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Us Congress Senate Bill SB273

Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB273 Compare Versions

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11 II
2-Calendar No. 9
32 119THCONGRESS
43 1
54 STSESSION S. 273
65 To allow nonprofit child care providers to participate in certain loan programs
76 of the Small Business Administration, and for other purposes.
87 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
98 JANUARY28, 2025
109 Ms. R
1110 OSEN(for herself, Ms. ERNST, Mr. RISCH, and Mr. WARNER) intro-
1211 duced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com-
1312 mittee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
14-F
15-EBRUARY10, 2025
16-Reported by Ms. E
17-RNST, with an amendment
18-[Omit the part struck through and insert the part printed in italic]
1913 A BILL
2014 To allow nonprofit child care providers to participate in
2115 certain loan programs of the Small Business Administra-
2216 tion, and for other purposes.
2317 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
2418 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
2519 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
2620 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Small Business Child 4
2721 Care Investment Act’’. 5
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3125 SEC. 2. SMALL BUSINESS LOANS FOR NONPROFIT CHILD 1
3226 CARE PROVIDERS. 2
3327 (a) B
3428 USINESSLOANPROGRAM.—Section 3(a) of the 3
3529 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632(a)) is amended by 4
3630 adding at the end the following: 5
3731 ‘‘(10) N
3832 ONPROFIT CHILD CARE PROVIDERS .— 6
3933 ‘‘(A) D
4034 EFINITION.—In this paragraph, the 7
4135 term ‘covered nonprofit child care provider’ 8
4236 means an organization— 9
4337 ‘‘(i) that— 10
4438 ‘‘(I) is in compliance with licens-11
4539 ing requirements for child care pro-12
4640 viders of the State in which the orga-13
4741 nization is located; 14
4842 ‘‘(II) is described in section 15
4943 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue 16
5044 Code of 1986 and exempt from tax 17
5145 under section 501(a) of such Code; 18
5246 ‘‘(III) is primarily engaged in 19
5347 providing child care for children from 20
5448 birth to compulsory school age; and 21
5549 ‘‘(IV) is in compliance with the 22
5650 size standards established under this 23
5751 subsection for business concerns in 24
5852 the applicable industry; 25
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6256 ‘‘(ii) for which each employee and reg-1
6357 ular volunteer complies with the criminal 2
6458 background check requirements under sec-3
6559 tion 658H(b) of the Child Care and Devel-4
6660 opment Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 5
6761 U.S.C. 9858f(b)); 6
6862 ‘‘(iii) that may— 7
6963 ‘‘(I) provide care for school-age 8
7064 children outside of school hours or 9
7165 outside of the school year; or 10
7266 ‘‘(II) offer preschool or pre-11
7367 kindergarten educational programs; 12
7468 and 13
7569 ‘‘(iv) subject to any exemption under 14
7670 Federal law applicable to the organization, 15
7771 that certifies to the Administrator that the 16
7872 organization will not discriminate in any 17
7973 business practice, including providing serv-18
8074 ices to the public, on the basis of race, 19
8175 color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, mar-20
8276 ital status, age, disability, or national ori-21
8377 gin. 22
8478 ‘‘(B) E
8579 LIGIBILITY FOR CERTAIN LOAN 23
8680 PROGRAMS.— 24
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9084 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding 1
9185 any other provision of this subsection, a 2
9286 covered nonprofit child care provider shall 3
9387 be deemed to be a small business concern 4
9488 for purposes of loans and financings under 5
9589 section 7(a). 6
9690 ‘‘(ii) P
9791 ROHIBITION ON DIRECT LEND -7
9892 ING.—A loan or financing to a covered 8
9993 nonprofit child care provider made under 9
10094 the authority under clause (i) shall be 10
10195 made in cooperation with banks, certified 11
10296 development companies, or other financial 12
10397 institutions through agreements to partici-13
10498 pate on a deferred (guaranteed) basis. The 14
10599 Administrator is prohibited from making a 15
106100 direct loan or financing or entering an 16
107101 agreement to participate on an immediate 17
108102 basis for a loan or financing made to a 18
109103 covered nonprofit child care provider under 19
110104 the authority under clause (i). 20
111105 ‘‘(iii) L
112106 OAN GUARANTEE .—A covered 21
113107 nonprofit child care provider— 22
114108 ‘‘(I) shall obtain a guarantee of 23
115109 timely payment of the loan or financ-24
116110 ing from another person or entity to 25
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120114 be eligible for such loan or financing 1
121115 of more than $500,000 under the au-2
122116 thority under clause (i); and 3
123117 ‘‘(II) may not be required to ob-4
124118 tain a guarantee of timely payment of 5
125119 the loan or financing to be eligible for 6
126120 such loan or financing that is not 7
127121 more than $500,000 under the au-8
128122 thority under clause (i). 9
129123 ‘‘(C) L
130124 IMITATIONS.— 10
131125 ‘‘(i) B
132126 ASIS FOR INELIGIBILITY.—The 11
133127 Administrator may not determine that a 12
134128 covered nonprofit child care provider is not 13
135129 eligible for a loan or financing described in 14
136130 subparagraph (B)(i) on the basis that the 15
137131 covered nonprofit child care provider is as-16
138132 sociated with an entity whose activities are 17
139133 protected under the First Amendment to 18
140134 the Constitution of the United States, as 19
141135 interpreted by the courts of the United 20
142136 States. 21
143137 ‘‘(ii) U
144138 SE OF FUNDS.—A covered non-22
145139 profit child care provider receiving a loan 23
146140 or financing described in subparagraph 24
147141 (B)(i) may not use the proceeds of the loan 25
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151145 or financing for a religious activity pro-1
152146 tected under the First Amendment to the 2
153147 Constitution of the United States, as inter-3
154148 preted by the courts of the United 4
155149 States.’’. 5
156150 (b) 504 P
157151 ROGRAM.—Section 502 of the Small Busi-6
158152 ness Investment Act of 1958 (15 U.S.C. 696) is amend-7
159153 ed— 8
160154 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 9
161155 striking ‘‘The Administration’’ and inserting the fol-10
162156 lowing: 11
163157 ‘‘(a) I
164158 NGENERAL.—The Administration’’; and 12
165159 (2) by adding at the end the following: 13
166160 ‘‘(b) N
167161 ONPROFITCHILDCAREPROVIDERS.— 14
168162 ‘‘(1) D
169163 EFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 15
170164 ‘covered nonprofit child care provider’ has the mean-16
171165 ing given that term in section 3(a)(10) of the Small 17
172-Business Act (15 U.S.C.
173-636(a)(10)632(a)(10)). 18
166+Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(a)(10)). 18
174167 ‘‘(2) E
175168 LIGIBILITY FOR CERTAIN LOAN PRO -19
176169 GRAMS.— 20
177170 ‘‘(A) I
178171 N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any 21
179172 other provision of this title, a covered nonprofit 22
180173 child care provider shall be deemed to be a 23
181174 small business concern for purposes of loans 24
182175 and financings under this title. 25
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186179 ‘‘(B) PROHIBITION ON DIRECT LEND -1
187180 ING.—A loan or financing to a covered non-2
188181 profit child care provider made under the au-3
189182 thority under subparagraph (A) shall be made 4
190183 in cooperation with banks, certified development 5
191184 companies, or other financial institutions 6
192185 through agreements to participate on a deferred 7
193186 (guaranteed) basis. The Administrator is pro-8
194187 hibited from making a direct loan or financing 9
195188 or entering an agreement to participate on an 10
196189 immediate basis for a loan or financing made to 11
197190 a covered nonprofit child care provider under 12
198191 the authority under subparagraph (A). 13
199192 ‘‘(C) L
200193 OAN GUARANTEE.—A covered non-14
201194 profit child care provider— 15
202195 ‘‘(i) shall obtain a guarantee of timely 16
203196 payment of the loan or financing from an-17
204197 other person or entity to be eligible for 18
205198 such loan or financing of more than 19
206199 $500,000 under the authority under sub-20
207200 paragraph (A); and 21
208201 ‘‘(ii) may not be required to obtain a 22
209202 guarantee of timely payment of the loan or 23
210203 financing to be eligible for such loan or fi-24
211204 nancing that is not more than $500,000 25
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215208 under the authority under subparagraph 1
216209 (A). 2
217210 ‘‘(3) L
218211 IMITATIONS.— 3
219212 ‘‘(A) B
220213 ASIS FOR INELIGIBILITY.—The Ad-4
221214 ministrator may not determine that a covered 5
222215 nonprofit child care provider is not eligible for 6
223216 a loan or financing described in paragraph 7
224217 (2)(A) on the basis that the covered nonprofit 8
225218 child care provider is associated with an entity 9
226219 whose activities are protected under the First 10
227220 Amendment to the Constitution of the United 11
228221 States, as interpreted by the courts of the 12
229222 United States. 13
230223 ‘‘(B) U
231224 SE OF FUNDS.—A covered nonprofit 14
232225 child care provider receiving a loan or financing 15
233226 described in paragraph (2)(A) may not use the 16
234227 proceeds of the loan or financing for a religious 17
235228 activity protected under the First Amendment 18
236229 to the Constitution of the United States, as in-19
237230 terpreted by the courts of the United States.’’. 20
238231 (c) R
239232 EPORTING.— 21
240233 (1) D
241234 EFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 22
242235 ‘‘covered nonprofit child care provider’’ has the 23
243236 meaning given the term in paragraph (10) of section 24
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247240 3(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632(a)), 1
248241 as added by subsection (a). 2
249242 (2) R
250243 EQUIREMENT.—Not later than 1 year 3
251244 after the date of enactment of this Act, and annually 4
252245 thereafter, the Administrator of the Small Business 5
253246 Administration shall submit to Congress a report 6
254247 that contains— 7
255248 (A) for the year covered by the report— 8
256249 (i) the number of loans and financings 9
257250 made under section 7(a) of the Small Busi-10
258251 ness Act (15 U.S.C. 636(a)) to covered 11
259252 nonprofit child care providers; 12
260253 (ii) the amount of the loans and 13
261254 financings described in clause (i); 14
262255 (iii) the number of loans and 15
263256 financings provided under title V of the 16
264257 Small Business Investment Act of 1958 17
265258 (15 U.S.C. 695 et seq.) to covered non-18
266259 profit child care providers; and 19
267260 (iv) the amount of the loans and 20
268261 financings described in clause (iii); and 21
269262 (B) any other information determined rel-22
270263 evant by the Administrator. 23
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273-9
274-119
275-TH
276-CONGRESS
277-1
278-ST
279-S
280-ESSION
281-
282-S. 273 A BILL
283-To allow nonprofit child care providers to partici-
284-pate in certain loan programs of the Small Busi-
285-ness Administration, and for other purposes.
286-F
287-EBRUARY
288-10, 2025
289-Reported with an amendment
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264+Æ
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