Disaster Assistance for Rural Communities Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3192 To modify the requirements for the Administrator of the Small Business Administration relating to declaring a disaster in a rural area, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 13, 2021 Mr. GOLDEN (for himself and Mr. HAGEDORN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Small Business A BILL To modify the requirements for the Administrator of the Small Business Administration relating to declaring a disaster in a rural area, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Disaster Assistance 4 for Rural Communities Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. DISASTER DECLARATION IN RURAL AREAS. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 7(b) of the Small Busi- 7 ness Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)) is amended by inserting after 8 paragraph (15) the following: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:28 Jun 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3192.IH H3192 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3192 IH ‘‘(16) DISASTER DECLARATION IN RURAL 1 AREAS.— 2 ‘‘(A) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph— 3 ‘‘(i) the term ‘rural area’ means a ge- 4 ographic area with a population of less 5 than 200,000 outside an urbanized area; 6 and 7 ‘‘(ii) the term ‘significant damage’ 8 means, with respect to property, uninsured 9 losses of not less than 40 percent of the es- 10 timated fair replacement value or pre-dis- 11 aster fair market value of the damaged 12 property, whichever is lower. 13 ‘‘(B) DISASTER DECLARATION.—For the 14 purpose of making loans under paragraph (1) 15 or (2), the Administrator may declare a disaster 16 in a rural area for which a major disaster was 17 declared by the President under section 401 of 18 the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 19 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170) 20 if— 21 ‘‘(i) the Governor of the State in 22 which the rural area is located requests 23 such a declaration; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:28 Jun 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3192.IH H3192 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3192 IH ‘‘(ii) any home, small business con- 1 cern, private nonprofit organization, or 2 small agricultural cooperative has incurred 3 significant damage in the rural area. 4 ‘‘(C) SBA REPORT.—Not later than 120 5 days after the date of enactment of this para- 6 graph, and every year thereafter, the Adminis- 7 trator shall submit to the Committee on Small 8 Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate 9 and the Committee on Small Business of the 10 House of Representatives a report on, with re- 11 spect to the 1-year period preceding submission 12 of the report— 13 ‘‘(i) any economic injury that resulted 14 from a major disaster declared by the 15 President under section 401 of the Robert 16 T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 17 Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170) in a rural 18 area; 19 ‘‘(ii) each request for assistance made 20 by the Governor of a State under subpara- 21 graph (B)(i) and the response of the Ad- 22 ministrator, including the timeline for each 23 response; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:28 Jun 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3192.IH H3192 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3192 IH ‘‘(iii) any regulatory changes that will 1 impact the ability of communities in rural 2 areas to obtain disaster assistance under 3 this subsection.’’. 4 (b) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 120 days after 5 the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of 6 the Small Business Administration shall issue regulations 7 to carry out the amendment made by subsection (a). 8 (c) GAO REPORT.— 9 (1) DEFINITION OF RURAL AREA.—In this sub- 10 section, the term ‘‘rural area’’ means an area with 11 a population of less than 200,000 outside an urban- 12 ized area. 13 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the 14 date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller Gen- 15 eral of the United States shall submit to the Com- 16 mittee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of 17 the Senate and the Committee on Small Business of 18 the House of Representatives a report on— 19 (A) any unique challenges that commu- 20 nities in rural areas face compared to commu- 21 nities in urbanized areas when seeking to obtain 22 disaster assistance under section 7(b) of the 23 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)); and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:28 Jun 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3192.IH H3192 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3192 IH (B) legislative recommendations for im- 1 proving access to disaster assistance for com- 2 munities in rural areas. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:28 Jun 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3192.IH H3192 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS