Sponsors (6)
The bill expands and concentrates SBA partner support and public outreach to help small businesses recover faster after declared disasters, at the trade-off of modest added costs, potential service shortfalls in non-disaster areas, and some privacy risk if safeguards aren't tight.
Small-business owners in declared disaster areas can get additional, timely recovery counseling and assistance from SBA resource partners even if those partners are outside their normal service areas, and partners are explicitly allowed on Administrator-designated disaster sites to deliver services on the ground.
Small-business owners will have improved awareness of loan and recovery options because resource partners can access and share SBA disaster-application materials and partner website links with the public.
Coordination requirements aim to preserve continuity of counseling and minimize service gaps when resource partners shift personnel to help disaster areas, reducing interruptions to recovery support.
Resource partners diverting staff to out-of-area disaster response may reduce services in their normal service areas, leaving other small businesses and local governments underserved.
Taxpayers or the SBA budget could face added costs if resource partners expand services or the SBA extends assistance beyond two years.
Sharing applicant-contact and outreach materials with partners could raise privacy and information-control concerns for small-business applicants if data-sharing safeguards are not strong.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Permits SBA resource partners to assist small businesses outside their normal service area after disasters, requires information-sharing and adds partners to SBA disaster planning.
Official title: Amend the Small Business Disaster Response and Loan Improvements Act of 2008 to require the Small Business Administration to coordinate with resource partners with respect to disaster planning activities, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 8, 2025 by James Risch · Last progress May 8, 2025
Allows the Small Business Administration (SBA) to authorize its resource partners (like Small Business Development Centers, SCORE, and other SBA partners) to provide disaster recovery advice and assistance to small businesses outside their usual service area when those businesses are in federally declared disaster loan-eligible areas, subject to coordination with local partners and time limits. It also requires the SBA to share more information (including partner website links) with disaster applicants and resource partners and to include resource partners explicitly in the agency’s disaster planning and coordination provisions.