II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 84 

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 

JANUARY 10, 2019 

Mr. RUBIO (for himself, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. COONS, and Mr. JONES) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Small Business Credit 

5 Protection Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DATA BREACHES. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Small Business Act (15 

8 U.S.C. 631 et seq.) is amended— 


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•S 84 IS

1 (1) by redesignating section 49 (15 U.S.C. 631 

2 note) as section 50; and 

3 (2) by inserting after section 48 (15 U.S.C. 

4 657u) the following: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 49. DATA BREACHES. 

6 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘credit 

7 reporting company’— 

8 ‘‘(1) has the meaning given the term ‘consumer 

9 reporting agency’ in section 603 of the Fair Credit 

10 Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681a); and 

11 ‘‘(2) includes an entity that collects commercial 

12 credit data. 

13 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS FOR REPORTING BREACHES.— 

14 ‘‘(1) APPLICABLE STATE LAW.— 

15 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

16 paragraph (2), if nonpublic data of a small 

17 business concern that is collected or stored by 

18 a credit reporting company has been breached, 

19 the credit reporting company shall report the 

20 breach promptly and not later than as required 

21 under the law of the State in which the small 

22 business concern is located. 

23 ‘‘(B) LOCATIONS IN MULTIPLE STATES.— 

24 If a small business concern that is affected by 

25 a breach described in subparagraph (A) has loVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:33 Jan 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S84.IS S84

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1 cations in more than 1 State, for the purposes 

2 of that subparagraph, the law of the State that 

3 imposes the shortest period for the reporting of 

4 the breach shall apply. 

5 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.— 

6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If a small business 

7 concern that is affected by a breach described 

8 in paragraph (1)(A) is located in a State that 

9 does not have a law that imposes a set period 

10 for the reporting of the breach, the credit re11 porting company to which the requirement 

12 under that paragraph applies shall report the 

13 breach in the most expeditious manner prac14 ticable and without unreasonable delay. 

15 ‘‘(B) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION REGARDING

16 A LAW ENFORCEMENT REQUEST.—For the pur17 poses of subparagraph (A), a delay with respect 

18 to the reporting of a breach described in that 

19 subparagraph that is caused by a requirement 

20 to respond to a request submitted by a law en21 forcement agency shall be construed to be a 

22 reasonable delay. 

23 ‘‘(c) PROHIBITION.—During the 180-day period be24 ginning on the date on which a breach described in sub25 section (b)(1)(A) occurs, a credit reporting company may 


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1 not charge a small business concern that is affected by 

2 that breach for providing the small business concern with 

3 the credit report of the small business concern. 

4 ‘‘(d) NO PREEMPTION.—Nothing in this section shall 

5 preempt any State law with respect to credit reporting 

6 companies.’’. 

7 (b) GAO REPORT.— 

8 (1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 

9 (A) the term ‘‘credit reporting company’’— 

10 (i) has the meaning given the term 

11 ‘‘consumer reporting agency’’ in section 

12 603 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 

13 U.S.C. 1681a); and 

14 (ii) includes an entity that collects 

15 commercial credit data; and 

16 (B) the term ‘‘small business concern’’ has 

17 the meaning given the term in section 3(a) of 

18 the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632(a)). 

19 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the 

20 date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller Gen21 eral of the United States shall submit to Congress 

22 a report regarding the economic harm incurred by 

23 small business concerns as a result of data breaches 

24 at credit reporting companies. 

Æ 


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