TRSA Applauds SBA for Withdrawing Small Business Rule Changes

ALEXANDRIA, VA – The Textile Rental Services Association (TRSA) strongly endorsed this week’s move by the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) to withdraw a proposed rule that would change the criteria used to define a small business.

The SBA on Wednesday withdrew its proposed shift in defining small businesses based on their the number of employees, rather than average annual receipts. TRSA and other organizations had expressed serious misgivings that the size-standards change would hurt small businesses.

"TRSA’s principle disagreement was on using employment levels to determine small business size eligibility," said David Rawlinson, chairman of TRSA’s Board of Directors. “This would have been disastrous for many of our members. By establishing an employee ceiling of 200 for the definition of a small business, the SBA’s proposed rule would make many TRSA members ineligible to be classified as small businesses for government programs. We are delighted that the SBA listened to what we had to say and withdrew their proposal, as its effect would have been harmful for many textile rental companies and would have encouraged them to substitute technology for jobs.”

TRSA encouraged the SBA to increase the revenue figures used to calculate small business eligibility, rather than using employee figures, and to maintain the three-year- average method of calculation, rather than a 12-month calculation method, as the rule change proposed. An agency official this week said they would “step back and study this proposal further.”