Small Business Credit Protection Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2034 To amend the Small Business Act to require that consumer reporting agencies and other credit reporting companies provide certain protections to small businesses, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 10, 2021 Mr. RUBIO (for himself, Mr. COONS, Mr. KENNEDY, and Mr. WARNOCK) in- troduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com- mittee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship A BILL To amend the Small Business Act to require that consumer reporting agencies and other credit reporting companies provide certain protections to small businesses, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Small Business Credit 4 Protection Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. DATA BREACHES. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Small Business Act (15 7 U.S.C. 631 et seq.) is amended— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:05 Jun 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2034.IS S2034 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2034 IS (1) by redesignating section 49 (15 U.S.C. 631 1 note) as section 50; and 2 (2) by inserting after section 48 (15 U.S.C. 3 657u) the following: 4 ‘‘SEC. 49. DATA BREACHES. 5 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION.—In this section— 6 ‘‘(1) the term ‘consumer report’ has the mean- 7 ing given the term in section 603 of the Fair Credit 8 Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681a); and 9 ‘‘(2) the term ‘credit reporting company’— 10 ‘‘(A) has the meaning given the term ‘con- 11 sumer reporting agency’ in section 603 of the 12 Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681a); 13 and 14 ‘‘(B) includes an entity that collects com- 15 mercial credit data. 16 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS FOR REPORTING BREACHES.— 17 ‘‘(1) APPLICABLE STATE LAW.— 18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 19 paragraph (2), if nonpublic data of a small 20 business concern that is collected or stored by 21 a credit reporting company has been breached, 22 the credit reporting company shall report the 23 breach promptly and not later than as required 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:05 Jun 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2034.IS S2034 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 2034 IS under the law of the State in which the small 1 business concern is located. 2 ‘‘(B) LOCATIONS IN MULTIPLE STATES.— 3 If a small business concern that is affected by 4 a breach described in subparagraph (A) has lo- 5 cations in more than 1 State, for the purposes 6 of that subparagraph, the law of the State that 7 imposes the shortest period for the reporting of 8 the breach shall apply. 9 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.— 10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If a small business 11 concern that is affected by a breach described 12 in paragraph (1)(A) is located in a State that 13 does not have a law that imposes a set period 14 for the reporting of the breach, the credit re- 15 porting company to which the requirement 16 under that paragraph applies shall report the 17 breach in the most expeditious manner prac- 18 ticable and without unreasonable delay. 19 ‘‘(B) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION REGARDING 20 A LAW ENFORCEMENT REQUEST.—For the pur- 21 poses of subparagraph (A), a delay with respect 22 to the reporting of a breach described in that 23 subparagraph that is caused by a requirement 24 to respond to a request submitted by a law en- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:05 Jun 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2034.IS S2034 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 2034 IS forcement agency shall be construed to be a 1 reasonable delay. 2 ‘‘(c) PROHIBITION.—During the 180-day period be- 3 ginning on the date on which a breach described in sub- 4 section (b)(1)(A) occurs, a credit reporting company may 5 not charge a small business concern that is affected by 6 that breach for providing the small business concern with 7 the consumer report of the small business concern. 8 ‘‘(d) NO PREEMPTION.—Nothing in this section shall 9 preempt any State law with respect to credit reporting 10 companies.’’. 11 (b) GAO REPORT.— 12 (1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 13 (A) the term ‘‘credit reporting company’’— 14 (i) has the meaning given the term 15 ‘‘consumer reporting agency’’ in section 16 603 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 17 U.S.C. 1681a); and 18 (ii) includes an entity that collects 19 commercial credit data; and 20 (B) the term ‘‘small business concern’’ has 21 the meaning given the term in section 3 of the 22 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632). 23 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the 24 date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller Gen- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:05 Jun 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2034.IS S2034 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 2034 IS eral of the United States shall submit to Congress 1 a report regarding the economic harm incurred by 2 small business concerns as a result of data breaches 3 at credit reporting companies. 4 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:05 Jun 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2034.IS S2034 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS