WASHINGTON — The new Small Business Administration 2006 National Ombudsman Report to Congress gave NCUA a grade of "B" for its response time to regulatory comments received from small businesses and other entities.
The Office of the Ombudsman works to create a regulatory enforcement environment that is responsive to small business concerns. The office examined NCUA and nearly 30 other federal agencies on whether they have a written or online nonretaliation policy and what tools are used to inform small businesses about their rights under the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996, among other criteria.
NCUA earned As for its nonretaliation policy and compliance assistance. The agency earned a "C" for "informs about SBREFA" rights. According to SBA, in order to receive an "A" in this category, an agency must directly make reference to the Ombudsman office on both its Web site and at the time a citation or notice of regulatory violation occurs. NCUA is one of three agencies that are Federal Financial Institution Regulators, which have established Ombudsman functions pursuant to the Riegle Community Development and Regulatory Improvement Act. There were several areas that did not apply to NCUA. Overall, NCUA earned a grade of B.
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In other areas, the Ombudsman's report mentioned SBA's ongoing response to small businesses still impacted by 2005′s Hurricane Katrina. In August 2006, 40,000 business owners had yet to receive any funds from the disaster loans for which they had applied, according to the report. By December, that total had dropped to less than 5,000. SBA's disaster portfolio included about $8 million in undisbursed loans in July 2006. By December, that figure had dropped to less than $3 million, the reported noted.
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