Senate panel approves disaster loan reforms

[beachmom]

http://buffalo.bizjournals.com/extraedge/washingtonbureau/archive/2007/04/09/bureau2.html?market=buffalo

A Senate committee approved major changes to the Small Business Administration's disaster loan program.

The legislation allows banks to make SBA disaster loans after a large-scale disaster and directs the SBA to offer short-term loans to small businesses while they're waiting for disaster loans or other long-term assistance.

These provisions are similar to legislation passed earlier by the House Small Business Committee.

"Allowing the private sector to get involved in making disaster loans will expedite the process of getting capital to businesses when they need it -- in the days immediately following a disaster," says Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who chairs the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee.

Gulf Coast businesses and residents criticized the SBA for responding too slowly to Hurricane Katrina. The agency now has disbursed more than $5.3 billion in low-interest disaster loans to around 117,000 homeowners and businesses damaged in 2005 by hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma.

"While the current administrator has done an admirable job cleaning up the mess left by his predecessor, we believe that he requires additional tools to effectively respond in the event of another large-scale disaster," Kerry says.


(more at the link)

[wisteria]

1. Good news. Thanks. n/t