Review - S 2740 Introduced – Small Business Cyber Resiliency

Last month, Sen Risch (R,ID) introduced S 2740, the Small Business Cyber Resiliency Act. The bill would amend the Small Business Act by adding a new §49, Small Business Cybersecurity. It would establish within the Small Business Administration (SBA) a Central Small Business Cybersecurity Assistance Unit, to serve as a central clearinghouse for cybersecurity resources for small business concerns across the Federal Government. No new funding is authorized in this legislation.

Moving Forward

Risch is a member of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship to which this bill was assigned for consideration, but more importantly, one of his three cosponsors {Sen Shaheen (D,NH)} is Chair of that Committee. This means that there is sufficient influence to see the bill considered in Committee. I see nothing in this bill that would engender any organized opposition. I suspect that the bill would receive bipartisan support.

Since this is a Senate bill, bipartisan support is not sufficient to see the bill move forward. This bill is not politically important enough to take up the Senate’s time under regular order. That means for the consideration of this bill on the Senate floor to take place, it would have to be considered under the Senate’ unanimous consent process. That politically fraught process allows any Senator to object for reasons having nothing to do with the bill, effectively stopping the consideration. The only other way for these provisions to make it into law would be for the language to be included in some other must pass bill, like a spending or authorization bill. That is probably more likely for this bill.

 

For more details about the provisions of this bill, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/s-2740-introduced - subscription required