March 3, 2021
The Honorable Tami Perriello
Administrator (Acting)
Small Business Administration
409 3rd St., SW
Washington, DC 20416
The Honorable Isabel Guzman
Administrator-Designate
Small Business Administration
409 3rd St., SW
Washington, DC 20416
Re: Expanding the Mission, Authority and Resources of the SBA
Dear Acting Administrator Perriello and Administrator-Designate Guzman,
First, thank you for your fast support of changes to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) application to allow the use “gross income” to qualify for higher PPP loans. This change, requested by 100 business organizations, will enable more sole proprietors, independent contractors, and self-employed individuals to benefit. Providing this financial assistance to these microbusinesses, especially business owners of color, will be a significant help to these businesses and local economies during the pandemic.
Today, I write to inform you about an even larger crisis facing the nation’s entrepreneurs and small businesses and the national campaign that has been launched to address the problem.
Even before the COVID pandemic there was bipartisan recognition that the country is at a four-decade low in new business startups—a slow moving economic disaster that has developed during good and bad economic times.
The COVID pandemic has made the problem worse. While requests for Employer Identification Numbers at the federal level have increased dramatically in 2020, this did not translate into new business startups at the local level. A survey in South Carolina found that requests for new business licenses from local units of government were down 31% in 2020 from the same months in 2019.
We have launched a national campaign calling for the SBA to be given an expanded mission, more authority and an increase in resources to enable it to be the singular leader in pursuing the recommendations we and other business organizations are proposing.
The campaign, Reform the SBA, is not a criticism of the Small Business Administration.
It is a recognition that simply doing more of the same will not move our nation along fast enough, or possibly not at all, to correct this small business startup crisis.
This national campaign is derived primarily from insightful and tangible reform recommendations of business leaders and groups, entrepreneurs, lenders, and elected leaders.
Our nation’s aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners—particularly minorities and women in underserved communities—need strong, singular national leadership to break down barriers to starting and growing small businesses.
Through this campaign we hope to focus Washington’s attention on the issue. The business organizations identified on the Reform the SBA website, with more to come, support one or more of the recommended changes desperately needed.
I would welcome the opportunity to speak with both of you about this campaign at the appropriate time.
Please let me know if you have any questions and which SBA staff should be included on communications.
Thank you in advance for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Frank Knapp Jr.
President & CEO
cc: David Levine, Evelyn Lugo, Marilyn Hemingway, Tanya Rodriguez-Hodges, Vicki Lee Parker-High, Arthur Plews, Scott Harriford