Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act Expands the Scope of the Small Business Reorganization Act

By Jessica Ljustina (Harvard Law School)

Congress passed the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 (“SBRA”) to streamline and reduce the cost of bankruptcy for small businesses; it went into effect on February 19, 2020.

As originally enacted, the Act allowed certain small businesses with no more than approximately $2.7 million of debt to file for bankruptcy under a new subchapter V of chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code.

The recently enacted Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act has temporarily increased the debt limit to $7.5 million for cases commenced in the next year. That may greatly expand the SBRA’s scope, as Professor Robert Lawless has estimated that over 50% of businesses that filed under chapter 11 between 2013 and 2017 had debt below $7.5 million.

The full article is available here.