25. Small Business Administration · Notable
Refocus the SBIC program away from technology startups
Printed page 756 25. Small Business Administration
“Reform the Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) program to refocus its support on small businesses rather than technology startups only.”
What has happened
- Partially done
The final rule (effective 2026-02-02) adopts both halves. It removes 13 CFR 107.310, the Early Stage SBIC licensing regulation, on the ground that SBA no longer licenses those funds, and it amends 13 CFR 107.720(d) so that the project-finance restriction no longer bars financing small businesses engaged in long-term projects for the extraction, conversion or processing of critical minerals — opening the program to exactly the capital-intensive, non-startup businesses the Quote has in mind. The SBA's own account says the rule keeps the program "a strong tool for financing small businesses — particularly those operating in critical industries including manufacturing, food production, energy, and more". `partial` and not `done` because the same rule cuts the other way in part: it adds a "Critical Technology" definition and an SBICCT designation, made under a 2023 memorandum of agreement with the Department of Defense, that give technology investments their own privileged exception.
- Attempted
The SBA proposed to rewrite the SBIC regulations: to remove thirty regulations and four definitions covering fund types it no longer licenses — including the Early Stage SBICs created in 2012, which were required to put at least half their capital into early-stage small businesses — and to "remove certain barriers to investments in critical mineral extraction and processing and designated critical technologies". A proposal with no earlier directive behind it is `attempted`.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
- The removal of the Early Stage SBIC regulations is housekeeping in one sense — SBA stopped licensing those funds in 2018 — but it is the regulatory expression of the refocusing the Quote asks for, and it happened inside the window. The substantive move is the project-finance exception, which is what lets SBIC capital reach mining, processing and other long-horizon businesses instead of only fast-exit equity.
- Paired with #2061 (p. 757), which asks Congress for the same shift toward capital-intensive investment and small manufacturers. The two share this rule and are leveled one rung apart because this Quote asks the administration to reform the program (it did, in part) and #2061 asks Congress (it has not).
- Also read, not cited: the SBIC Accrual Regulatory Amendments direct final rule of 2025-12-05 (2025-22055), which only clarifies annual charges between SBIC and Accrual SBIC licenses.
- Action
- other
- Object
- Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) program
- ID
- 2060