Executive Summary — Small Business Commission, 2020 Interim Activity

Summary

This Executive Summary of 2020 Interim Activity describes the Virginia Small Business Commission's work, with Delegate Alfonso H. Lopez, chair, presiding. The Commission met on August 3, 2020, November 6, 2020, and December 1, 2020, and focused on COVID-19's impact on small businesses and on the Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity. At the third meeting, a Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) analyst described possible changes to the statutory definition of small, currently 250 or fewer employees or $10 million or fewer in gross receipts. The Commission did not vote to recommend any changes to current law, and no legislation was referred to it for study.

Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used

Full text

                                                                                    Executive
                                                                                    Summary

    Small Business Commission Executive Summary of
                  2020 Interim Activity
                       Executive Summary of 2020 Interim Activity
                               dls.virginia.gov/commissions/sbc.htm


Pursuant to the powers and duties authorized under § 30-183 of the Code of Virginia, the
Virginia Small Business Commission (the Commission) held three meetings during the 2020
interim with Delegate Alfonso H. Lopez, chair, presiding. The Commission's meetings occurred
on August 3, 2020, November 6, 2020, and December 1, 2020. Materials presented at the
meetings are accessible through the Commission's website.
The Commission focused its attention on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on small
businesses, as well as the activities of the Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity
(the Department). At its first meeting, the Commission members discussed how to provide small
businesses access to capital to help with costs associated with the COVID-19 pandemic,
including purchasing personal protective equipment, providing paid family and medical leave,
paying rent, and other purposes. At the Commission's second meeting, Tracey Wiley, Director
of the Department, gave an overview of the history of the Department, recent Department-related
legislation, and the Department's core functions, including providing access to capital through its
financing arm, the Virginia Small Business Financing Authority; assistance with business
development; certification of small, women-owned, and minority-owned (SWaM) businesses for
the purposes of public procurement; and assistance with policy decisions to the members of the
General Assembly.
The third meeting covered a report by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission
(JLARC) on the operations and performance of the Department (JLARC Report #537). Lauren
Axselle, a Principal Legislative Analyst at JLARC, described the operations of the Department
and the improvements it has made within the past few years. She identified one of the
Department’s main functions as certifying businesses as small, women-owned, or minority-
owned (SWaM) for the purpose of making them eligible for procurement set-asides.
She described possible changes to the statutory definition of “small” (currently 250 or fewer
employees or $10 million or fewer in gross receipts). JLARC’s report offered several policy
options: changing “or” to “and,” lowering current numerical thresholds for employees or gross
receipts so as to exclude larger employers, or setting thresholds by industry. She discussed the
ease of administering each option, impacts on businesses, and the effects on current procurement
goals.
Ms. Axselle presented JLARC’s evaluation of the Small Business Financing Authority (SBFA),
which is administered under the Department. SBFA is the agency responsible for administering
the Rebuild Virginia Grant Fund, a program that is larger than all of SBFA’s other programs
combined in terms of loans distributed. Ms. Axselle described JLARC’s recommendations to
SBFA for improving its operations. JLARC viewed SBFA’s lending policies as overly
conservative, resulting in a large portion of available loan funds going unloaned in recent years.
JLARC recommended that SBFA adopt a policy of a higher risk threshold than private banks are
willing to accept, thereby helping them fulfill their mission of providing financing to small
businesses when the private sector will not.

Referred Legislation and Policy Proposals
The Commission did not vote to recommend any changes to current law. No legislation was
referred to the Commission for study during the 2020 interim.

 For more information, see the Commission's website or contact the Division of Legislative
 Services staff:
 Connor Garstka, Attorney, DLS
 cgarstka@dls.virginia.gov
 804-698-1869




Page 2 of 2                                                   Virginia Division of Legislative Services


File and source

File

2021-RD361.pdf

Size

242,599 bytes

SHA-256

372ba47fb534a0ff696e4bdd2b929072c82492bbc4885d009e0f271cc20fc34c

Our copy

2021-RD361.pdf

Original

No public link identified.