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Legislative & Regulatory Updates

Senator Olympia J. Snowe [R-ME],
Chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on
Small Business & Entrepreneurship

Senator Olympia Snowe Congratulates NASBIC for Efforts on Behalf of America's Small Businesses
October 27, 2003
"Small Business Investment Companies are a crucial part of our economy, and they have consistently made a tremendous contribution to our country. I am particularly pleased that, as other sources of venture capital have become more scarce over the last few years, SBICs have continued to assist small businesses to start and grow."

Robert Finkel, President of Prism Capital, Chicago, testifies at House Small Business Committee hearing on reauthorization of SBA programs
March 20, 2003
"We believe the changes we have suggested will make the program stronger still and even more effective in supporting U.S. small businesses in the future, particularly small U.S. manufacturing businesses."

NASBIC President Lee Mercer testifies at House Small Business Committee hearing on the Administration's FY 2004 SBIC program budget proposal
February 26, 2002
"The program is in a strong position to weather the current economic cycle over time while continuing as an important source of capital for starting and expanding U.S. small businesses."

NASBIC President Lee Mercer testifies at House Small Business subcommittees' hearing on access to capital by small businesses
June 26, 2001
"One answer to the question of what Congress might do to increase the availability of capital is the SBIC program. At no increased cost to taxpayers, Congress could pass two pieces of legislation this year that would make substantially more capital available to worthy small businesses in the individual amounts of concern here today."

NASBIC President Lee Mercer testifies at House Small Business Committee hearing on the Administration's proposed FY2002 budget for SBA
May 16, 2001
"We appreciate the fact that estimating possible SBIC program losses is an inexact science, but the magnitude of the "over-estimation" appears to be so large as to raise serious questions in our minds as to the basis for current subsidy rates, particularly that for the Participating Security program."

NASBIC President Lee Mercer testifies at Senate Small Business Committee hearing on SBA's Funding Priorities for FY 2002
May 1, 2001
"Increasing the amount of FY 2002 leverage available to Participating Security SBICs is critical to the SBIC program and small businesses relying on SBICs for equity financing…Failure to make the total of $3.5 billion available would have a negative impact on the program. Private investors and private management teams, the foundation of the SBIC program, would necessarily begin to question whether the government was pulling back from its commitment to the growth of the program."

NASBIC President Lee Mercer addresses House Banking Subcommittee on proposed merchant banking capital requirement
June 7, 2000
"Any regulation with the potential to impart a significant negative blow to the SBIC program as an important source of capital for U.S. business, job, and technology growth should not be imposed without a significant factual base to support it. That factual base has not been established in the proposed regulation."

NASBIC files response to proposed Fed regulation on bank capital requirements for investing in SBICs
May 22, 2000
"We believe the bank investments in SBICs should be exempt from the requirements of the proposed regulation. . . . The proposed regulation will have substantial adverse consequences to their current and future ability to raise funds for investment in the thousands of U.S. small businesses that rely each year on SBICs for critical venture capital in the $250,000 to $4 million range."

Additional correspondence on the proposed regulation:

From the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the Senate and House Committees on Small Business

From the Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)

Lee Mercer addresses House Small Business Committee on SBIC Program
March 1, 2000
NASBIC President Lee Mercer makes a statement before House Small Business Committee in support of FY 2001 SBIC budget. Suggests new three-year authorization levels. Urges consideration of proposals to bring program rules into balance with current operating norms in venture capital investing, reduce overhead time and expense at SBA, and make permanent the authority of SBA to reduce fees paid by SBICs when subsidy rates fall below zero.