II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1975 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 26, 2019 

Mr. RISCH (for himself, Mr. CRAPO, Mrs. CAPITO, Mr. YOUNG, Ms. 

DUCKWORTH, Mr. BOOKER, and Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship 

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— 


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1 (1) in paragraph (2)— 

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

3 as follows: 

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

5 provide an applicant with a written report de6 tailing the status of the application and any re7 quirements remaining for completion of the ap8 plication, including any external or internal 

9 delays— 

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

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

12 initial receipt by the Administrator of the 

13 application; 

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

15 initial receipt, if the application is sub16 mitted by a repeat applicant or a non-le17 veraged, non-bank applicant; or 

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

19 initial receipt, if the application is sub20 mitted by a bank-owned applicant.’’; 

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

22 preceding clause (i), by striking ‘‘Within a rea23 sonable time after receiving’’ and inserting ‘‘Ex24 cept as provided in subparagraph (C), not later 


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1 than 240 days after the date on which the Ad2 ministrator receives’’; and 

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

4 ‘‘(C) EXCEPTIONS.— 

5 ‘‘(i) REPEAT APPLICANTS; NON-LE6 VERAGED, NON-BANK APPLICANT.—Not7 withstanding subparagraph (B), not later 

8 than 90 days after the date on which the 

9 Administrator receives a completed appli10 cation submitted by a repeat applicant or 

11 a non-leveraged, non-bank applicant in ac12 cordance with this subsection and in ac13 cordance with such requirements as the 

14 Administrator may prescribe by regulation, 

15 the Administrator shall— 

16 ‘‘(I) review the application in its 

17 entirety; and 

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

19 and issue a license for such operation 

20 to the applicant if the requirements of 

21 this section are satisfied; or 

22 ‘‘(bb) disapprove the application 

23 and notify the applicant in writing of 

24 the disapproval. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) BANK-OWNED APPLICANTS.— 

2 Notwithstanding subparagraph (B), not 

3 later than 45 days after the date on which 

4 the Administrator receives a completed ap5 plication submitted by a bank-owned appli6 cant in accordance with this subsection 

7 and in accordance with such requirements 

8 as the Administrator may prescribe by reg9 ulation, the Administrator shall— 

10 ‘‘(I) review the application in its 

11 entirety; and 

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

13 and issue a license for such operation 

14 to the applicant if the requirements of 

15 this section are satisfied; or 

16 ‘‘(bb) disapprove the application 

17 and notify the applicant in writing of 

18 the disapproval.’’; 

19 (2) in paragraph (3)— 

20 (A) in subparagraph (A)— 

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

22 the end; 

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

24 the end; and 


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1 (iii) by adding at the end the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(iii) the management of the appli4 cant has successfully passed Federal Bu5 reau of Investigation background checks 

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

7 (B) in subparagraph (B)— 

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

9 the end; 

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

11 the end; and 

12 (iii) by adding at the end the fol13 lowing: 

14 ‘‘(iv) the public interest of approving 

15 or disapproving the applicant.’’; 

16 (3) in paragraph (4)(A)— 

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

18 end; 

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

20 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

22 ‘‘(iv) has successfully passed a Fed23 eral Bureau of Investigation background 

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

25 and 


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

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

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

4 means an applicant for a license to operate as 

5 a small business investment company under this 

6 Act that— 

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

8 bank of the Federal Reserve System or 

9 nonmember insured bank; 

10 ‘‘(ii) bears the same name as the fu11 ture small business investment company; 

12 ‘‘(iii) is domestically domiciled; and 

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

14 Act revoked or involuntarily surrendered 

15 during the 10-year period preceding the 

16 date on which the application is submitted; 

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

18 applicant’ means an applicant for a license to 

19 operate as a small business investment company 

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

21 when operational, poses no risk to the Federal 

22 Government; and 

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

24 applicant for a license to operate as a small 


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1 business investment company under this Act 

2 that— 

3 ‘‘(i) has previously applied for and 

4 been issued such a license; 

5 ‘‘(ii) has 50 percent of the same man6 agement team with the 50 percent of the 

7 same investment committee as when the 

8 applicant operated as a small business in9 vestment company; 

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

11 ratio leverage as when the applicant oper12 ated as a small business investment com13 pany; 

14 ‘‘(iv) has substantially the same in15 vestment strategy as when the applicant 

16 operated as a small business investment 

17 company; 

18 ‘‘(v) is not more than 50 percent larg19 er than when the applicant operated as a 

20 small business investment company; 

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

22 institutional limited partnerships returning 

23 from the prior fund to invest in the new 

24 small business investment company; and 


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

2 on examinations of the prior fund.’’. 

Æ 


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