Advocacy Center

CDFA is the voice of development finance on Capitol Hill and with the federal Administration by providing leadership on policy decisions that impact the industry. CDFA is a bipartisan organization that supports sound public policy and the leadership involved in making important decisions affecting development finance.

Each year CDFA produces a Policy Agenda and works with legislators and federal officials to advance these initiatives. Additionally, CDFA holds briefings, trainings, and advises legislative and federal stakeholders on numerous topics.

Want regular updates on legislative and federal affairs? CDFA publishes the highly popular Legislative & Federal Affairs Update each month. This free newsletter features development finance news, resources, case studies, and the latest from Capitol Hill and the federal government.

Subscribe

-Latest Developments

Development Finance Solutions

for Building Back Better

Development Finance Solutions for Building Back Better
Policy Priorities for the Biden-Harris Administration

Access to affordable, flexible, and efficient public and private capital remains the primary barrier to economic development in the United States. Over the past four decades, federal support for capital formation and capital access has shifted from a heavily subsidized system to one focused on leverage, credit enhancement, and the removal of financing barriers. Despite this migration to a risk-reduced approach, access to capital for numerous sectors – small business, entrepreneurs, manufacturing, clean energy, agriculture, rural infrastructure, urban revitalization – remains a significant challenge.

The ideas offered in this paper provide a roadmap for the Biden-Harris Administration to use development finance solutions for building back better. These recommendations have been carefully crafted to address the multiple, interconnected challenges facing the U.S. economy. They focus on four key policy considerations:

Restore Local Economies
Preserve Small Businesses
Invest in Our Communities
Protect Our Environment

CDFA is prepared to assist the Biden-Harris Administration with developing the recommendations and opportunities outlined in this paper. We believe enacting these development finance solutions will immediately unlock capital to fuel investment, create jobs, build infrastructure, and increase the quality of life for every American.

Development Finance Solutions for Building Back Better

View Press Release

Details of the American Rescue Plan

SSBCI Included in House Package

American Rescue Plan Includes CDFA Small Business Package

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, a $1.9 trillion stimulus package to support COVID-19 recovery and relief.

This bill includes $10 billion to reauthorize the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) -- a top legislative priority of CDFA and a key tenet of our Policy Priorities for the Biden-Harris Administration.

The $1.9 trillion bill contains many key provisions related to economic development:

Reauthorization of SSBCI with $10 billion
$219 billion for States, territories, and Tribal Governments
$130 billion to Local Governments
Modifications to the PPP and EIDL programs
Appropriates $3.6 billion to the USDA to support the food supply chain
Appropriates $50 billion to FEMA
Appropriates $3 billion to the EDA
Provides $30 billion in Federal Transit Administration grants
Provides $8 billion in relief for Airports
$5 billion for homelessness assistance and supportive services
$100 million for Emergency Assistance for Rural Housing
$750 million for Housing Assistance for Native Americans

View a Section-by-Section Summary
View the Full Text
View H.R. 1319 on Congress.gov

Current Status of SSBCI

Details on Proposed $10B Program

SSBCI Included in House Version of American Rescue Plan

CDFA worked closely with Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) and the House Financial Services Committee to ensure that SSBCI reauthorization was included in the House's recovery bill. The American Rescue Plan builds on SSBCI's initial success by providing $10 billion of new funding split into two categories: $5 billion in formula funds to all states and an additional $5 billion pool of competitive funding.

Senators Peters, Stabenow Introduce Reauthorization of the State Small Business Credit Initiative

Senators Gary Peters (D-MI) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) have introduced a bill to reauthorize the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) in the U.S. Senate as S. 258. CDFA has worked closely with these offices stress the importance of recapitalizing state programs that had expired in 2017 to bring immediate support to small businesses hurt by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

CDFA will be working with our members and partners across the country to encourage Congress to pass this bill. Development finance agencies are encouraged to let their voice be heard on Capitol Hill by supporting SSBCI.

Visit the CDFA SSBCI Page
Download the Sample Letter to Congress
Add Your Organization to the Sign-On Letter
Overview of SSBCI
View S.258 on Congress.gov

-CDFA Policy Agenda

Restore Local Economies

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed social and racial inequities and increasing income inequality in communities across the nation. In order to restore local economies, bedrock financing tools must be expanded and reformed to meet the needs of local governments to serve all residents and fuel local economic recovery. CDFA recommends:

Reforming Manufacturing and Agricultural Bonds - Passing the Modernizing Agricultural and Manufacturing Bonds Act will update the tax code's private activity bond rules for Industrial Development Bonds and Agricultural Bonds.

Creating Permanent Disaster Recovery Bonds - Create a permanent bond financing tool that can be accessed immediately after disaster strikes, and that can leverage private investment for longer-term redevelopment of essential infrastructure.

Reinstating Advance Refundings - Tax-exempt advance refunding bonds were used by local governments to refinance existing debt at lower interest rates - until they were removed by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. State and local governments need a low-cost option for refinancing their debt.

Preserve Small Businesses

Small businesses have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly those that are owned by persons of color or those that are located in low-income neighborhoods. If enacted, several policies would assist in the preservation of small businesses through locally-driven financing initiatives. CDFA recommends:

Reauthorize the State Small Business Credit Initiative - Reauthorizing the SSBCI program is a practical, pragmatic, and proven solution for helping America’s small businesses access low-cost capital.

Create Local Economy Preservation Funds (LEPFs) - LEPFs would allow states, cities or regions to establish holding trusts to acquire struggling, but viable, businesses that face closure, contraction or external acquisition during the crisis.

Strengthen the SBA Microloan Program - Reform the SBA Microloan Program to meet the urgent lending needs of small businesses while addressing the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on minority-owned businesses.

Enact the RELIEF Act for Main Street - A Main Street Lending Program would provide funds to cities, counties, and states to seed and scale local small business relief funds that are flexible and can be tailored to meet local needs.

Enact the Farming Support to States Act - Provide funding to state departments of agriculture to support food and agriculture systems, enabling states to tailor their responses to meet the needs of their unique food systems.

Invest in Our Communities

Strong communities require investments in disadvantaged areas and sustainable infrastructure projects. Partnerships between the federal, state, and local governments must also exist. There are numerous policies that, if enacted, would ensure steady investment in communities that need it the most. CDFA recommends:

Reform Opportunity Zones - Conduct a thoughtful evaluation of how Opportunity Zones can be reformed to fulfill their promise of attracting long-term, patient capital to the places that need it most.

Permanently Authorize the New Markets Tax Credit - The New Markets Tax Credit program should be made permanent, as it is a vital tool to drive investment into communities struggling with unemployment, high poverty, and overall disinvestment.

Create Qualified Infrastructure Bonds - Qualified Infrastructure Bonds would allow municipalities to issue taxable bonds and receive a direct subsidy from the federal government equal to a percentage of the bond’s interest.

Create an Infrastructure Pre-Development Fund - A federal Infrastructure Pre-Development Fund would address long-term financing gaps while catalyzing public-private partnerships to support resilient, community-led infrastructure projects.

Create a Federal TIF Bond Guarantee Program - To overcome the challenge of issuing Tax Increment Finance (TIF) bonds, we advocate the creation of a federal bond credit enhancement program for bonds secured with revenue generated by a qualified TIF district.

Permanently Authorize the EB-5 Program - Permanently authorize the EB-5 Program to continue its success as a catalyst for direct foreign investment in American job-generating projects.

Protect Our Environment

Climate change is rapidly accelerating and the wide-reaching impacts are being felt by all Americans. Several financing reforms must be immediately enacted in order to protect our environment and leave our planet in a better state for the future. CDFA recommends:

Enact the Investing in Competitive Clean Energy Act - The Investing in Competitive Clean Energy (ICCE) Act would be an efficient means of attracting significant private investment to clean energy.

Make the Investment and Production Tax Credits Permanent - The Solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC) and Renewable Electricity Production Tax Credit (PTC) should be made permanent to ensure continued investment in clean, renewable energy technologies.

Remove Volume Cap from Water and Sewer Bonds - Water and sewer private activity bonds should be removed from state volume cap requirements to allow for more water and sewer infrastructure projects to be financed by bonds than is currently possible.

Create a Bond Category for Electric Vehicle Charging Stations - The creation of a new Exempt Facility Bond category for vehicle recharging stations would complement existing federal programs by making bonds available for the rapid expansion of this type of clean energy infrastructure.

-Legislation Tracker

CDFA tracks economic development legislation in Congress. Below you can see legislation relevant to development finance in the current Congress. Click on a legislative item to see a brief summary and learn more about it.

-H.R. 1319 - The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021

View a Section-by-Section Summary
View the Full Text
View H.R. 1319 on Congress.gov

This is the House version of the American Rescue Plan, the Biden Administration's $1.9 trillion COVID relief package. It includes a wide range of provisions related to economic development, including:

Reauthorization of SSBCI
$219 billion for States, territories, and Tribal Governments
$130 billion to Local Governments
Modifications to the PPP and EIDL programs
Appropriates $3.6 billion to the USDA to support the food supply chain
Appropriates $50 billion to FEMA
Appropriates $3 billion to the EDA
Provides $30 billion in Federal Transit Administration grants
Provides $8 billion in relief for Airports
$5 billion for homelessness assistance and supportive services
$100 million for Emergency Assistance for Rural Housing
$750 million for Housing Assistance for Native Americans

-S. 258 - Small Business Access to Capital Act

View S. 258 on Congress.gov
Learn More about SSBCI

The Small Business Access to Capital Act – which Peters and Stabenow previously introduced in 2020 – builds on the initial program's success by providing $10 billion of new funding split into two categories: $5 billion in formula funds to all states and an additional $5 billion pool of competitive funding.

-H.R. 1321 and S. 456 - New Markets Tax Credit Extension Act of 2021

View H.R. 1321 on Congress.gov
View S. 456 on Congress.gov
View the Full Text

Permanently extends the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC)
Authorizes the NMTC at $5 billion in annual credit authority
Adjusts the amount for inflation in future years
Exempts NMTC investments from the Alternative Minimum Tax

-H.R. 848 - GREEN Act

Section-by-Section Summary
Full Text

Extends the 30% ITC for solar and geothermal through the end of 2025, before beginning a phasedown
The Section 179D energy-efficient commercial buildings deduction would increase from $1.80 to $3 per square foot starting in 2022
Section 45L new energy-efficient home credit would be extended through 2026
Extends the PTC for wind energy at the current level of 60% through the end of 2026
Extends PTC for landfill gas, trash, qualified hydropower, and marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy facilities

-S. 98 - Neighborhood Homes Investment Act

View S. 98 on Congress.gov
View the Full Text

creates a federal tax credit that covers the cost between building or renovating a home in these areas and the price at which they can be sold;
requires that homes constructed or revitalized under the program must be sold to homeowners making less than 140 percent of the area median income;
The maximum credit amount is the lesser of 35% of total development costs (property acquisition plus construction and/or rehabilitation cost) or 80% of the national median home sale price;
credits are awarded to project sponsors—developers, lenders, or local governments—through a competitive statewide application process administered by each state’s housing finance agency;
State agencies would have annual allocation of either $6 per capita or $8 million, whichever is higher.

-H.R. 970 - Opportunity Zone Extension Act of 2021

View H.R. 970 on Congress.gov

extends the Opportunity Zones elective period until December 31, 2028;
extends the Opportunity Zones deferral period until December 31, 2028;

-S. 203 - Healthy Food Access for All Americans Act

Section-by-Section Summary
Full Text

Create a 15% tax credit for new grocery store construction in a food desert
Create a 10% tax credit for companies that retrofit an existing store’s healthy food section in a food desert
Create a grant for 15% of construction costs for certified food banks that build new permanent structures in food deserts
Create a grant for 10% of annual operating costs for nonprofit certified temporary access markets, such as farmers markets, mobile markets and some food banks, that operate in a food desert.

-H.R. 5422 - The Modernizing Agricultural and Manufacturing Bonds Act (MAMBA)

Learn more about MAMBA

Expanding the definition of “manufacturing facility”
Eliminating restrictions on “directly related & ancillary facilities”
Increasing the maximum IDB size limitation to $30 million
Increasing the limitation on small issue bond proceeds for first-time farmers
Repealing the separate dollar limitation on the use of small issue bond proceeds for depreciable property
Modifying the definition of “substantial farmland”