A new bill introduced by U.S. Reps. Ed Perlmutter and Mike Coffman could relieve some of the pressure small banks are under in the commercial real estate lending market, GlobeSt.com reported.

The bill, Capital Access for Main Street, would temporarily allow banks with less than $10 billion in assets to amortize their losses on commercial real estate over a seven-year period.

It would also address some concerns over the debt that is scheduled to come due in the next few years, debt that will be unlikely to find refinancing.

Thomas Maxwell, a partner in the Indianapolis-based law firm Barnes & Thornburg LLP who works with community banks, told GlobeSt.com that the bill could free up sustainable amounts of capital in the short term for more lending.

“Permitting banks to amortize over time rather than recognize immediate losses in their portfolios – in this case, their real estate portfolios – will allow them to maintain sufficient capital to continue making loans rather than building up their reserves,” Maxwell said.

However, there are doubts as to whether the legislation would affect the liquidity market at all.

Jeffrey Rogers, president of New York City-based Integra Realty Resources, said there are several reasons the bill is unlikely to have an influence.

First, he said, the bill is mainly focused on increasing small businesses’ access to capital in an effort to simulate job growth.

Rogers also said that many small banks still consider commercial real estate to be a risky asset class. So, even if they had more access to capital to lend, they are still unlikely to increase their exposure right away.

“Most of the small banks are still working through their troubled portfolio of real estate related loans,” Rogers said. “And the appetite for additional exposure to CRE is just not there for many of these banks.”