- Increases to $4.4 million the authorization the Small Business Administration’s Office of Veteran Business Development, which works to maximize the availability and usability of small business programs for veterans, service-disabled veterans, reserve members, and their dependents or Survivors for the next two years.
- Facilitates the coordination of all federal agencies to focus attention on increasing the success rate of and opportunities for veteran-owned businesses by creating an Interagency Taskforce on Veteran Small Business.
- Creates a new loan initiative providing veterans with 7(a) small business loans at 50 percent of the fees of other small businesses.
- Requires a Government Accountability Office report on the needs of service-disabled veterans and how to improve relations between employers and reservist employees.
Strengthens Relief to Small Businesses Employing National Guard or Reserve troops
- Makes economic injury military deployment disaster loans of up to $50,000 without requiring collateral from a loan applicant up from $5,000.
- Improves the Military Reservist Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, provides funding to businesses to meet necessary expenses that they could have made, if not for the deployment of a reservist who is one of their essential employees, by establishing a pre-application process so businesses can be prepared, in advance, to apply for these loans and allowing businesses up to 1 year, as opposed to 90 days, to apply.
Expands Outreach to Veterans Small Businesses
- Increases the number of Veterans Business Outreach Centers across the country and identify areas that are in need of assistance to ensure that veterans and reservists in every region are able to keep their businesses afloat.
- Provides grants to the SBA's Small Business Development Centers to expand its outreach to veterans, many of whom are unaware of the federal programs or have found it difficult to take advantage of them.
