Office of Rural Affairs Enhancement Act
What does the Office of Rural Affairs Enhancement Act do?
HR 4549 is a House bill sponsored by Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D-NH-2). Amends section 26 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 653) to clarify the Office of Rural Affairs (ORA) of the Small Business Administration. The Office is to be administered by an Assistant Administrator who is an employee in the competitive service and who must have education, professional experience, or knowledge of rural affairs and small business issues, as well as experience providing development assistance to rural small business concerns. The bill rewrites the duties in subsection (c) — replacing references to "small business concerns located in rural areas" with "rural small business concerns," changing "provide information" to "promote" the policies and programs of SBA and other federal agencies, updating the cross-reference from the United States Tourism and Travel Administration to the National Travel and Tourism Office of the Department of Commerce, and adding a new duty to host webinars and outreach events.
Did HR 4549 pass? Where it stands
As of July 17, 2026, HR 4549 has passed the House.
Status: Passed House
Latest vote: House Passed by voice vote on December 1, 2025
Outlook: Moderate
Key provisions
- Competitive-Service Assistant Administrator
- Office of Rural Affairs to be administered by an Assistant Administrator who is an employee in the competitive service
- Must have education, professional experience, or knowledge of rural affairs and issues relating to small business concerns
- Must have experience providing development assistance to rural small business concerns
- Rewritten Office Duties
- "Small business concerns located in rural areas" replaced with "rural small business concerns" throughout paragraph (1)
- In paragraph (3), "provide information" changed to "promote" the policies and programs of SBA and other federal agencies for assisting rural small business concerns
- In paragraph (5), reference updated from the United States Tourism and Travel Administration to the National Travel and Tourism Office of the Department of Commerce
- New paragraph (6) added: host webinars and outreach events for rural small business concerns as described in subsection (d)
- New Outreach Duties
- Assistant Administrator must host webinars and outreach events in various regions of the United States for rural small business concerns
- Must invite representatives from SBA district offices, resource partners, Federal and State agencies, and other interested persons
- Annual Public Report
- First report due 180 days after enactment of subsection (e); annually thereafter
- Submitted to the House Small Business Committee and the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, and made publicly available on an SBA website
- Must include operational details (Assistant Administrator's name, Office budget, staffing), summary of subsection (c) activities, webinar/event counts, an analysis of SBA lending programs' service to rural small business concerns, and information gathered from outreach
Last updated July 15, 2026