How a BDC industry advocate shapes policies in Washington

Tonnie Wybensinger, Head of Government Relations for the Small Business Investors Association — interviewed at the AICA BDC Forum in New York on June 11 — discusses the role that lobbyists play in the legislative process and how current efforts to improve the tax treatment of business-development companies, as well as to level the playing field with mutual funds when calculating expense ratios for fund-of-funds. Those efforts — which have been ongoing for years — could soon be coming to a head, with the BDC tax-parity legislation included in the "One Big Beautiful Bill" currently winding through Congress.