SBIC Licensing Improvement Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2188 To amend the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 to improve the license application process for small business investment companies, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 18, 2019 Mr. HAWLEY (for himself and Mr. COONS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and En- trepreneurship A BILL To amend the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 to improve the license application process for small business investment companies, 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 ‘‘SBIC Licensing Im- 4 provement Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. APPROVAL OR DISAPPROVAL OF SBIC LICENSE AP- 6 PLICATIONS. 7 Section 301 of the Small Business Investment Act 8 of 1958 (15 U.S.C. 681) is amended— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 Jul 26, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2188.IS S2188 Pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2188 IS (1) in subsection (a), by inserting after the first 1 sentence the following: ‘‘Notwithstanding the pre- 2 ceding sentence, a small business investment com- 3 pany may be a State development company that 4 qualifies for assistance under title V if the develop- 5 ment company possesses the powers reasonably nec- 6 essary to perform the functions and activities con- 7 templated under this title.’’; and 8 (2) in subsection (c)(2)— 9 (A) in subparagraph (B)— 10 (i) by striking clause (i) and inserting 11 the following: 12 ‘‘(i) if the requirements of this section 13 are satisfied, approve the application and, 14 not later than 10 business days after the 15 date of that approval, issue a license for 16 such operation to the applicant; or’’; and 17 (ii) in clause (ii), by inserting ‘‘, 18 which shall include specific reasons for the 19 disapproval that are based on items in the 20 application’’ after ‘‘disapproval’’; and 21 (B) by adding at the end the following: 22 ‘‘(C) EFFECT OF DISAPPROVAL.—With re- 23 spect to an application that the Administrator 24 disapproves, the applicant may submit to the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 Jul 26, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2188.IS S2188 Pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 2188 IS Administrator a request for a written decision 1 regarding that disapproval. 2 ‘‘(D) APPEALS.—An applicant that sub- 3 mits an application with respect to which the 4 Administration denies may submit an appeal as 5 follows: 6 ‘‘(i) With respect to an application 7 that is denied by the Investment Com- 8 mittee of the Office of Investment and In- 9 novation of the Administration or the In- 10 vestment Division Licensing Committee of 11 the Administration— 12 ‘‘(I) not later than 30 days after 13 the date on which the applicable com- 14 mittee so denies the application, the 15 applicant may submit an appeal to the 16 Chair of the Agency Licensing Com- 17 mittee of the Administration (referred 18 to in this subparagraph as the 19 ‘Chair’); and 20 ‘‘(II) not later than 30 days after 21 the date on which the applicant sub- 22 mits an appeal under subclause (I), 23 the Chair shall— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 Jul 26, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2188.IS S2188 Pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 2188 IS ‘‘(aa) issue a ruling with re- 1 spect to the appeal; and 2 ‘‘(bb) notify the applicant 3 regarding the ruling of the Chair. 4 ‘‘(ii) With respect to an application 5 that the Chair denies in an appeal sub- 6 mitted under clause (i)— 7 ‘‘(I) not later than 30 days after 8 the date on which the Chair submits 9 the notification required under sub- 10 clause (II)(bb) of that clause, the ap- 11 plicant may submit to the Adminis- 12 trator an appeal of the ruling made by 13 the Chair; and 14 ‘‘(II) not later than 30 days after 15 the date on which the applicant sub- 16 mits an appeal under subclause (I), 17 the Administrator shall— 18 ‘‘(aa) issue a final ruling 19 with respect to the appeal; and 20 ‘‘(bb) notify the applicant 21 regarding the ruling of the Ad- 22 ministrator.’’. 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 Jul 26, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2188.IS S2188 Pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS