[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3253 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3253

To amend the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 to enhance the Small 
      Business Investment Company Program, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 24, 2012

Ms. Landrieu (for herself and Ms. Snowe) introduced the following bill; 
 which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business 
                          and Entrepreneurship

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 to enhance the Small 
      Business Investment Company Program, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Expanding Access to Capital for 
Entrepreneurial Leaders Act'' or the ``EXCEL Act''.

SEC. 2. PROGRAM AUTHORIZATION.

    Section 303(b) of the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 (15 
U.S.C. 683(b)) is amended, in the matter preceding paragraph (1), in 
the first sentence, by inserting after ``issued by such companies'' the 
following: ``, in a total amount that does not exceed $4,000,000,000 
each fiscal year (adjusted annually to reflect increases in the 
Consumer Price Index established by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of 
the Department of Labor)''.

SEC. 3. FAMILY OF FUNDS.

    Section 303(b)(2)(B) of the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 
(15 U.S.C. 683(b)(2)(B)) is amended by striking ``$225,000,000'' and 
inserting ``$350,000,000''.

SEC. 4. ADJUSTMENT FOR INFLATION.

    Section 303(b)(2) is amended by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(E) Adjustments.--
                            ``(i) In general.--The dollar amounts in 
                        subparagraph (A)(ii), subparagraph (B), and 
                        subparagraph (C)(ii)(I) shall be adjusted 
                        annually to reflect increases in the Consumer 
                        Price Index established by the Bureau of Labor 
                        Statistics of the Department of Labor (in this 
                        subparagraph referred to as the `CPI').
                            ``(ii) Applicability.--The adjustments 
                        required by clause (i)--
                                    ``(I) with respect to dollar 
                                amounts in subparagraphs (A)(ii) and 
                                (C)(ii)(I) shall initially reflect 
                                increases in the CPI during the period 
                                beginning on the effective date of 
                                section 505 of the American Recovery 
                                and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (123 Stat. 
                                156) through the date of enactment of 
                                this subparagraph and annually 
                                thereafter;
                                    ``(II) with respect to dollar 
                                amounts in subparagraph (B) shall 
                                reflect increases in the CPI annually 
                                on and after the date of enactment of 
                                this subparagraph.''.

SEC. 5. PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION.

    Section 303 of the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 (15 U.S.C. 
683) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(l) Access to Fund Information.--Annually, the Administrator 
shall make public on its website the following information with respect 
to each small business investment company:
            ``(1) The amount of capital deployed since fund inception.
            ``(2) The amount of leverage drawn since fund inception.
            ``(3) The number of investments since fund inception.
            ``(4) The number of businesses receiving capital since fund 
        inception.
            ``(5) Industry sectors receiving investment since fund 
        inception.
            ``(6) The amount of leverage principal repaid by SBIC since 
        fund inception.
            ``(7) A basic description of investment strategy.''.

SEC. 6. AUTHORIZED USES OF LICENSING FEES.

    Section 301(e) of the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 (15 
U.S.C. 681(e)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``(e)'' and inserting ``(d)''; and
            (2) in paragraph (2)(B), by inserting before the period at 
        the end the following: ``and other small business investment 
        company program needs''.

SEC. 7. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) small business investment companies would benefit from 
        partnerships with community banks and other lenders, and should 
        work with community banks and other lenders, to ensure that if 
        community banks and other lenders deny an application by a 
        small business concern for a loan, the community banks or other 
        lenders will refer the small business concern to small business 
        investment companies; and
            (2) the Administrator should--
                    (A) increase outreach to community banks and other 
                lenders to encourage community banks and other lenders 
                to invest in small business investment companies;
                    (B) use the Internet to make publicly available in 
                a timely manner which small business investment 
                companies are actively soliciting investments and 
                making investments in small business concerns;
                    (C) partner with governors, mayors, States, and 
                municipalities to increase outreach by small business 
                investment companies to underserved and rural areas; 
                and
                    (D) continue to make changes to the webpage for the 
                small business investment company program, to make the 
                webpage--
                            (i) a more prominent part of the website of 
                        the Administration; and
                            (ii) more user-friendly.
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