Sponsors (9)
Official title: Establish a domestic ownership investment facility, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 7, 2025 by Christopher Van Hollen · Last progress May 7, 2025
The bill expands federal‑backed financing and support for employee ownership and small‑business investment while imposing stricter oversight and governance—trading broader access to capital and investor/worker protections for increased taxpayer exposure, compliance costs, and concentrated agency authority.
Small businesses and local firms gain materially increased access to capital through licensed ownership investment companies, government-backed debentures/guarantees, pooled securities, and a new annual $5 billion facility to finance ownership transitions and growth.
Federal oversight, reporting, audits, and public-disclosure rules increase transparency and detection of fraud or unsafe practices across the program (annual reports, audited financials, valuation criteria, exam/subpoena powers, and public disclosures).
New capital‑ and risk‑management requirements (minimum private capital, capital adequacy and debt‑service assessments, concentration caps, and leverage/eligibility limits) aim to strengthen financial stability and reduce single‑borrower losses that could threaten investors or the program.
Taxpayers face substantial contingent fiscal exposure because guarantees and debenture programs are backed by the U.S. full faith and credit and the statute authorizes multi‑billion dollar leverage facilities.
New licensing, reporting, audit, valuation, conflict‑of‑interest, trustee and fairness‑opinion requirements, plus minimum capital floors, create significant compliance costs and higher entry barriers that disproportionately burden smaller firms and could reduce competition.
Concentrating broad authorities in the Secretary (rulemaking, appointment as receiver, waiver and enforcement discretion, immediate suspensions) raises risks of administrative overreach, politicized decisions, and limited practical checks on agency action.
Based on analysis of 23 sections of legislative text.
Creates licensed ownership investment companies with federal guarantees for debt to finance sales to ESOPs and worker cooperatives, with strict licensing, reporting, and enforcement rules.
Creates a federal charter, oversight regime, and government-guarantee program for new "ownership investment companies" (OICs) that would lend to and invest in businesses sold to employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) and eligible worker-owned cooperatives. The bill authorizes the Secretary to guarantee debentures and trust certificates, sets licensing, capitalization, valuation, conflict‑of‑interest, reporting, examination, enforcement, and leverage limits, and establishes compliance, removal, and civil‑enforcement tools for the Department administering the program.