COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) – The decision to move Colorado’s Small Business Administration regional office out of Denver has one small business advocate worried about its ability to serve small businesses.
On March 6, SBA officials announced relocations for offices in multiple cities that they said “do not comply with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.” The locations include Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, New York City and Seattle.
The founder and president of the American Small Business League said he’s worried that the office will not just move but be downsized, something that could affect their ability to help small businesses.
“The failure rate for small businesses is pretty high and so when you remove that assistance, and when you reduce the staff and the budget for the Small Business Administration, I would say it probably will escalate the number of small businesses that will fail,” Lloyd Chapman said.
11 News has reached out to the SBA about whether they considering downsizing the office. We will let you know when we get an answer.
Chapman said the Small Business Administration’s primary function is to administer the Small Business Act, a law that requires 23 percent of federal contracts to go to small businesses.
“The contracting program directs over $100 billion a year in federal contracts to the small businesses where most of America works, again, it’s an economic stimulus program so it’s designed to channel money into the middle-class economy,” he said.
There has been no word so far on when those relocations will occur or where the offices will move to, but Representative Jeff Crank, who represents CD-5, has floated moving the Colorado office to Colorado Springs.
“What I don’t want is somebody else to try and come along and get it,” he said. “There is a city, just down the road in Colorado Springs that is complying with the law and that’s where we ought to put it.”
When asked about the impact the move would have on employees at the SBA’s Denver office, Crank gave the following answer:
“They can either talk to the SBA administrator or talk to the mayor of Denver and tell them to stop being a sanctuary city and then that way it would stay in Denver,” he said.
In their announcement, SBA officials said the offices will relocate to “less costly, more accessible locations that better serve the small business community and comply with federal immigration law.”
Chapman, however, said the SBA needs more resources, not less.
“There are 34 million small businesses, that’s where most Americans work, they’re responsible for 50 percent of the gross domestic product, 50 percent of the private sector workforce, over 97 percent of US exporters are small businesses and the most important thing is small businesses create over 98 percent of net new jobs,” he said.
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