SBA must release PPP and EIDL borrower information by December 1

Courts SBA Covid-19 FOIA

On November 24, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia denied the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) request for stay and ordered the release of the names, addresses, and precise loan amounts of all Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) by December 1. As previously covered by InfoBytes, the court ordered the SBA to supplement their July disclosure and release the “names, addresses, and precise loan amounts of all individuals and entities that obtained PPP and EIDL COVID-related loans by November 19, 2020,” concluding that the SBA’s claimed FOIA exemptions do not cover the requested information disclosures. The SBA moved to stay the order to “preserve [the] SBA’s right to appeal and to avoid irreparable harm to [the] SBA and to privacy and business confidentiality interests of the millions of individuals and businesses….” The court initially granted a temporary stay to review the motion (covered by InfoBytes here). Upon review, the court denied the stay, concluding that staying the disclosure through an appeal “would deprive the public of information critical to an ongoing national debate of considerable importance, as well as basic details surrounding an unprecedented federal relief effort financed by taxpayer dollars.” The SBA must release the supplemental information by December 1, however, the court noted that “nothing in this decision prevents SBA from seeking its desired relief in the Court of Appeals before that date.”

Updated PPP loan data available here.