The Application is used by Treasury to establish the institution's eligibility to participate in the SBLF program. The legislation requires that the institution meet the six criteria listed above.
The Lending Plan is one input used by Treasury to decide whether to purchase the institution's stock. Specifically, the Lending Plan contains the institution's justification of its planned increase in small business lending and describes the methods it will use to create this increase. As required by the legislation, the plan also describes how the institution will outreach to veteran, minority and women-owned small businesses.
The Department of the Treasury (Treasury) requests emergency processing and approval of the collection of information related to the Small Business Lending Fund (SBLF), which was created when the President signed into law the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 (P.L. 111-240) on September 27, 2010.
As one part of the $30 billion Small Business Jobs Act, the legislation provides up to $300 million in needed capital to Community Development Loan Funds (CDLF) in order to increase lending to AmericaÂs small businesses. The application process for Community Development Loan Funds is almost identical to that which is in place for the larger $30 billion Small Business Lending Fund. The Application and Lending Plan are, in fact, only slight variations on the forms that were approved by OMB in December. Slight modifications were made for the unique provisions in the law. Also note that we expect about 150 Community Development Loan Funds to apply for this program.
The collection of information is needed to certify that these institutions ultimately receive funding are indeed eligible institutions as defined by the legislation and that their plans to increase lending to small businesses meet the legislationÂs intent. Treasury cannot reasonably comply with the normal clearance procedures under 5 C.F.R. Part 1320 because the legislation requires that all applications be processed by September 27, 2011.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.