Under the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 (the "Act"), the Department of the Treasury is responsible for implementing several components of the Act. Among these components is a program under title III of the Act which requires Treasury to make payments to participating states. Participating states will use the federal funds for programs that leverage private lending to help finance small businesses and manufacturers that are creditworthy, but are not getting the loans they need to expand and create jobs. The collection of information is necessary to ensure that the allocation agreement constitutes a legal binding obligation of the participating state and to monitor participating state compliance and performance. The recordkeeping requirements ensure both the effective and efficient use of the funds consistent with the agreement.
Eligible jurisdictions need to know what the reporting requirements are in order for them and their program providers (e.g., lenders and other financial entities) to build and modify their data collection systems to obtain this information. Lenders and other financial entities need to know what the requirements are before agreeing to partner with eligible jurisdictions to implement their SSBCI capital programs.
The information collection of small business data will begin very quickly after Treasury approves an eligible jurisdictionâs capital program application and enters into an Allocation Agreement with that jurisdiction. This could be as soon as May 19, 2022, as Treasury has begun approving applications and jurisdictions have executed the Allocation Agreements. Thus, Treasury would like to get approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) for this information collection by May 25, 2022, to provide jurisdictions and their financial entity partners ample time to prepare for the collection of information set forth in the Capital Program Reporting Guidance and IFR. To provide an opportunity for public input, Treasury has collected comments, including on the IFRâs PRA analysis, for 30 days after the effective date of the IFR. If Treasury identifies any appropriate changes to the IFR based on the public comments, Treasury will revise the rule accordingly. Jurisdictions and their financial entity partners cannot commence their capital programs after approval from Treasury without knowing what information must be collected.
As mentioned above, SSBCI was reauthorized under ARPA, which was enacted in March of 2021 to address an unprecedented historic public health and economic crisis. The reauthorization included several new allocations, including allocations related to SEDI-owned and controlled businesses (SEDI-related allocations). In May and June of 2021, federal courts imposed preliminary injunctions on certain coronavirus relief programs that involved race-based policies.
These cases necessitated extensive collaboration between Treasury, the Department of Justice, and others to determine an appropriate approach related to the structuring of SSBCI. Only after those issues were resolved could Treasury focus on regulations and guidance related to reporting and compliance related to such allocations.
The burden is increasing by 42,350 hours due to the addition of the annual and quarterly reporting requirements in the Interim Final Rule and Capital Program Reporting Guidance.
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.
SSBCI Application
1505-0227 Emergency Justification Memo 5-19-22 (Reporting guidance and IFR).docx
Reporting Guidance - Quarterly Report