Policy News – October 22, 2019

It has been a big week for small businesses, as the House passed four bills that will improve programs within the Small Business Administration. H.R. 4405 – Women’s Business Centers Improvements Act of 2019, legislation that will modernize and improve the Women’s Business Centers program, was passed by voice vote. The House also passed H.R. 4406 – Small Business Development Centers Improvement Act of 2019, H.R. 4407 – SCORE for Small Business Act of 2019 and H.R. 4387 to establish Growth Accelerator Fund Competition.

Floor Proceedings

House: In Session

Senate: In Session

Committee Proceedings

House Committee on Small Business

  • On October 23rd, the Committee will hold a hearing titled, “Prison to Proprietorship: Entrepreneurship Opportunities for the Formerly Incarcerated”

House Committee on Financial Services

  • On October 29th, the Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations will hold a hearing titled, “Financial Services and the LGBTQ+ Community: A Review of Discrimination in Lending and Housing”

Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

  • Today, the Full Committee will hold a hearing titled, “Oversight of the Status of the Consolidated Audit Trail”
  • On October 24th, the Full Committee will hold a hearing titled, “Data Ownership: Exploring Implications for Data Privacy Rights and Data Valuation”

Bills of Interest

  • Representative Patrick McHenry (R-NC-10) introduced H.R.4767 a bill to promote innovation in financial services, and for other purposes.

At the Agencies

Department of Labor

  • The Department released a news release titled, “U.S. Department of Labor Proposes new electronic disclosure rule”