NCBA CLUSA and 90 partner organizations sent a letter today to the Senate and House of Representatives Committees on Small Business requesting a hearing on the Small Business Administration’s implementation of the Main Street Employee Ownership Act. Support for this request came from organizations across 26 states and the District of Columbia.
View the Letter and Signatories
As required by the bipartisan Main Street Employee Ownership Act, the SBA submitted a report to Congress. The report was intended to provide alternatives to SBA’s personal guarantee requirement for cooperative lending. Unfortunately, the report fell short, not only rejecting alternatives proposed by co-op stakeholders, but also not including any ideas of its own as alternatives.
Therefore, a broad coalition of organizations is calling on Congress to hold a hearing on SBA’s report on cooperative lending and work toward fully implementing the Main Street Employee Ownership Act as Congress intended.
In the letter, the coalition asks for equal access to SBA financing. “For decades, the cooperative industry has asked SBA to level the playing field for cooperative businesses… We ask that your committee assert itself and make this a priority to resolve.”
NCBA CLUSA would like to express a sincere thanks to the cooperatives and partner organizations that quickly mobilized to sign on to the letter.
We encourage individuals and organizations to continue to amplify this issue by sharing with your various networks and membership associations and writing or calling your Members of Congress.
NCBA CLUSA sent the physical letter to Congress on September 3, 2019, but your organization can still be added as a signatory of the web version of the letter and any future outreach to lawmakers on this issue. Email Kate LaTour at klatour@ncba.coop to add your signature!