Strengthening Community Business Development Act

To amend the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 to provide financial institutions with credit for providing community business development referrals or resources, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Strengthening Community Business Development Act 2. CRA credit for providing community business development referrals or resources Section 804 of the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 ( 12 U.S.C. 2903 (e) Referrals to community business development organizations (1) Definition In this subsection, the term community business development organization (A) means an organization that provides low- and moderate-income borrowers with business development resources, including— (i) credit improvement programs; (ii) business counseling and mentoring; (iii) financial literacy programs; and (iv) business development courses; and (B) includes— (i) a district office of the Small Business Administration; (ii) a small business development center described in section 21 of the Small Business Act ( 15 U.S.C. 648 (iii) a women's business center described in section 29 of the Small Business Act ( 15 U.S.C. 649 (iv) an entrepreneurial center that offers business development resources, including— (I) workshops, training, educational programs, and other business development services; and (II) mentorship and business counseling services; (v) the Service Corps of Retired Executives authorized under section 8(b)(1)(B) of the Small Business Act ( 15 U.S.C. 637(b)(1)(B) (vi) a Veteran Business Outreach Center described in section 32 of the Small Business Act ( 15 U.S.C. 657b (2) Requirement In assessing and taking into account, under subsection (a), the record of a financial institution, the appropriate Federal financial supervisory agency may consider, as a factor, efforts of the financial institution to— (A) refer low- and moderate-income borrowers to whom they have denied business loans to community business development organizations; or (B) directly provide low- and moderate-income borrowers with business development resources. (3) Guidance (A) In general Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of this subsection, the appropriate Federal financial supervisory agencies shall issue guidance to carry out this subsection. (B) Consideration of small financial institutions In issuing the guidance required under subparagraph (A), the appropriate Federal financial supervisory agencies shall consider ways for small financial institutions to receive credit for referrals and resources provided under paragraph (2). (C) Additional guidance The Secretary of the Treasury shall issue guidance for financial institutions on the process of referring a borrower to a community business development organization in a manner that responds to community needs. .

Summary: Strengthening Community Business Development Act This bill expands the factors allowed to be considered by a supervising agency when evaluating a financial institution's compliance with community reinvestment standards. Specifically, the bill allows a supervising agency to consider the efforts of a financial institution that deny business loans to low- and moderate-income borrowers to refer these borrowers to community business development organizations or to provide these borrowers directly with business development resources.