Disaster Assistance for Rural Communities Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 3278 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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 12, 2020 Mr. RISCH (for himself and Mrs. SHAHEEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship 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 04:25 Feb 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3278.IS S3278 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 3278 IS ‘‘(16) DISASTER DECLARATION IN RURAL 1 AREAS.— 2 ‘‘(A) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph— 3 ‘‘(i) the term ‘rural area’ means an 4 area with a population of less than 5 200,000 outside an urbanized area; and 6 ‘‘(ii) the term ‘significant damage’ 7 means, with respect to property, uninsured 8 losses of not less than 40 percent of the es- 9 timated fair replacement value or pre-dis- 10 aster fair market value of the damaged 11 property, whichever is lower. 12 ‘‘(B) DISASTER DECLARATION.—Notwith- 13 standing section 123.3(a) of title 13, Code of 14 Federal Regulations, or any successor regula- 15 tion, 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 04:25 Feb 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3278.IS S3278 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 3278 IS ‘‘(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 Act, 6 and every year thereafter, the Administrator 7 shall submit to the Committee on Small Busi- 8 ness and Entrepreneurship of the Senate and 9 the Committee on Small Business of the House 10 of Representatives a report on, with respect to 11 the 1-year period preceding submission of the 12 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 04:25 Feb 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3278.IS S3278 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 3278 IS ‘‘(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 120 days after 14 the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 15 General of the United States shall submit to the 16 Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship 17 of the Senate and the Committee on Small Business 18 of 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 metropolitan areas when seeking to ob- 22 tain disaster assistance under section 7(b) of 23 the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)); and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:25 Feb 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3278.IS S3278 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 3278 IS (B) legislative recommendations for im- 1 proving access to disaster assistance for com- 2 munities in rural areas. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:25 Feb 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S3278.IS S3278 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS