59–010 

Calendar No. 108 

114TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! SENATE 2d Session 114–267 

THE COMMUNICATING LENDER ACTIVITY REPORTS FROM 

THE SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (CLEAR SBA) 

ACT OF 2015 

MAY 26, 2016.—Ordered to be printed 

Mr. VITTER, from the Committee on Small Business and 

Entrepreneurship, submitted the following 

R E P O R T 

[To accompany S. 967] 

The Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship to 

which was referred the bill (S. 967) to require the Small Business 

Administration to make information relating to lenders making 

covered loans publicly available, and for other purposes, having 

considered the same, reports favorably thereon with an amendment 

and recommends that the bill, as amended, do pass. 

I. INTRODUCTION 

The CLEAR SBA Act (S. 967) was introduced by the Committee’s 

Ranking Member, Senator Jeanne Shaheen, on April 15, 2015. Cosponsors include: Senators Cantwell, Fischer, Hirono and Peters. 

The CLEAR SBA Act requires the Small Business Administration (SBA) to establish a searchable online database, known as a 

‘‘Lender Activity Index,’’ to provide consumers with more transparent, user-friendly data about local SBA lenders. 

During the markup of the bill, the Fischer amendment to the bill 

was approved unanimously by voice vote. The Fischer amendment 

is identical to the Risch-Landrieu amendment that passed the 

Committee during the 113th Congress as part of S. 537. The Fischer amendment provides that the SBA may not increase the burden 

on lenders in order to comply with the Lender Activity Index provision in the underlying bill. The amendment also asserts that it is 

the sense of Congress that no additional funding will be made 

available to carry out this program. Operation costs of this program, according to the amendment text, should be paid from existVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:43 Jun 01, 2016 Jkt 059010 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6659 Sfmt 6602 E:\HR\OC\SR267.XXX SR267

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1 U.S. Small Business Administration FY2015 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2013 

Annual Performance Report, Pg. 35, the 7(a) Loan program approved 46,398 loans to small businesses for $17.9 billion. Pg. 36, the 504 Certified Development Loan program approved 7,708 

loans for a total of $5.2 billion. 2 U.S. Small Business Administration FY2016 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2014 Annual Performance Report, Pg. 37, the 7(a) Loan program approved 45,730 loans for $19.2 billion. Pg. 40, the 504 Certified Development Loan program approved 5,725 loans for a total of 

$4.2 billion. 3 U.S. Small Business Administration FY2016 Congressional Budget Justification and FY2014 

Annual Performance Report, Pg. 42. 

ing SBA funds. The bill, as amended, was also approved unanimously by voice vote. 

II. HISTORY (PURPOSE & NEED FOR LEGISLATION) 

The Small Business Administration (SBA) administers several 

loan programs to support small businesses, including its flagship 

7(a) and 504/Certified Development Company (504/CDC) loan guaranty programs. By guaranteeing a portion of each loan, the SBA 

encourages banks and other lenders to make loans to small businesses owners who otherwise may not qualify for traditional financing options. 

In the past two fiscal years alone (FY13 1 and FY14 2 ), SBA supported $46.5 billion in loans to approximately more than 105,000 

small businesses each year through its 7(a) and 504/CDC loan 

guaranty programs. As of the end of Fiscal Year 2014, there were 

more than 2,200 7(a) lenders 3 and 228 Certified Development Companies nationwide. While the SBA currently releases some information publicly about SBA lending partners and activity, it can be extremely difficult to find and comprehend for those who are not SBA 

lending professionals. 

The CLEAR SBA Act requires the SBA to create an online, 

searchable database on the agency’s website called the ‘‘Lender Activity Index,’’ which will provide consumers with more transparent, 

user-friendly data about their local SBA lenders. Potential borrowers will be able to see which banks in their area provide SBA 

loans, and with this information, approach those banks. The Committee believes that the Lender Activity Index is a common-sense 

proposal to increase transparency and accountability at the SBA, 

simplify the process of obtaining a loan, and ultimately put more 

capital in the hands of America’s small businesses. 

The CLEAR SBA Act has been considered several times since 

2012. 

During the 112th Congress, Senator Landrieu included a provision providing for a Lender Activity Index in Senate Amendment 

2521 (S. Amdt. 2521), which she filed to S. 2237, the Small Business Jobs and Tax Relief Act of 2012, on July 11, 2012. Division 

B of S. Amdt. 2521, entitled the Success Ultimately Comes from 

Capital, Contracting, Education, Strategic Partnerships, and Smart 

Regulations (SUCCESS) Act, included the language identical to the 

CLEAR SBA Act as a portion of Title II. Although it came up short 

of the 60 votes needed to end debate, the amendment received a 

strong 57 bipartisan votes, including five Republicans, when it received a vote on the Senate floor on July 12, 2012. Shortly thereafter, Chair Landrieu filed the SUCCESS Act as a standalone bill. 

On July 25, 2012, Chair Landrieu introduced S. 3442, the SUCCESS Act of 2012, with eight co-sponsors, including Committee 


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members Senator Cardin and Senator Shaheen, as well as Senators 

Blumenthal, Boxer, Gillibrand, Lieberman, Merkley and Whitehouse. Ultimately, however, none of the bills or amendments made 

it to the President’s desk during the 112th Congress. 

During the 113th Congress, the CLEAR SBA Act (S. 537) was introduced as a standalone bill by the Committee’s Chair, Senator 

Mary L. Landrieu, on March 12, 2013. The CLEAR SBA Act also 

required the Small Business Administration (SBA) to establish a 

searchable online database, known as a ‘‘Lender Activity Index.’’ 

During the markup of the bill, a Risch-Landrieu amendment to the 

bill was approved unanimously by voice vote. The Risch-Landrieu 

amendment provided that the SBA may not increase the burden on 

lenders in order to comply with the bill. The amendment also asserted that it was the sense of Congress that no additional funding 

would be made available to carry out this program. The bill, as 

amended, was also approved unanimously by voice vote with the 

following Senators present: Landrieu, Risch, Cantwell, Cardin, 

Cowan, Fischer, Hagan, Heitkamp, Johnson (WI), Levin, Pryor, 

Rubio, Scott and Shaheen. Ultimately, however, the bill did not 

make it to the President’s desk during the 113th Congress. 

III. HEARINGS & ROUNDTABLES 

In the 112th Congress: 

On November 29, 2012, the Committee held a hearing entitled, 

‘‘Creating Jobs and Growing the Economy: Legislative Proposals to 

Strengthen the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem.’’ The purpose of the 

hearing was to discuss the legislative proposals included in the 

‘‘Success Ultimately Comes from Capital, Contracting, Education, 

Strategic Partnerships, and Smart Regulation (SUCCESS) Act of 

2012’’ (S. 3442), which was the result of recommendations gathered 

during a series of three Committee roundtables examining the entrepreneurial ecosystem during the 112th Congress. Among the 

provisions that the Committee examined during the hearing was 

Section 231, which provided for the Lender Activity Index and 

would later comprise the CLEAR SBA Act of 2013. 

In the 113th Congress: 

On March 14, 2013, the Committee held a roundtable entitled, 

‘‘Helping Small Businesses Weather Economic Challenges & Natural Disasters: Review of Legislative Proposals on Access to Capital 

and Disaster Recovery.’’ The purpose of the roundtable was to discuss four legislative proposals on small business access to capital 

and disaster recovery on which the Committee would focus during 

the beginning of the 113th Congress, including the CLEAR SBA 

Act. Participants included a wide range of small business owners, 

investors, stakeholders and SBA representatives, including the Associate Administrator for the SBA’s Office of Capital Access. The 

roundtable followed up on previous Committee roundtables and legislative hearings held during the 112th Congress and provided an 

opportunity for Committee members to highlight their relevant priorities ahead of an upcoming markup on access to capital and disaster recovery legislation. 


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IV. DESCRIPTION OF BILL 

S. 967 requires the SBA to post a user-friendly Lender Activity 

Index on the SBA website. Users will be able to access the following data for any given bank: name of bank or Certified Development Company (CDC), number of SBA loans each lender made, 

total dollar amount of SBA loans of each bank or CDC, zip code of 

lender activity (zip code of borrower), industries lent to (hospitality, 

manufacturing, service, software, etc.), stage of business cycle (new 

or existing business) and other business specific information (i.e. 

Women-Owned Businesses, Minority-Owned Businesses, or Veteran-Owned Businesses). The Committee intends for the data to be 

available for the year to date and for users to be able to compare 

data to 3 previous fiscal years. The Committee also intends for 

quarterly and annual data to be included. 

The Fischer substitute amendment to S. 967 stipulates that in 

creating the Lender Activity Index, the SBA cannot require additional paperwork from lenders or otherwise increase the burden on 

them in any way. Furthermore, the SBA is expected to use existing 

funds to create the database. Thus, the Lender Activity Index 

comes at no cost to taxpayers. 

V. COMMITTEE VOTE 

In compliance with rule XXVI (7)(b) of the Standing Rules of the 

Senate, the following vote was recorded on April 23, 2015. 

A motion to adopt the Communicating Lender Activity Reports 

from the Small Business Administration (CLEAR) Act, a bill to require the Small Business Administration to make information related to lenders making covered loans publicly available, as amended by the Fischer substitute amendment, was agreed to by voice 

vote as part of a manager’s package that included seven additional 

bills. The following Senators were present: Vitter, Risch, Fischer, 

Gardner, Ernst, Ayotte, Enzi, Shaheen, Cantwell, Cardin, 

Heitkamp, Booker, Coons, Hirono, and Peters. 

VI. COST ESTIMATE 

In compliance with rule XXVI(11)(a)(1) of the Standing Rules of 

the Senate, the Committee estimates the cost of the legislation will 

be equal to the amounts discussed in the following letter from the 

Congressional Budget Office: 

MAY 14, 2015. 

Hon. DAVID VITTER, 

Chairman, Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, 

U.S. Senate, Washington, DC. 

DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: The Congressional Budget Office has prepared the enclosed cost estimate for S. 967, the Communicating 

Lending Activity Reports from the Small Business Administration 

Act. 

If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be pleased 

to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Susan Willie. 

Sincerely, 

KEITH HALL. 

Enclosure. 


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S. 967—Communicating lending activity reports from the Small 

Business Administration Act 

As ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Small Business 

and Entrepreneurship on April 23, 2015. 

S. 967 would require the Small Business Administration (SBA) 

to develop a database that tracks information about lenders that 

participate in the agency’s loan guarantee programs and the loans 

they have made under those programs (which are termed covered 

loans in the bill). The database would contain information, such as 

the name of the lender, the number and total dollar amount of covered loans made by the lender, whether the loans are made for existing or new businesses, and the SBA program that provided the 

guarantee for the loans. The SBA would be required to collect this 

information for fiscal years 2009 through 2015 and to make it 

available on the agency’s website. 

Based on information from the SBA, CBO expects that lender 

data already collected by the agency would be sufficient to meet the 

bill’s requirements to collect information and that the cost to 

present that information on the agency’s website would be insignificant. Therefore, CBO estimates that implementing S. 967 would 

have no significant effect on spending subject to appropriation. Enacting S. 967 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. 

S. 967 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates 

as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would not 

affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments. 

The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Susan Willie. The estimate was approved by Theresa Gullo, Assistant Director for Budget 

Analysis. 

VII. EVALUATION OF REGULATORY IMPACT 

In compliance with rule XXVI(11)(b) of the Standing Rules of the 

Senate, it is the opinion of the Committee that no significant additional regulatory impact will be incurred in carrying out the provisions of this legislation. There will be no additional impact on the 

personal privacy of companies or individuals who utilize the services provided. 

VIII. SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS 

Section 1. Title 

This section provides the title of the bill. This Act may be cited 

as the ‘‘Communicating Lender Activity Reports from the Small 

Business Administration Act’’ or the ‘‘CLEAR SBA Act.’’ 

Section 2. SBA Lender Activity Index 

The Small Business Act is amended to create an SBA website 

database of information on lenders making loans covered under the 

Small Business Act or Small Business Investment Act of 1958. The 

Administrator has 6 months from enactment to create the Lender 

Activity Index. 

It must include: (i) name of the lender, (ii) number of covered 

loans made by the lender, (iii) total dollar amount of the covered 

loans, (iv) the ZIP code of each loan recipient, (v) the industries of 


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the loan recipients, (vi) whether the covered loan is for an existing 

business or a new business, (vii) number and total dollar amount 

of covered loans to women-owned, minority-owned, or veteranowned businesses and (vii) whether the covered loan was made 

under the 7(a) or 504 loan programs. Data will initially cover fiscal 

years 2009–2015. 

The section, as amended, also specifies that no additional paperwork burdens may be put on lenders in order to comply with the 

Lender Activity Index provision and states that the SBA is expected to use existing funds to create the database. 

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