United States Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
Chair Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Ranking Member Olympia J. Snowe,
R-Maine, today introduced legislation to increase access to capital for
small businesses and help create jobs.
S. 2869, the "Small Business Job
Creation and Access to Capital Act of 2009" would increase the small
business loan limit to as high as $5.5 million and extend for a year
the fee eliminations and increased guarantee set to expire under the
Recovery Act.
"Our nation's small businesses have created 64 percent of all new jobs
in the last fifteen years, yet in the last year nearly 85 percent of
the jobs lost have come from small businesses," Sen. Landrieu said. Given the timely need to get 15.4 million unemployed Americans back to
work, it is critical that we expeditiously pass this bipartisan bill to
help our nation's small businesses spur a sustained lasting, and
job-filled recovery."
The Recovery Act provided $375 million to increase the guarantee on
small business loans and eliminate the fees charged to borrowers. This
funding supported $16.5 billion in lending to more than 40,000 small
businesses, with borrowers reporting that these loans would save or
create more than 450,000 jobs.
The "Small Business Job Creation and Access to Capital Act of 2009" would:
- Increase the loan limit on 7(a) loans from $2 million to $5 million;
- Increase the loan limit on 504 loans from $1.5 million to $5.5 million;
- Increase
the loan limit on microloans from $35,000 to $50,000 and increase the
maximum loan made to a microloan intermediary from $3.5 million to $5
million;
- Allow the 504 loan program to refinance short-term commercial real estate debt into, long-term, fixed rate loans;
- Extend
the authorization to provide 90 percent guarantees on 7(a) loans and
fee elimination for borrowers on 7(a) and 504 loans through December
31, 2010; and
- Direct the SBA to create a website where small businesses can identify lenders in their communities.