Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and John Kerry (D-Mass.), chair of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet, recently unveiled legislation aimed at increasing small businesses’ access to high-speed internet service.

The Small Business Broadband and Emerging Technology Enhancement Act of 2010 (S. 3506) would fulfill many of the recommendations of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) National Broadband Plan. It would create a position within the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) responsible for coordinating the agency’s programs aimed at helping small firms adopt and use broadband technologies.

S. 3506 also would expand the eligible uses of SBA 7(a), 504, and Micro- loan programs to include upgrading broadband services. The bill also would establish a pilot program that would provide surplus government-owned computers to qualified small businesses in rural areas at little to no cost.

Finally, the bill would enhance the missions of Small Business Development Centers and Women’s Business Centers to include “assisting small businesses in accessing broadband and other emerging technologies.”