House Small Business Committee Passes Crow’s SBA Cyber Awareness Act

Today, the House Small Business Committee passed the SBA Cyber Awareness Act, H.R. 2331, out of committee by a voice vote. Rep. Jason Crow (CO-06) introduced the bill alongside Representatives Troy Balderson (R-OH), Nydia Velázquez (D-NY), and Steve Chabot (R-OH). The SBA Cyber Awareness Act will be brought to the floor of the House for a vote in the coming weeks.

"Today, Congress took the first step towards strengthening the Small Business Administration's cybersecurity. With cyberattacks being one of the biggest threats to our economy and small businesses, this bill would ensure that we are doing everything we can to protect the millions of small businesses the SBA serves," said Crow.

The bill would expand cybersecurity operations at the SBA by requiring the Small Business Administration to issue a report assessing the agency's ability to combat cyber threats within six months of passage. Specifically, the report would disclose: SBA's cybersecurity infrastructure; the SBA's strategy to improve cybersecurity protections; any equipment used by the SBA and manufactured by a company headquartered China; and any incident of cyber risk at the SBA and the agency's actions to confront it. Finally, recognizing that a cyberattack to the agency could put the sensitive information and intellectual property of small businesses at risk, the bill would require SBA to notify Congress of future breaches with information on those affected and how the breach occurred.

Crow is a member of the House Small Business Committee and chair of the Innovation and Workforce Development Subcommittee.