House committee advances bill to modernize CLIMBER small-business loan program, moves $5 million to startup fund

Representative Mabry, a co-prime sponsor, told the House Business Affairs & Labor Committee that House Bill 10,003 updates the Colorado Small Business Recovery and Resiliency Loan Program—known in testimony as CLIMBER—to serve ongoing small-business needs beyond the pandemic-era recovery phase. "We established the Colorado Small Business Recovery and Resiliency Loan Program or CLIMBER to provide assistance to small businesses when the landscape changes," Mabry said, outlining changes that include reducing the private leverage requirement and allowing loan payment deferrals.

The bill would permit the program to operate as a statewide, revolving source of working capital for businesses that typically cannot access traditional bank financing, sponsors said. Sam Taylor, CLIMBER senior program director at the Office of Economic Development and International Trade, told lawmakers the proposal makes three main changes: it lowers the private-match requirement from 4:1 to a permissive 1:1, revises the geographic-distribution language via an amendment to preserve metrics while enabling flexibility, and reallocates $5,000,000 from CLIMBER to the Colorado Startup Loan Fund to expand microloan access and technical assistance.

Treasurer Dave Young, who chairs the program's oversight board, voiced conditional support: "This bill makes thoughtful updates that reflect how the economy has changed," he said, but warned lawmakers about the program's long-term sustainability if CLIMBER resources are drawn down for budget balancing. Young said oversight-board members want to study how a reduced private match would affect the state's amount of first-loss capital.

Committee members pressed sponsors and witnesses on risk and program overlap with federal Small Business Administration offerings. Representative Marshall asked how CLIMBER differs from SBA programs. Rep. Ricks and witnesses answered that CLIMBER targets much smaller, early-stage loans deployed through community development financial institutions and nonprofit lenders and that typical downstream borrowers may lack the track record required by traditional bank underwriting.

Witnesses provided performance details during questioning. Taylor said the program has financed businesses across urban and rural counties, supported existing jobs and created new positions, and that contributor banks have not been defaulted on. CHFA commercial loan officer Terrence Grady explained the distinction between delinquency and default and said some downstream lenders have loans "working" but that contributory lenders had no defaults.

Sponsors offered and the committee adopted an amendment (L001) clarifying legislative intent to ensure funds are distributed across regions and business owners statewide. With that amendment, the committee voted to send House Bill 10,003 as amended to the Committee of the Whole with a favorable recommendation. The committee recorded a roll-call tally of 10–3 in favor.

The bill now moves to the Committee of the Whole for further consideration.