Hawai‘i's representatives joined in Democratic opposition to a pair of bills involving federal aid to small businesses Thursday.
Split along party lines was the U.S. House vote for the “Save SBA from Sanctuary Cities Act,” a Republican bill that requires the Small Business Administration to relocate all regional, district or local offices outside of so-called “sanctuary jurisdictions.”
The bill defines those jurisdictions as a state or municipality that has statutes in place that restricts its government from sharing citizenship information about a person with the federal government, or from complying with Department of Homeland Security immigration enforcement actions.
The bill follows an April executive order from President Donald Trump directing the Department of Homeland Security to identify sanctuary jurisdictions throughout the country. DHS issued that list last week, which named cities in 36 states — including Honolulu — as sanctuary jurisdictions, before deleting it this week for as-yet-undisclosed reasons.
According to the bill, if the SBA administrator determines that an office is within a sanctuary jurisdiction, they would be required to relocate that office to a non-sanctuary jurisdiction within 120 days or else shut that office down. In that event, the bill specifies that all employees of that office would be transferred to a different office.
Currently, Hawai‘i's sole SBA office is located within Honolulu, meaning it would be slated for relocation, based on DHS’ previous list.
The vote passed 211-199, with five Democrats in support of the bill, and four Republicans opposed. Both Hawai‘i reps, Ed Case and Jill Tokuda, voted against.
The House was similarly split on the CEASE Act, or the “Capping Excessive Awarding of SBLC Entrants Act.” This measure, also a Republican initiative, requires the SBA to limit the number of for-profit lending companies authorized to give out 7(a) small business loans to no more than 16 nationwide.
Pennsylvania Rep. Robert Bresnahan, who sponsored the bill, explained to the House Thursday that the SBA expanded licenses for its small business loan program beyond its ability to regulate.
“(The bill) will return (the SBA) to the proper oversight capability and ensure lenders such as community banks remain a pillar of 7(a) lending,” Bresnahan said.
House Democrats argued that the bill applies an arbitrary limit on the small business loan program without examining how to improve it.
Once again, Case and Tokuda joined with House Democrats in opposition, but the bill passed 211-198, with three Democrats breaking to vote in support of the bill.
Both bills go now before the U.S. Senate for further deliberation.
