In August, the Small Business Administration, an independently-run government agency, announced a proposal that would change its size standards for what qualifies as a small business. The new methodology would result in over one hundred thousand firms newly eligible for small-business status, with very few losing eligibility. The new methodology also significantly consolidates and simplifies the use of the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes for small business eligibility.

Approved SBA lenders can offer SBA loans to eligible businesses that are backed by the SBA, offering lower down payments, longer repayment terms, and competitive business loan rates. The SBA in turn guarantees a portion of the loan issued by the lender.

America’s Credit Unions has written in support of the changes as it will greatly increase the number of businesses eligible for SBA lending programs, which credit unions can administer. The rule changes would also increase the number of credit unions eligible to be SBA lenders. Per America’s Credit Unions, the proposal “would also raise the asset threshold to determine small business status for credit unions to $5.031 billion (up from the current $850 million).” Under this higher asset limit, 429 additional credit unions would qualify as small businesses, benefiting from the program.

However, not all are excited about the changes. Existing small business owners voiced complaints during a virtual town hall held by the SBA. One individual pointed at the 11x increase in average annual receipts used as a standard, from $24.5 million to $295 million. “We’re concerned that an increase this large would allow much bigger firms to qualify as small and to compete for the same small business set-aside and woman-owned small set-aside opportunities,” said Alexandra Afari, CEO of IQ Leverage.

Others have supported the idea of increasing the limits, but not to the extent proposed. Some are concerned about the extreme increases in some areas, advocating for smaller increases over time, allowing the SBA to gauge whether there are any negative externalities to increasing the limits.

Though the comment period was set to end this week, the SBA has extended the comment period an additional 60 days, closing November 20. A GovCon Intelligence analysis showed that of the over 1,800 comments filed as of Monday, 87% were against the proposals, with 59% opposed entirely.