Senate Passage of Legislation Raising Interest Rate Caps in Colorado Disappointing News for Small Businesses
Statement by Tim Gaudette, Colorado Outreach Manager for Small Business Majority, on how new legislation allowing for higher interest rates is harmful for small businesses
The Colorado Senate’s passage of SB16-185 today is a bad move for Colorado’s entrepreneurs. This legislation raises the interest cap on supervised consumer loans, which will hurt small business owners’ ability to access the financing they need to grow their businesses.
In today’s economy, entrepreneurs face tremendous challenges when it comes to securing capital to launch or expand their businesses. The small business share of total bank loans dropped from 50 percent in 1995 to 30 percent in 2012, and today big banks approve just two out of 10 small business loan requests. In this tightened lending environment, many small business owners lean on consumer loans to finance their businesses.
SB16-185 would render personal loans unaffordable for many entrepreneurs, which would hurt their ability to start and invest in their businesses. A strong small business economy is crucial to Colorado’s success, and SB16-185 will make it hard for our businesses to grow and compete. This legislation is bad news for our small businesses and our economy.
About Small Business Majority
Small Business Majority is a national small business advocacy organization, founded and run by small business owners to focus on solving the biggest problems facing America's 28 million small businesses today. Since 2005, we have actively engaged small business owners and policymakers in support of public policy solutions, and have delivered information and resources to entrepreneurs that promote small business growth and drive a strong, sustainable economy. We are a team of more than 30 working from our 11 offices in Washington, D.C. and 9 states, with a network of more than 45,000 small business owners and more than 2,000 business organizations, along with a formal strategic partnership program of more than 125 business organizations, enabling us to reach more than 500,000 entrepreneurs. Our extensive scientific polling, focus groups and economic research help us educate and inform policymakers, the media and other stakeholders about issues including taxes, healthcare, access to capital, entrepreneurship, workforce development, clean energy and immigration. Learn more about us on our website and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.