Here we go again.
That’s the concern of some small-business owners who worry that a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives would open a door for billion-dollar companies to benefit from federal small-business programs.
The Small Business Investment Expansion Act, which has been fast-tracked for a House vote with little debate since it popped up about 10 days ago, would allow a small firm majority-owned by a venture capital firm or other investment firm to continue to qualify for federal small-business programs.
Critics say the bill gives an unfair advantage to businesses that should no longer qualify for small-business programs, including the Small Business Innovation Research grants that benefit the biotech industry, because they are backed by a deep-pocketed entity.
The bill’s protections, such as the requirement that the venture capital company be small, do not offer much reassurance to Shindell and other opponents. Under SBA rules, a company must have fewer than 500 employees to be considered small, and many of the country’s biggest and wealthiest venture capital firms would fall below that benchmark, they say.
Photo by MSDesigns.
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