II
Calendar No. 9
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 273
To allow nonprofit child care providers to participate in certain loan programs
of the Small Business Administration, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY28, 2025
Ms. R
OSEN(for herself, Ms. ERNST, Mr. RISCH, and Mr. WARNER) intro-
duced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com-
mittee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
F
EBRUARY10, 2025
Reported by Ms. E
RNST, with an amendment
[Omit the part struck through and insert the part printed in italic]
A BILL
To allow nonprofit child care providers to participate in
certain loan programs of the Small Business Administra-
tion, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Small Business Child 4
Care Investment Act’’. 5
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•S 273 RS
SEC. 2. SMALL BUSINESS LOANS FOR NONPROFIT CHILD 1
CARE PROVIDERS. 2
(a) B
USINESSLOANPROGRAM.—Section 3(a) of the 3
Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632(a)) is amended by 4
adding at the end the following: 5
‘‘(10) N
ONPROFIT CHILD CARE PROVIDERS .— 6
‘‘(A) D
EFINITION.—In this paragraph, the 7
term ‘covered nonprofit child care provider’ 8
means an organization— 9
‘‘(i) that— 10
‘‘(I) is in compliance with licens-11
ing requirements for child care pro-12
viders of the State in which the orga-13
nization is located; 14
‘‘(II) is described in section 15
501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue 16
Code of 1986 and exempt from tax 17
under section 501(a) of such Code; 18
‘‘(III) is primarily engaged in 19
providing child care for children from 20
birth to compulsory school age; and 21
‘‘(IV) is in compliance with the 22
size standards established under this 23
subsection for business concerns in 24
the applicable industry; 25
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•S 273 RS
‘‘(ii) for which each employee and reg-1
ular volunteer complies with the criminal 2
background check requirements under sec-3
tion 658H(b) of the Child Care and Devel-4
opment Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 5
U.S.C. 9858f(b)); 6
‘‘(iii) that may— 7
‘‘(I) provide care for school-age 8
children outside of school hours or 9
outside of the school year; or 10
‘‘(II) offer preschool or pre-11
kindergarten educational programs; 12
and 13
‘‘(iv) subject to any exemption under 14
Federal law applicable to the organization, 15
that certifies to the Administrator that the 16
organization will not discriminate in any 17
business practice, including providing serv-18
ices to the public, on the basis of race, 19
color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, mar-20
ital status, age, disability, or national ori-21
gin. 22
‘‘(B) E
LIGIBILITY FOR CERTAIN LOAN 23
PROGRAMS.— 24
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•S 273 RS
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding 1
any other provision of this subsection, a 2
covered nonprofit child care provider shall 3
be deemed to be a small business concern 4
for purposes of loans and financings under 5
section 7(a). 6
‘‘(ii) P
ROHIBITION ON DIRECT LEND -7
ING.—A loan or financing to a covered 8
nonprofit child care provider made under 9
the authority under clause (i) shall be 10
made in cooperation with banks, certified 11
development companies, or other financial 12
institutions through agreements to partici-13
pate on a deferred (guaranteed) basis. The 14
Administrator is prohibited from making a 15
direct loan or financing or entering an 16
agreement to participate on an immediate 17
basis for a loan or financing made to a 18
covered nonprofit child care provider under 19
the authority under clause (i). 20
‘‘(iii) L
OAN GUARANTEE .—A covered 21
nonprofit child care provider— 22
‘‘(I) shall obtain a guarantee of 23
timely payment of the loan or financ-24
ing from another person or entity to 25
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•S 273 RS
be eligible for such loan or financing 1
of more than $500,000 under the au-2
thority under clause (i); and 3
‘‘(II) may not be required to ob-4
tain a guarantee of timely payment of 5
the loan or financing to be eligible for 6
such loan or financing that is not 7
more than $500,000 under the au-8
thority under clause (i). 9
‘‘(C) L
IMITATIONS.— 10
‘‘(i) B
ASIS FOR INELIGIBILITY.—The 11
Administrator may not determine that a 12
covered nonprofit child care provider is not 13
eligible for a loan or financing described in 14
subparagraph (B)(i) on the basis that the 15
covered nonprofit child care provider is as-16
sociated with an entity whose activities are 17
protected under the First Amendment to 18
the Constitution of the United States, as 19
interpreted by the courts of the United 20
States. 21
‘‘(ii) U
SE OF FUNDS.—A covered non-22
profit child care provider receiving a loan 23
or financing described in subparagraph 24
(B)(i) may not use the proceeds of the loan 25
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•S 273 RS
or financing for a religious activity pro-1
tected under the First Amendment to the 2
Constitution of the United States, as inter-3
preted by the courts of the United 4
States.’’. 5
(b) 504 P
ROGRAM.—Section 502 of the Small Busi-6
ness Investment Act of 1958 (15 U.S.C. 696) is amend-7
ed— 8
(1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 9
striking ‘‘The Administration’’ and inserting the fol-10
lowing: 11
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Administration’’; and 12
(2) by adding at the end the following: 13
‘‘(b) N
ONPROFITCHILDCAREPROVIDERS.— 14
‘‘(1) D
EFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 15
‘covered nonprofit child care provider’ has the mean-16
ing given that term in section 3(a)(10) of the Small 17
Business Act (15 U.S.C.
636(a)(10)632(a)(10)). 18
‘‘(2) E
LIGIBILITY FOR CERTAIN LOAN PRO -19
GRAMS.— 20
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any 21
other provision of this title, a covered nonprofit 22
child care provider shall be deemed to be a 23
small business concern for purposes of loans 24
and financings under this title. 25
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•S 273 RS
‘‘(B) PROHIBITION ON DIRECT LEND -1
ING.—A loan or financing to a covered non-2
profit child care provider made under the au-3
thority under subparagraph (A) shall be made 4
in cooperation with banks, certified development 5
companies, or other financial institutions 6
through agreements to participate on a deferred 7
(guaranteed) basis. The Administrator is pro-8
hibited from making a direct loan or financing 9
or entering an agreement to participate on an 10
immediate basis for a loan or financing made to 11
a covered nonprofit child care provider under 12
the authority under subparagraph (A). 13
‘‘(C) L
OAN GUARANTEE.—A covered non-14
profit child care provider— 15
‘‘(i) shall obtain a guarantee of timely 16
payment of the loan or financing from an-17
other person or entity to be eligible for 18
such loan or financing of more than 19
$500,000 under the authority under sub-20
paragraph (A); and 21
‘‘(ii) may not be required to obtain a 22
guarantee of timely payment of the loan or 23
financing to be eligible for such loan or fi-24
nancing that is not more than $500,000 25
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•S 273 RS
under the authority under subparagraph 1
(A). 2
‘‘(3) L
IMITATIONS.— 3
‘‘(A) B
ASIS FOR INELIGIBILITY.—The Ad-4
ministrator may not determine that a covered 5
nonprofit child care provider is not eligible for 6
a loan or financing described in paragraph 7
(2)(A) on the basis that the covered nonprofit 8
child care provider is associated with an entity 9
whose activities are protected under the First 10
Amendment to the Constitution of the United 11
States, as interpreted by the courts of the 12
United States. 13
‘‘(B) U
SE OF FUNDS.—A covered nonprofit 14
child care provider receiving a loan or financing 15
described in paragraph (2)(A) may not use the 16
proceeds of the loan or financing for a religious 17
activity protected under the First Amendment 18
to the Constitution of the United States, as in-19
terpreted by the courts of the United States.’’. 20
(c) R
EPORTING.— 21
(1) D
EFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 22
‘‘covered nonprofit child care provider’’ has the 23
meaning given the term in paragraph (10) of section 24
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•S 273 RS
3(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632(a)), 1
as added by subsection (a). 2
(2) R
EQUIREMENT.—Not later than 1 year 3
after the date of enactment of this Act, and annually 4
thereafter, the Administrator of the Small Business 5
Administration shall submit to Congress a report 6
that contains— 7
(A) for the year covered by the report— 8
(i) the number of loans and financings 9
made under section 7(a) of the Small Busi-10
ness Act (15 U.S.C. 636(a)) to covered 11
nonprofit child care providers; 12
(ii) the amount of the loans and 13
financings described in clause (i); 14
(iii) the number of loans and 15
financings provided under title V of the 16
Small Business Investment Act of 1958 17
(15 U.S.C. 695 et seq.) to covered non-18
profit child care providers; and 19
(iv) the amount of the loans and 20
financings described in clause (iii); and 21
(B) any other information determined rel-22
evant by the Administrator. 23
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9
119
TH
CONGRESS
1
ST
S
ESSION
S. 273 A BILL
To allow nonprofit child care providers to partici-
pate in certain loan programs of the Small Busi-
ness Administration, and for other purposes.
F
EBRUARY
10, 2025
Reported with an amendment
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