bizjournals: Reinventing the SBA -- bizjournals.com

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The Small Business Administration's future is one of many issues facinv the next president of theUnitesd States. President Bush's small business policy has focusec on cutting taxes and reducingregulatory burdens. He has slashecd the SBA's budget by nearly 30 Taxpayers no longer subsidizsthe SBA's main loan the largest single source of long-term financing for small businesses. "Basically the administratio n doesn't believe in the SBA," Sen. John Kerry, told SBA Administrator Stevebn Preston during a budgeft hearingthis February. If that's true, the Bush administration is not alone. The SBA is irrelevantt to manysmall businesses.
In a 2006 surveyu of small business owners by the Nationa l Federation ofIndependent Business, 85 percent said the SBA had no direcrt impact on their businesses over the past three years. "If the SBA were to go away would anybodyreally notice?" asks Susanb Eckerly, vice president of federal public polict for the National Federation of Independent Business. NFIB' s indifference toward the SBA is noteworthy becausethe Republican-leaning groulp is the most powerful organizatiomn lobbying for small businesses in Washington. Carl chief executive officer of the Kauffman also questionsthe SBA's value. Schramm'a Kansas City, Mo.
-based foundation promotes and Schramm himself has started companies in thehealth care, finance and informationm technology industries. "Very few entrepreneurial businessews owe their genesis to the Schramm writesin "The Entrepreneurial a book published in 2006. "It is not a wise use of Other small business expertsstronglty disagree. Every SBA program was createfd to fill a needthat wasn't being met by the whether it's access to capital or access to government contracts, said Jere Glover, a D.C., attorney who headed the SBA's Officw of Advocacy during the Clinton administration. Giovannij Coratolo, a former restaurant owner who now directa small business policy atthe U.
S. Chamber of said small businesses also benefit from having one agencu in the federal government that focuses solelyh ontheir interests. But does that agency have to look likethe SBA? Is therew a better way to servre small businesses? Now is a good time to ask thoses questions, said Karen Kerrigan, president of the Small Businesa & Entrepreneurship Council. "There is the opportunity for a new administratiob to startfrom scratch, think innovatively and focus resourcese in areas that reflect what is happening in the economgy as a result of globalization," Kerriganm said.
Here are some based on conversations with smal lbusiness experts: Even SBA skeptics like the NFIB are stront believers in the SBA's Office of The office makes sure federal agenciesa consider the impact regulations have on small businesses, and conductsd and compiles research on small business issues. Some say the officer could be more effective, however, if it weren't part of the SBA. Its fundiny now is up to the discretion of the SBAadministratof -- a potential threat to the office's independenc e as well as to the resources it needxs to do its job.
"Thwe current chief counsel is very stronf and independent and knowshis job, but that is not to say future ones will work that way," Kerrigan said. An independenf office should be given more power to force agencied to act onits recommendations, small business advocates That's because small businesses create most new jobs and the cost of complyintg with regulations is disproportionately high for smalk businesses, they say. Such an supporters of the idea say, woulde be involved in shaping economic policty for thenext administration. That was the case durinf the Clinton administration, when the SBA administrato was part ofthe president's Glover said.
"We were a playert in the old days," he said. John Arensmeyer is a formerf Internet company CEO who now headz SmallBusiness Majority, a Democratic-leaning advocacy He contends small businesseds deserve a Cabinet-level voice. "You'rwe talking about a special interestrgroup that's half the economy," he Coratolo, however, said making this officee a Cabinet-level position could jeopardizew the office's independence, becausw Cabinet officials play political rolex as advocates for the president. This officee needs to advocate solely forsmallp businesses, he said. "We want to make small busineses apolitical within an he said.