HUBZone Improvement Act of 2007

H.R. 383, the HUBZone Improvement Act of 2007, sought to expand the number of communities eligible for the Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) program. The bill proposed changing the criteria for "qualified nonmetropolitan counties" to include smaller counties located within larger metropolitan areas, provided they have a population under 80,000 and meet specific low-income or high-unemployment requirements.

If enacted, this change would have allowed small businesses in these specific rural-leaning areas to access federal contracting preferences, such as set-aside contracts and price evaluation preferences. The practical impact would have been to stimulate economic growth and job creation in smaller, economically distressed pockets that were previously excluded from the program because of their proximity to larger cities. The bill did not move past the committee stage during the 110th Congress.