Small-Dollar and Veterans Loans Enhancement Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2138 To waive participant fees on small-dollar and veteran Express loans in the largest loan program of the Small Business Administration to close the capital gap for underserved business owners, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 17, 2019 Mr. CARDIN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship A BILL To waive participant fees on small-dollar and veteran Express loans in the largest loan program of the Small Business Administration to close the capital gap for underserved business owners, 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-Dollar and Vet- 4 erans Loans Enhancement Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:04 Jul 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2138.IS S2138 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2138 IS SEC. 2. FEE WAIVER EXCEPTIONS FOR SMALL-DOLLAR AND 1 VETERAN EXPRESS LOANS. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 7(a) of the Small Busi- 3 ness Act (15 U.S.C. 636(a)) is amended— 4 (1) in paragraph (18)(A), in the matter pre- 5 ceding clause (i), by striking ‘‘With respect’’ and in- 6 serting ‘‘Except as provided in paragraph (36), with 7 respect’’; 8 (2) in paragraph (23)(A), by striking ‘‘With re- 9 spect’’ and inserting ‘‘Except as provided in para- 10 graph (36), with respect’’; 11 (3) in paragraph (31)(G)(ii), by striking ‘‘If’’ 12 and inserting ‘‘Except as provided in paragraph 13 (36), if’’; and 14 (4) by adding at the end the following: 15 ‘‘(36) GUARANTEE AND YEARLY FEE WAIVERS 16 FOR SMALL-DOLLAR LOANS.— 17 ‘‘(A) DEFINITION.—In this paragraph, the 18 term ‘cost’ has the meaning given the term in 19 section 502 of the Federal Credit Reform Act 20 of 1990 (2 U.S.C. 661a). 21 ‘‘(B) WAIVER OR REDUCTION IN FEES.— 22 In each fiscal year, to the extent that the cost 23 of such elimination or reduction of fees is offset 24 by appropriations, the Administrator shall— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:04 Jul 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2138.IS S2138 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 2138 IS ‘‘(i) with respect to each loan guaran- 1 teed under this subsection that is not more 2 than $150,000— 3 ‘‘(I) in lieu of the fee otherwise 4 applicable under paragraph (18)(A), 5 collect no fee or reduce fees to the 6 maximum extent possible; and 7 ‘‘(II) in lieu of the fee otherwise 8 applicable under paragraph (23)(A), 9 collect no fee or reduce fees to the 10 maximum extent possible; and 11 ‘‘(ii) in lieu of the fee otherwise appli- 12 cable under paragraph (18)(A) to veterans 13 or spouses of veterans in connection with a 14 loan made under paragraph (31), based on 15 paragraph (31)(G)(ii), collect no fee or re- 16 duce fees to the maximum extent possible. 17 ‘‘(C) APPLICATION OF FEE RELIEF.—If 18 the Administrator is required to waive or reduce 19 fees under subparagraph (B)— 20 ‘‘(i) the Administrator shall first use 21 any amounts provided to eliminate or re- 22 duce fees under paragraph (18)(A) paid by 23 veterans or spouses of veterans in connec- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:04 Jul 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2138.IS S2138 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 2138 IS tion with a loan made under paragraph 1 (31), to the maximum extent possible; 2 ‘‘(ii) the Administrator shall then use 3 any amounts provided to eliminate or re- 4 duce fees paid by small business borrowers 5 under clauses (i) through (iii) of paragraph 6 (18)(A), to the maximum extent possible; 7 and 8 ‘‘(iii) the Administrator shall then use 9 any amounts provided to eliminate or re- 10 duce fees under paragraph (23)(A) paid by 11 small business lenders. 12 ‘‘(D) INDEPENDENT COST ESTIMATE.— 13 Not later than 30 days after the date on which 14 the President submits a budget under section 15 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code, the 16 Congressional Budget Office shall submit to the 17 Committee on Small Business and Entrepre- 18 neurship of the Senate and the Committee on 19 Small Business of the Administration an esti- 20 mate of the cost of providing fee waivers or re- 21 ductions through appropriations under subpara- 22 graph (B).’’. 23 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendments made by this 24 section shall apply to each loan guaranteed by the Small 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:04 Jul 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2138.IS S2138 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 2138 IS Business Administration under section 7(a) of the Small 1 Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(a)) for which the application 2 is approved on or after the date of enactment of this Act. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:04 Jul 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2138.IS S2138 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS