Press Releases

Congressman Troy Balderson (R-OH), a member of the House Committee on Small Business, is highlighting four bills aimed at supporting small businesses in recognition of National Small Business Week 2019.

Balderson’s bipartisan bill, the SBA Cyber Awareness Act (H.R. 2331), was introduced with his counterpart of the Innovation and Workforce Development Subcommittee, Chairman Jason Crow (D-CO), and passed out of full committee markup last week. The bill takes several important steps to strengthen the Small Business Administration's (SBA) cybersecurity to handle and report cyber threats that affect small businesses.

“Small businesses are reliant on having secure online presences for e-Commerce transactions, data collection and storage, and hosting intellectual property,” said Balderson. “Without this crucial security, small businesses are prone to cyberattacks, threatening their vitality. As small businesses account for 99.6% of Ohio firms, we cannot afford this risk. That’s why these bills take important steps to reduce cyber security risks and ensure protection for the Small Business Administration and the millions of small businesses it serves.”

Two other Balderson-cosponsored bills, Small Business Advanced Cybersecurity Enhancements Act (H.R. 1648) and Small Business Development Center Cyber Training Act (H.R. 1649), both bipartisan bills introduced by Ranking Member Steve Chabot (R-OH), also passed out of committee markup last week.

Balderson’s recently-introduced bipartisan Accelerated Payments for Small Businesses Act (H.R. 2322), which would direct federal government agencies that contract with small businesses to pay those small businesses within 15 days, rather than the current 30-day standard, was referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.

BACKGROUND

H.R. 2331 would expand cybersecurity operations at the SBA by requiring the Small Business Administrator to issue a report assessing the agency’s ability to combat cyber threats within six months of passage. Specifically, the report would disclose: SBA’s cybersecurity infrastructure; the SBA’s strategy to improve cybersecurity protections; any equipment used by the SBA and manufactured by a company headquartered China; and any incident of cyber risk at the SBA and the agency’s actions to confront it. Recognizing that a cyberattack to the agency could put the sensitive information and intellectual property of small businesses at risk, the bill would require SBA to notify Congress of future breaches with information on those affected and how the breach occurred.

H.R. 1648 encourages small businesses to work with the federal government by providing them additional resources. This bill establishes Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) as the primary interface for federal information sharing for small businesses, ensures small businesses that share cyber indicators through SBDCs receive the same protections and exemptions provided in the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015, ensures that any policies or rulemaking adopted by any federal agency as a result of small business cyber information sharing does not unfairly burned small businesses, and expands liability protections for small businesses that engage with the federal government in good faith.

H.R. 1649 would help SBDCs become better trained to assist small businesses with their cyber security and cyber strategy needs. Specifically, it would establish a cyber counseling certification program in lead SBDCs to better assist small businesses with planning and implementing cybersecurity measures to defend against cyberattacks. The SBA would be authorized to reimburse SBDCs for employee certification costs up to $350,000 per fiscal year. This bill amends section 21 of the Small Business Act and utilizes existing federal resources to cover the reimbursement costs.