The U.S. Congress has recessed for the month of August leaving behind important issues yet to be resolved including the budget, which may lead to a government shutdown in September. NASBP, however, continues to be vigilant in advocating on behalf of the surety industry by meeting with key legislators and their staff. In July, to capitalize on the momentum achieved after the NASBP Fly-in, which resulted in over 60 Congressional visits, NASBP met with three key Republicans, who serve on the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Small Business, to ensure their support of H.R. 776, the “Security in Bonding Act.” These U.S. Representatives included Mick Mulvaney (R-SC), David Schweikert (R-AZ), and Tim Huelskamp (R-KS). NASBP understands that, after the August recess, the House Small Business Committee may conduct a markup of a provision of H.R. 776 that will increase the guarantee offered to surety companies from 70% to 90% in the Preferred Program of the Small Business Administration (SBA) Surety Bond Guarantee Program. Also, the bill was referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary, which has jurisdiction over the individual surety provision. NASBP has met with both counsels of the House Committee on the Judiciary’s Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial, and Antitrust Law where H.R. 776 was referred. In addition, NASBP met with U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings’ (D-MD) staff, as a follow up to a NASBP affiliate’s visit during the Fly-in, to discuss further details concerning H.R. 776 and the impact individual sureties have placed on Maryland small businesses and to educate the office about Title 41, which mandates periodic threshold increases to the Federal Miller Act.
Recently, NASBP secured another co-sponsor of H.R. 776 bringing that total to five. Representative Michelle Lujan-Grisham (D-NM) agreed to sign on as a co-sponsor after learning how fraudulent individual surety activity is directly impacting her constituents, specifically Native Americans. At an event hosted for the Congresswoman, NASBP raised this issue before the Congresswoman and several of her constituents, which included elders from various New Mexico tribes, who echoed their concerns with individual surety activity. NASBP has also followed up with the offices of Senators Mark Pryor (D-AR) and Tom Udall (D-NM), which NASBP members visited during the Fly-in. NASBP requested these Senators consider sponsoring a Senate companion bill to H.R. 776.
The Members and staff of Congressional offices often ask NASBP if there have been specific examples of individual surety fraud in their state. NASBP recently took action on a recent individual surety fraud case which occurred in Indiana. NASBP staff met with Representative Todd Young (D-IN) to discuss the issue. If you are aware of individual surety fraud in your state, please bring it to the attention of NASBP Government Relations staff, Larry LeClair at lleclair@nasbp.org or Shannon Crawford at scrawford@nasbp.org. NASBP will notify your Congressional members about this activity.
