To change the percentage of outstanding stock that must be held through an employee stock ownership plan for the purposes of the pilot program to incentivize contracting with employee-owned businesses of the Department of Defense, and for other purposes.
1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Empowering Small-business Ownership Participation Act” or the “ESOP Act”.
2. Change to ESOP percentage requirement for pilot program to incentivize contracting with employee-owned businesses
Section 874 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 (10 U.S.C. 3204 note) is amended—
(1) by striking “wholly-owned” each place it appears and inserting “owned”;
(2) in subsection (a)—
(A) in the heading, by striking “Wholly-owned” and inserting “Owned”; and
(B) by striking “100 percent” and inserting “not less than 30 percent”;
(3) in subsection (b), in the heading, by striking “Wholly-owned” and inserting “Owned”; and
(4) in subsection (c), in the heading, by striking “Wholly-owned” and inserting “Owned”.