OUMA — More than $13 million could soon be available for Louisiana small businesses to borrow, part of a $30 billion law signed by President Barack Obama at the end of last month.


The package also promises $12 billion in tax breaks for entrepreneurs, but business experts say it’s still unclear how much it can help or how widely it will be used.

“Banks are being more heavily reviewed and regulated as it relates to the kind of loans they can make, and the criteria to lend has become greater,” said Mike Ferdinand, CEO of the Terrebonne Economic Development Authority, a economic-development group that administers a federal loan program for small businesses. “We’re hopeful that it will free up banks to lend to small businesses. But we really won’t know until we get all the details.”

Small businesses make up the overwhelming majority of companies in Louisiana. There are more than 59,000 companies in Louisiana with fewer than 10 employees, just less than two-thirds of the total number of companies.

The bipartisan bill was backed strongly by Senate Small Business Committee chair and Louisiana Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu.

This legislation would raise Small Business Administration loan guarantee and lending limits, and significantly raise caps on the department’s lending program. The small business tax cuts in the bill include breaks for restaurant owners and retailers who remodel their stores or build new ones. Larger businesses could more quickly recover the costs of capital improvements through depreciation. Long-term investors in some small businesses would be exempt from paying capital gains taxes. Read more...