BusinessWeek highlighted plans for the Small Business community in “Small Biz: High Hopes for New Congress”. The article outlines the bills introduced this last week by JK and by Nydia M. Velázquez (D–NY), Ranking Member of the House Small Business Committee, and concludes “despite consistent SBA budget cuts over the last six years, leaders in the small-business community are optimistic about the 110th Congress’ dedication to their constituency.”

Inc Magazine reported “As Democrats Seize Power, New Small-Business Leaders Emerge”. The article went on to say:

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), now chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, has pledged to strengthen federal loan programs for small-business owners, many of which have been cut back by the Small Business Administration in recent years.

Kerry, who previously led the committee from 2001 to 2002 and has been a member for 21 years, has said he will “look beyond the SBA for ways to foster the entrepreneurial spirit and assist small businesses across America.”

<a href=” http://biz.yahoo.com/cnnm/070104/010407_election_impact.html?.v=1”>CNNmoney/biz.yahoo.com covered the launch of the 110th Congress and what it means for the small business community in an article titled “Election impact on entrepreneurs and small business owners”.

On Jan 5, 2007, PRNewswire distributed a release on “Sen. Kerry’s Small Business Priorities” which covered his introduction of “four bills that will help small business owners around the country. These bills will improve the government’s Disaster Loan Program, reduce health care costs for small firms, reform the Alternative Minimum Tax, and expand entrepreneurship opportunities in minority communities.” The specifics listed for the health care bill and the AMT reform bill included:

“One of my top priorities is to reduce the skyrocketing cost of health care in this country. When it comes to small business, owners should focus on what they do best - creating jobs and contributing to the economy - instead of worrying about whether they can afford to provide health benefits. This legislation to help small businesses is a good interim step towards helping all Americans by lowering health care costs.”

Kerry’s Small Business Health Care Tax Credit Act of 2007 provides small firms with less than 50 employees a refundable tax credit to help with the cost of health insurance for employees earning $5,000—$50,000 a year. In order to receive the credit, the employer must pay at least 50 percent of the health care insurance premium.

Kerry’s plan to reform the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) is the same as S.2826, which he introduced last year. The bill expands and extends the individual AMT exemption amount for 2007 and allows nonrefundable credits against the AMT for 2007. It is revenue neutral and is offset by repealing the lower rates on capital gains and dividends for 2009 and 2010.

“Reforming the AMT is critical to keeping small businesses competitive and successful. Over the last few years more many Americans, including small firms, have become trapped by the AMT. We need to raise the exemption amount to level the playing field. “

More info on the expansion of “entrepreneurship opportunities in minority communities” is available in the article.

The NY Times ran a story about how small businesses owners who protest about contracts wrongly awarded to large companies find no justice even if they prove their cases. They mention a proposal by JK:

Senator John F. Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts and the incoming chairman of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, has proposed giving the S.B.A. more time to complete size determinations and to help prevent big businesses from slipping under the radar of a bureaucratic contracting process.

The S.B.A. recently required businesses to report their size every five years. Mr. Kerry’s proposal would make the reports annual.

“The protest process is supposed to keep the system honest, but what’s the point of protesting a contract if nothing happens?” Senator Kerry said

The Entrepeneur Daily blog highlighted the NYT article in a post titled “Shady Business in Washington”.

The AP/washingtonpost.com covered Congressional plans for closer oversight of federal aid for Hurricane Katrina. They listed the panels and committees which have indicated specific plans including:

_ Small Business: John Kerry, D-Mass., is calling for hearings on the Small Business Administration’s disaster loan program, saying only about one-fifth of the $10 billion in loans had reached affected areas; wants “aggressive contracting oversight” of work slated for small firms.

  <!-more-> Jenny Mandel of GOVEXEC.com wrote a detailed article about a conference call JK held with the press in which he discussed his agenda and plans for the Small Business Administration. He indicated that the SBA budget “has been cut by nearly 40 percent - more than any other federal agency - over the last six years” and that the committee will focus on restoring funding and improving employee morale within the SBA.

In addition, Kerry has listed two other priorities: reforming SBA’s Disaster Loan Program, which was slow to help Gulf Coast business owners in the aftermath of last year’s hurricanes, and improving the effectiveness of its loan and counseling programs for minority entrepreneurs.

He also wants to see a set-aside program for women-owned small businesses fully implemented. Plans for that program, first authorized in 2000, were made available for comment in June, after the Women’s Chamber of Commerce successfully sued the administration for delays in implementing it.

Beefing up an under-used SBA preference program for service-disabled veterans is also on Kerry’s to-do list.

“We’ve got an awful lot of veterans coming home and having a real struggle finding jobs,” Kerry told reporters. “We ought to have a special effort and gratitude to those who served, to help improve the contracting record with service-disabled veterans,” he said, noting that 0.6 percent of contracts last year went to business owners in that group. The governmentwide target is 3 percent.

He said he intends to pursue new programs to assist veteran business owners get access to capital, and to offer grants to small firms when their employees are on active duty. SBA is currently up for reauthorization, and a bill addressing several of these priorities passed the Senate in July.

Inc magazine reported on JK’s plans in an article titled “SBA Seeks to Prevent Corporations from Landing Small-Business Contracts”. The article discusses a report by the SBA’s inspector general which describes ” “procurement flaws” that allow large companies to obtain federal contracts set aside for small businesses”. The agency unveiled new regulations in Nov. 2006, which take effect in June 2007, that “will require small-business contractors to re-certify their size every five years of a federal contract - some of which can span 20 or more years - and whenever a contract option is exercised.”

Yet, the IGO report cited an earlier proposal calling for businesses to be re-certified every year, and pledged to “re-evaluate the matter to assess whether the agency should take other steps to address this problem” in light of the new regulations—which were still pending at the time the report was completed.

[...]

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), the incoming chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship has called the agency’s new regulations inadequate.

“If there’s a way to guarantee no abuse, that’s our concern,” Kerry said in a conference call with reporters on Nov. 16. “I know five years is too broad for that.”

He vowed to launch “aggressive” oversight hearings when Congress reconvenes next year to ensure contracts are ending up in the right hand.