House Small Business Committee advances seven bills to boost SBA lending, AI training and red-tape hotline

WASHINGTON — The House Committee on Small Business on March 10 voted to report seven bipartisan measures to the full House, advancing legislation aimed at expanding access to capital, directing federal support for small-business adoption of artificial intelligence, strengthening outreach for employee ownership, and codifying an SBA hot line for regulatory complaints.

Chairman Williams opened the markup saying, "Today, we will mark up 7 important bills that support small business across the country," and framed the package as bipartisan steps to "equip entrepreneurs with the tools they need to innovate, grow, and compete." Ranking Member Nydia Velasquez said she planned "to lend my support to the 6 bipartisan bills under consideration, and I will lay out my concerns with the last bill."

The committee approved the Main Street Parity Act (H.R. 5763), a bill the sponsors said would lower the extra equity requirement for SBA 504 loans on "special purpose" properties — examples cited included bowling alleys, car washes and marinas — from 15% to 10% so those borrowers face the same down-payment rules as other small businesses. "The Main Street Parity Act lowers the equity requirement for these borrowers to the same 10% required for everyone else," Representative Simone said in support of the bill. The measure was agreed to in committee…