SEPTEMBER ADVOCACY UPDATE

Please share the announcements below with your chapters.

I can't wait to have all of you join us on our Advocacy Call Tuesday, September 21, 12 PM ET. All are welcome! If you are unable to attend, please send someone else from your chapter to represent the viewpoint of your community.

Here is the call-in information:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/75870625171?pwd=YmRMLys1RThqNmdaUFVDYnNlQ2tOQT09

Meeting ID: 758 7062 5171

Passcode: 8MUVut

Here is the Introduction to Advocacy PDF in case you missed it last week. This document will help explain your role in your chapter and on the national level. Please review this document before the call.

Here are this week's updates and reminders:

This week NAWBO joined other organizations on a letter to House Ways and Means to continue stepped up basis, which prevents family-owned businesses and farms from being hit by the capital gains tax on any appreciated assets and the estate tax on whatever is left when a family member passes away. This is in response to one section of the American Families Plan, which proposed making death a taxable event.
House Ways and Means started work on marking up the reconciliation package this week, and we expect the tax portions of the reconciliation package to happen next week. It seems the House and Senate are still ways apart in their approach.
This week the House Small Business Committee approved $25 billion in funding for small business programs. The legislation heads to the House Budget Committee for inclusion in the reconciliation package. NAWBO has been on several calls to receive more information on the details of the package and the Administration’s efforts to include more access to capital in it. It includes:
- $35 million in funding for veteran federal procurement entrepreneurship training
- $1 billion in funding for an uplift accelerator program and business development academy at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) for underrepresented small businesses
- Provides $1 billion to establish a national network of business incubators
- $20 million to enhance the SBA’s Office of Native American Affairs
- $9.5 billion to establish a subprogram within the Small Business Investment Company program to provide patient capital to underserved markets and small manufacturers
- $600 million to enhance, improve, and expand the SBA’s Community Advantage program
- $4.465 billion to fund a direct loan product under the current 7(a) lending program administered by the SBA
- $500 million to fund a pilot program for eligible cooperatives and employee-owned businesses to receive SBA loan products without the requirement of a personal or entity guarantee
- Invests $2.746 billion to establish a direct lending subprogram under the 504/CDC lending program to allow CDCs to make loans to small contractors, small manufacturers, and small businesses in underrepresented markets
- Over $100 million to invest in entrepreneurial training initiatives for the formerly incarcerated
  Click here for a section-by-section summary of the proposal.

House Small Business Hearings

Tuesday, September 14, 2021- 11:00 AM- Remote Hearing: National Small Business Week: Celebrating our Main Street Champions
Tuesday, September 21, 2021- 10:00 AM- Hybrid Hearing: SBA's Entrepreneurial Development Programs
Wednesday, September 22, 2021- 10:00 AM- Hybrid Hearing: Protecting Workers in a Covid Economy (Subcommittee on Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Workforce Development)
Wednesday, September 29, 2021- 10:00 AM- Hybrid Hearing: Sustainable Forestry's Role in Climate Solutions (Subcommittee on Underserved, Agricultural, and Rural Development)
Thursday, September 30, 2021- 10:00 AM- Hybrid Hearing: The Plight of Employee-owned Entities and Revisiting the Main Street Employee Ownership Act

Biden Administration Announcements

President Biden issued an Executive Order yesterday requiring the entire Federal workforce to be vaccinated. While some medical exceptions will be allowed, final guidance is expected within the next seven days.
The specifics have not yet been made public. Still, the president said two new requirements would apply to businesses with 100 or more employees: They must require that workers get vaccinated against the coronavirus or be tested at least once a week, and they must give workers paid time off to receive the vaccine and recover from any side effects.
According to the New York times, lawyers said Thursday that it was not immediately clear whether the rule would apply to all employees or only those who work in company offices or facilities.

Small Business Administration Announcements

According to an announcement by the SBA Administrator yesterday, SBA has “re-tooled” the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program. Fundamental changes announced by the SBA include:
- Increasing the COVID EIDL Cap. The SBA will lift the COVID EIDL cap from $500,000 to $2 million. Loan funds can be used for any normal operating expenses and working capital, including payroll, purchasing equipment, and paying debt.
- Implementation of a Deferred Payment Period. The SBA will ensure small business owners will not have to begin COVID EIDL repayment until two years after loan origination so that they can get through the pandemic without having to worry about making ends meet.
- Establishment of a 30-Day Exclusivity Window. To ensure Main Street businesses have additional time to access these funds, the SBA will implement a 30-day exclusivity window of approving and disbursing funds for $500,000 or less loans. Approval and disbursement of loans over $500,000 will begin after the 30-day period.
- Expansion of Eligible Use of Funds. COVID EIDL funds will now be eligible to prepay commercial debt and make payments on federal business debt.
- Simplification of affiliation requirements. To ease the COVID EIDL application process for small businesses, the SBA has established more simplified affiliation requirements to model the Restaurant Revitalization Fund.

SBA believes these enhancements to the COVID EIDL program will allow more businesses greater and more flexible support from the over $150 billion in available COVID EIDL funds.

National Small Business Week Virtual Summit is September 13-15, 2021, and honors the nation's 31 million small businesses for their perseverance, ingenuity, triumphs, and creativity. Click here for the schedule and here to sign up.
The Small Business Office of Advocacy released Small Business Facts: Equally Male/Female-Owned Employer Businesses, which showed equally-owned businesses, which are half-owned by men and half-owned by women, totaled 860,754 employers in 2018. These businesses employed 7,970,121 workers, generated $1.3 trillion in annual sales receipts, and paid $280 billion in annual payroll.

IRS Announcements

During Small Business Week, the IRS encourages employers to help get the word out about the advanced payments of the Child Tax Credit. Employers have direct access to their employees, who may receive this credit. More information on the Advanced Child Tax Credit is available on IRS.gov. The website has tools employers can use to help spread the word.

Below are some helpful resources for small businesses and the self-employed:

“A Closer Look” at Celebrating Resilience and Renewal During National Small Business Week.
The Small Business and Self-Employed Tax Center provides various resources, forms, and tools in Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Russian, and Haitian Creole. The Center includes a Self-Employed Individuals Tax Center, information on independent contractors vs. employees, filing and paying your business taxes, and more.
The Gig Economy Tax Center is a resource for people who earn income by providing on-demand work, services, or goods.
The Online Learning and Educational Products page has tools to help business owners learn at their own pace, such as the Small Business Virtual Tax Workshop.
The IRS YouTube Video Channel has videos for small businesses on the Small Business playlist.
E-News for Small Businesses is a free electronic mail service that offers tax information for small business owners and self-employed individuals, including reminders, tips, and special announcements.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau—We’re Looking for Your Thoughts!!

Last week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) proposed a new rule designed to help small businesses gain access to the credit they need and deserve by increasing transparency in the lending marketplace.

This rule, mandated by Congress in the Dodd-Frank Act, would, if finalized, require lenders to disclose information about their lending to small businesses, allowing community organizations, researchers, lenders, and others to support small business and community development needs better. Under the proposal, lenders would be required to report the amount and type of small business credit applied for and extended, demographic information about small business credit applicants, and key elements of the price of the credit offered. Read a summary of the proposed rule.

NAWBO will be sending a comment letter once the rule is in the Federal Register (it takes a few weeks), so if you have any concerns or positive feedback, please email epatout@nawbo.org.