Summary

Blocks the Small Business Administration (SBA) from using its programs, contracts, grants, or other assistance to help people register to vote except where federal law already allows such activity. It also states Congress’s view that voter-registration assistance is not part of the SBA’s mission and that no Presidential Executive Order can force the SBA to perform voter-registration work. The first part is a nonbinding statement of congressional opinion; the second part creates binding limits in SBA contracts and assistance agreements.

Key Points

• Prohibits the SBA from using its assistance to facilitate voter registration except where federal law already permits.
• Requires new SBA contracts and assistance agreements to include clauses forbidding use of SBA-funded assistance for voter-registration activities.
• Applies similar limits to existing recipients unless their assistance terms already permit voter-registration use.
• Contains a nonbinding "sense of Congress" stating the SBA should focus on small-business support and not voter-registration work.
• Preserves any voter-registration activities that are separately authorized by existing federal law.
• Enforcement is implemented through contract terms and conditions rather than by creating new criminal penalties.
• Narrow, targeted bill that does not create new programs or appropriate funds.

Categories & Tags