Senator Hassan Introduces Bill to Strengthen Support for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses

WASHINGTON – Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) introduced a bill today to help entrepreneurs who are struggling to access capital by connecting them with local business development resources that can help entrepreneurs strengthen their loan applications.

“Getting a loan is often the key step in enabling a new local business to take off and thrive, but when their loan applications are unsuccessful, potential entrepreneurs might not have the tools to revamp their applications and re-apply successfully,” said Senator Hassan. “This bill will encourage banks to expand partnerships with community business development organizations and direct these borrowers to local resources that can help them ultimately access the capital they need to build a business. I encourage my colleagues in the Senate to support this commonsense bill to help boost entrepreneurship.” 

Congress previously passed into law the Community Reinvestment Act, which incentivizes banks to provide loans and services in their communities. Senator Hassan’s Strengthening Community Business Development Act would leverage these community reinvestment incentives to encourage banks to refer unsuccessful business loan applications to community business development organizations, where entrepreneurs can benefit from credit improvement programs, business counseling and mentoring, and business development courses.

­This bill is part of Senator Hassan’s ongoing efforts to ensure that small businesses have the support that they need. She successfully worked with Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) to include bipartisan legislation in the funding bill that passed into law in 2020 to allow eligible small employers to participate in the Paycheck Protection Program and claim the Employee Retention Tax Credit. Additionally, thanks to efforts by Senator Hassan, the American Rescue Plan provided payroll assistance through the Employee Retention Tax Credit to new small businesses started during the pandemic, which at the time could not access this tax relief. The American Rescue Plan also expanded the Employee Retention Tax Credit in order to further support businesses hardest hit by the pandemic following bipartisan calls led by Senator Hassan.

The National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) supports this legislation.

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