S. 1499 — New Start Act of 2025

This section sets forth congressional findings that (1) approximately 600,000 individuals are released from prison annually, with nearly 77% recidivating within five years; (2) 48.5% of formerly incarcerated individuals remain unemployed or earn negligible income for one year post-incarceration; (3) formerly incarcerated individuals experience a 25% reduction in earnings due to criminal records; (4) self-employment provides economic stability for those excluded from the labor market; and (5) justice-impacted individuals have a 12.49% likelihood of becoming entrepreneurs (compared to 7.09% for those without criminal records), which reduces recidivism by 5.3%, increases annual earnings by $2,700 relative to formerly incarcerated employees, and narrows the income gap with non-incarcerated counterparts by 38% (relative to the employee income gap).

This section establishes the New Start Program, under which the Small Business Administration (SBA) awards grants of more than $100,000 and less than $500,000 annually over a 5-year period to geographically varied organizations—including small business development centers, women's business centers, and SCORE chapters, or their partnerships—to create or support entrepreneurial development programs (i.e., training, mentorship, business planning assistance, and seed funding) for formerly incarcerated individuals and currently incarcerated individuals in minimum-, low-, or medium-security federal prisons or residential reentry centers who meet SBA microloan program offense eligibility requirements. The SBA must establish the program not later than 180 days after enactment; coordinate with the Bureau of Prisons to facilitate in-prison access; develop and annually update a matching plan with such organizations; and equitably allocate grants between programs for formerly and currently incarcerated individuals. Grants to women's business centers do not count toward the maximum award limits under SBA section 29.