I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4944 

To require the Small Business Administration to issue licenses under the 

Small Business Investment Act of 1958 within particular time frames, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 31, 2019 

Mr. BURCHETT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Small Business 

A BILL 

To require the Small Business Administration to issue licenses under the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 

within particular time frames, 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 Invest5 ment Improvement Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. TIMELINES FOR ISSUANCE OF SBIC LICENSES. 

7 Section 301(c) of the Small Business Investment Act 

8 of 1958 (15 U.S.C. 681(c)) is amended— 

9 (1) in paragraph (2)— 


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1 (A) by amending subparagraph (A) to read 

2 as follows: 

3 ‘‘(A) STATUS.—The Administrator shall 

4 provide an applicant with a written report de5 tailing the status of the application and any re6 quirements remaining for completion of the ap7 plication, including any external or internal 

8 delays— 

9 ‘‘(i) except as provided in clauses (ii) 

10 and (iii), not later than 120 days after the 

11 initial receipt by the Administrator of the 

12 application; 

13 ‘‘(ii) not later than 45 days after the 

14 initial receipt, if the application is sub15 mitted by a repeat applicant or a non-le16 veraged, non-bank applicant; or 

17 ‘‘(iii) not later than 25 days after the 

18 initial receipt, if the application is sub19 mitted by a bank-owned applicant.’’; 

20 (B) in subparagraph (B), in the matter 

21 preceding clause (i), by striking ‘‘Within a rea22 sonable time after receiving’’ and inserting ‘‘Ex23 cept as provided in subparagraph (C), not later 

24 than 240 days after the date on which the Ad25 ministrator receives’’; and 


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1 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

2 ‘‘(C) EXCEPTIONS.— 

3 ‘‘(i) REPEAT APPLICANTS; NON-LE4 VERAGED, NON-BANK APPLICANT.—Not5 withstanding subparagraph (B), not later 

6 than 90 days after the date on which the 

7 Administrator receives a completed appli8 cation submitted by a repeat applicant or 

9 a non-leveraged, non-bank applicant in ac10 cordance with this subsection and in ac11 cordance with such requirements as the 

12 Administrator may prescribe by regulation, 

13 the Administrator shall— 

14 ‘‘(I) review the application in its 

15 entirety; and 

16 ‘‘(II)(aa) approve the application 

17 and issue a license for such operation 

18 to the applicant if the requirements of 

19 this section are satisfied; or 

20 ‘‘(bb) disapprove the application 

21 and notify the applicant in writing of 

22 the disapproval. 

23 ‘‘(ii) BANK-OWNED APPLICANTS.— 

24 Notwithstanding subparagraph (B), not 

25 later than 45 days after the date on which 


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1 the Administrator receives a completed ap2 plication submitted by a bank-owned appli3 cant in accordance with this subsection 

4 and in accordance with such requirements 

5 as the Administrator may prescribe by reg6 ulation, the Administrator shall— 

7 ‘‘(I) review the application in its 

8 entirety; and 

9 ‘‘(II)(aa) approve the application 

10 and issue a license for such operation 

11 to the applicant if the requirements of 

12 this section are satisfied; or 

13 ‘‘(bb) disapprove the application 

14 and notify the applicant in writing of 

15 the disapproval.’’; 

16 (2) in paragraph (3)— 

17 (A) in subparagraph (A)— 

18 (i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

19 the end; 

20 (ii) in clause (ii), by adding ‘‘and’’ at 

21 the end; and 

22 (iii) by adding at the end the fol23 lowing: 

24 ‘‘(iii) the management of the appli25 cant has successfully passed Federal BuVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 Nov 08, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4944.IH H4944

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1 reau of Investigation background checks 

2 within the preceding 1-year period;’’; and 

3 (B) in subparagraph (B)— 

4 (i) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

5 the end; 

6 (ii) in clause (iii), by adding ‘‘and’’ at 

7 the end; and 

8 (iii) by adding at the end the fol9 lowing: 

10 ‘‘(iv) the public interest of approving 

11 or disapproving the applicant.’’; 

12 (3) in paragraph (4)(A)— 

13 (A) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

14 end; 

15 (B) in clause (iii), by striking the period at 

16 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

17 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘(iv) has successfully passed a Fed19 eral Bureau of Investigation background 

20 check within the preceding 1-year period.’’; 

21 and 

22 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

23 ‘‘(5) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 

24 ‘‘(A) the term ‘bank-owned applicant’ 

25 means an applicant for a license to operate as 


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1 a small business investment company under this 

2 Act that— 

3 ‘‘(i) is a national bank or any member 

4 bank of the Federal Reserve System or 

5 nonmember insured bank; 

6 ‘‘(ii) bears the same name as the fu7 ture small business investment company; 

8 ‘‘(iii) is domestically domiciled; and 

9 ‘‘(iv) has not had a license under this 

10 Act revoked or involuntarily surrendered 

11 during the 10-year period preceding the 

12 date on which the application is submitted; 

13 ‘‘(B) the term ‘non-leveraged, non-bank 

14 applicant’ means an applicant for a license to 

15 operate as a small business investment company 

16 under this Act that is not bank-owned and that, 

17 when operational, poses no risk to the Federal 

18 Government; and 

19 ‘‘(C) the term ‘repeat applicant’ means an 

20 applicant for a license to operate as a small 

21 business investment company under this Act 

22 that— 

23 ‘‘(i) has previously applied for and 

24 been issued such a license; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) has 50 percent of the same man2 agement team with the 50 percent of the 

3 same investment committee as when the 

4 applicant operated as a small business in5 vestment company; 

6 ‘‘(iii) is applying for the same or less 

7 ratio leverage as when the applicant oper8 ated as a small business investment com9 pany; 

10 ‘‘(iv) has substantially the same in11 vestment strategy as when the applicant 

12 operated as a small business investment 

13 company; 

14 ‘‘(v) is not more than 50 percent larg15 er than when the applicant operated as a 

16 small business investment company; 

17 ‘‘(vi) has not less than 50 percent of 

18 institutional limited partnerships returning 

19 from the prior fund to invest in the new 

20 small business investment company; and 

21 ‘‘(vii) has not had any major findings 

22 on examinations of the prior fund.’’. 

Æ 


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