SBA Summoned to Court Over Women’s Set-Aside A federal judge has set a hearing Nov. 7 on SBA’s delay in implementing the set-aside program for woman-owned businesses. The U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce asked U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton in Washington to call a status hearing after SBA said the program will not be up and running before 2008, more than seven years after it was signed into law. “All of the agency deadlines have long since expired and the implementation of the program is nowhere in sight,” the Chamber’s lawyers told Judge Walton. After the Chamber sued SBA in 2004 over delays in implementing the program, Judge Walton ordered the agency to submit progress reports to him. This is the first time he has called a hearing to examine SBA’s progress. The Chamber’s lawyers said SBA did not object to the hearing. In his 2005 ruling, Walton denied the Chamber’s request for an injunction ordering SBA to implement the program, but said he would retain jurisdiction in the case. In its latest filing the Chamber asked the judge to “evaluate SBA’s actions, and take any other steps [he] deems necessary.” “The SBA has flouted Congress’s directives and blatantly ignored self-imposed deadlines responsive to the court’s order,” the Chamber’s filing said. The women’s set-aside was signed into law in December 2000, but SBA says difficulties in determining eligibility for the program have led to delays. The agency said the rules had to be crafted in compliance with Supreme Court decisions on affirmative action. In his most recent statement, SBA Administrator Steven Preston said on Oct. 3 that the agency had revised its proposed rule and re-submitted it for a second round of review by 24 affected agencies. The review process takes at least 90 days. He said the further review was necessary because agencies raised “various issues” about how the program would work, but he gave no details. The House Small Business Committee has approved legislation that would order immediate implementation of the set-aside. (See story.) No House vote on the bill has been scheduled. Leaders of the Senate Small Business Committee called on SBA to set a timeline for implementing the program. “After seven years of delays, I am tired of listening to excuses,” Chairman John Kerry, D-MA, said it a statement. He was joined by the ranking Republican, Olympia Snowe of Maine.