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SBA is proposing to revise the regulations for the Small Business Investment Company ("SBIC”) program to significantly reduce barriers to program participation in order to stimulate participation of new SBIC fund managers and funds investing in underserved communities and geographies, capital intensive investments, and technologies critical to national security and economic development. This rule will enable SBIC programmatic support of the Administration’s key priorities of Advancing the Country’s Economic Recovery, Advancing Equity and Supporting Underserved, Vulnerable, and Marginalized Communities, and Tackling Climate Change Emergency and Promoting Economic Resilience while reducing the regulatory burden on new SBIC fund managers who are frequently small businesses themselves. This proposed rule introduces an additional type of SBIC (Accrual SBICs”) to increase program investment diversification and patient capital financing for small businesses and modernize rules to lower financial barriers to program participation. This proposed rule will help SBA implement a regulatory framework in support for Administration priorities by reducing financial and administrative barriers to participate in the SBIC program and modernizing the program’s license and capital commitment offerings to align with a more diversified set of private funds investing in underserved small businesses, capital-intensive small businesses and technologies and industries critical to our national security and global competitiveness. The proposed rule also incorporates the statutory requirements of the Spurring Business in Communities Act of 2017, which was enacted on December 19, 2018.