SBA could release names of PPP loan recipients by early July

The Small Business Administration could release a data set showing which businesses received taxpayer-funded Paycheck Protection Program loans at the beginning of July, an administration source said.

The disclosures will include the names of recipients who received loans worth more than $150,000, as well as addresses, NAICS codes, zip codes, business type, demographic data, non-profit information and number of jobs supported.

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The agency will not reveal precise dollar amounts of the loans and will instead provide a range for each loan. The ranges are:

• $150,000 to $350,000
• $350,000 to $1 million
• $1 million to $2 million
• $2 million to $5 million
• $5 million to $10 million

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Borrowers who receive a loan worth less than $150,000 will not have their names revealed.

Nearly 75 percent of the loans distributed through the $610 billion program are worth more than $150,000, the agency said. As of Tuesday, more than 4.67 million loans worth close to $515 billion had been distributed through the PPP.

The decision by the SBA and Treasury Department, which jointly administer the program, to disclose loan recipients comes after weeks of negotiations, in which both Democrats and Republicans pushed for additional oversight.

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"We are striking the appropriate balance of providing public transparency, while protecting the payroll and personal income information of small businesses, sole proprietors, and independent contractors," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Friday, when the SBA announced it would reveal the names of some borrowers.

The source told FOX Business the data could be released as soon as July. Businesses have until June 30 to apply for a PPP loan, if they have not already done so.

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The program was designed to help businesses with fewer than 500 employees weather the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent economic lockdown. Through the PPP, small businesses could receive loans of up to $10 million. If at least 60 percent goes toward maintaining payroll, the government will forgive it, essentially turning the money into a grant.

During its initial launch, the program faced heavy scrutiny and criticism for granting multimillion-dollar loans to big, publicly traded companies.

At least 439 public companies received forgivable loans totaling more than $1.39 billion through the program, according to Washington, D.C.-based data analytics firm FactSquared. Of those companies, 69 returned the money, or roughly $436 million.

FOX Business' Edward Lawrence contributed to this report