Description:
H.R. 2345 would require the Small Business Administration (SBA) to issue a final rule implementing the Small Business Runway Extension Act of 2018 (Public Law 115-324) by December 17, 2019. The bill also would require the SBA to implement a transition plan to assist small businesses and federal agencies in complying with that law. Because the SBA is already undertaking those activities, CBO estimates that those provisions would have no budgetary effect. H.R. 2345 also would require federal agencies to use five years of data, instead of three, when determining whether a businesses can be classified as small based on the number of employees, asset size, or, in the case of oil refineries, its refining capacity. Finally, among other provisions, the General Services Administration would need to update the federal System for Award Management to reflect the new classification standards. Implementing those provisions of H.R. 2345 could affect the number of businesses eligible for certain SBA assistance programs or loan programs and thus raise or lower both the number of participants in those programs and the SBA’s administrative costs. However, CBO has no basis for estimating the number of entities that either would newly qualify or would no longer qualify as small businesses under H.R. 2345 for such programs nor whether the costs of making loans or loan guarantees to those entities would be higher or lower. Using information from the SBA on the costs of similar activities, CBO estimates that updating the rules to reflect the revised reporting period would cost less than $500,000; such spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.
