Congressional Testimony

At the invitation of both Congressman Steve Chabot, the Ranking Minority Member of the House Small Business Committee, and Congresswoman Nydia Valezquez, its Chairperson, I had the opportunity to testify last week before the Committee.  The purpose of my testimony was to speak in support of the recently introduced House Bill HR 1332 that would reauthorize the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) capital access programs, including the SBA 504 loan program. As most of you know, HCDC has actively participated in the SBA 504 loan program since its inception in 1983.

No, I did not appear on CSPAN and, while there was some pointed questioning of certain witnesses regarding disaster relief and capital access issues, a very strong degree of respect and decorum was shown between the Democrats and Republicans on the Committee, and mutual respect between Ms. Valezquez and Mr. Chabot was obvious to all.  

Despite differences of the two parties regarding foreign policy issues, it appears that everyone involved is genuinely interested and committed to improving the SBA capital access programs and in particular, the SBA 504 loan program.

More specifically, the bill itself defines in statute the economic development mission and values that Certified Development Companies (CDC’s) provide small businesses and the communities they serve.

Furthermore, it recognizes that CDC’s operate best when they are locally based, are connected to the communities they serve and have high ethical standards imposed on their respective operations.  The Bill also provides the opportunity for the SBA 504 loan program to make financing more readily available to companies located in lower income communities, especially urban core and rural areas of the country.  Finally, while the 504 loan program has historically experienced a very low loan default rate, CDC’s will be required and responsible to liquidate the defaulted loans they have previously approved.

While there are still certain details that need to be resolved, it is my opinion that overall this represents an historic piece of legislation and, from the 504 CDC industry standpoint, is one of the best bills ever introduced.

On March 15, 2007, House Bill HR 1332 was approved and voted out by the Small Business Committee for action by the full House of Representatives.  It is my hope and desire that within the next several months this bill will be approved by the House, sent on to the U. S. Senate for approval, and then signed by the President.