeds $750,000 but is less than $2.25 million to participate for an additional two years.
  
  Sets net worth limits for individual Program participants at: (1) $750,000, for Program admission; (2) $2.25 million, for continued Program participation after admission; and (3) $500,000 adjusted gross income, for Program admission and continued eligibility.
  
  Provides that, if the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) graduated a small business from the Program prior to the date of enactment of this Act on the basis that the small business did not meet standards relating to economic disadvantage and the small business now meets such standards, the small business may participate in the Program for 11 years less any period of previous participation.
feat_title: To amend the Small Business Act to improve the program under section 8(a), and for other purposes.