SBA employees who review or approve small business loans will be required to sign a written certification — before getting involved in each loan — confirming they have no conflicts of interest that federal law prohibits. If they discover a conflict after signing, they must immediately tell their supervisor and step back from the loan. The SBA has 270 days after enactment to begin enforcing the requirement and 180 days to issue implementing regulations.
Transparency & Accountability
- Conflict-of-interest certification requirement — SBA loan staff must certify absence of prohibited conflicts in writing before participating in each loan
- Mandatory self-recusal obligation — Employees must disclose and recuse immediately upon discovering a conflict after certifying
Congressional Summary
Small Business Lending Fraud Prevention ActThis bill requires Small Business Administration (SBA) employees who participate in the origination, review, or approval of SBA loans to certify in writing prior to such participation that the employee does not have any conflict of interest with respect to the loan, will disclose any such conflict of interest arising after the certification is made, andunderstands the requirements with respect to conflicts of interest applicable SBA employees.Under current law, federal employees must disclose financial conflicts of interest with respect to a particular matter and recuse themselves from such matter (with limited exceptions upon authorization from the employee's agency designee).The SBA must issue regulations implementing the requirements of this bill.
Legislative Subjects
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- House
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Reported to House
- Action Date
- 2026-02-20
- Date Added
- 2026-06-19
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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