House Moves on Pro-Small-Business Innovation Legislation

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Mar 22, 2016, 01:43 ET

WASHINGTON, March 22, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Small Business Association (NSBA) would like to thank the House Committee on Small Business for their stewardship of legislation to reauthorize the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. As the nation's largest source of early-stage R&D funding, SBIR is a wildly successful program and deserves a quick and meaningful reauthorization.

"I am particularly pleased that lawmakers are acting now—well before the programs expire in 2017—to avoid the issues that arose during the previous reauthorization cycle in which 12 continuing resolutions over three years were passed before SBIR was officially reauthorized," stated NSBA President and CEO Todd McCracken.

The Commercializing on Small Business Innovation Act of 2016 (H.R. 4783) would provide a five-year reauthorization to the SBIR and STTR programs. SBIR has delivered thousands of innovations in its nearly 35-year history through a competitive and transparent contracting process. It has produced more than 70,000 patents and now generates new patents at an astonishing pace—far more than all U.S. universities combined, at less than three percent of their level of federal R&D funding.

While NSBA prefers a larger allocation and more permanent reauthorization of the SBIR and STTR programs to ensure their longevity and continued success, reauthorizing the programs through 2022 well in advance of their expiration is certainly a welcome step.

"SBIR is a fully competitive program, imitated by countries around the world and praised by every independent third-party evaluation it has received—including the U.S. Government Accountability Office and the National Academy of Engineering," stated Jere Glover, executive director of the Small Business Technology Council, the hi-tech arm of NSBA. "This program deserves the kind of proactive leadership we're seeing from both the House and Senate Committees on Small Business."

Please click here to download NSBA's official letter of support for H.R. 4783.

Celebrating more than 75 years in operation, NSBA is a staunchly nonpartisan organization advocating on behalf of America's entrepreneurs. NSBA's 65,000 members represent every state and every industry in the U.S. Please visit www.nsba.biz or follow us at @NSBAAdvocate.

SOURCE National Small Business Association