Local News and Emergency Information Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6897 To expand the waiver of affiliation rules for certain business concerns with more than 1 physical location, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 15, 2020 Mr. CICILLINE (for himself and Mr. SENSENBRENNER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Small Business A BILL To expand the waiver of affiliation rules for certain business concerns with more than 1 physical location, 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 ‘‘Local News and Emer- 4 gency Information Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE PAYCHECK PROTECTION 6 PROGRAM. 7 Section 7(a)(36)(D) of the Small Business Act (15 8 U.S.C. 636(a)(36)(D)) is amended— 9 (1) in clause (iii)— 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:30 Jun 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6897.IH H6897 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6897 IH (A) by striking ‘‘business concern that em- 1 ploys’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘business 2 concern that— 3 ‘‘(I) employs’’; 4 (B) in subclause (I), by striking the period 5 at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 6 (C) by adding at the end the following: 7 ‘‘(II) is assigned a North Amer- 8 ican Industry Classification System 9 code beginning with 511110, 515112, 10 or 515120 at the time of disbursal 11 shall be eligible to receive a covered 12 loan for business expenses of the busi- 13 ness concern that are associated with 14 an individual physical location of that 15 business concern, provided that— 16 ‘‘(aa) the proceeds of the 17 loan are used to support expenses 18 associated with the continued 19 provision of local news, informa- 20 tion, content, or emergency infor- 21 mation; and 22 ‘‘(bb) at the time of dis- 23 bursal, the individual physical lo- 24 cation does not exceed the size 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:30 Jun 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6897.IH H6897 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6897 IH standard established by the Ad- 1 ministrator for the applicable 2 code.’’; 3 (2) in clause (iv)— 4 (A) in subclause (II), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 5 the end; 6 (B) in subclause (III), by striking the pe- 7 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 8 (C) by adding at the end the following: 9 ‘‘(IV) an individual physical loca- 10 tion of a business concern that, as of 11 the date on which the covered loan is 12 disbursed, is assigned a North Amer- 13 ican Industry Classification System 14 code beginning with 511110, 515112, 15 or 515120 and does not exceed the 16 size standard established by the Ad- 17 ministrator for the applicable code, 18 provided that, as a condition of the 19 waiver under this subclause, the busi- 20 ness concern shall not pay, distribute, 21 or otherwise provide the covered loan 22 or any portion of the covered loan to 23 any other entity other than the indi- 24 vidual physical location that is the in- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:30 Jun 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6897.IH H6897 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6897 IH tended recipient of the covered loan.’’; 1 and 2 (3) by adding at the end the following: 3 ‘‘(vii) TREATMENT OF CERTAIN BUSI- 4 NESS CONCERNS.— 5 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—A business 6 concern that is assigned a North 7 American Industry Classification Sys- 8 tem Code beginning with 511110, 9 515112, or 515120 at the time of dis- 10 bursal of a covered loan and is a 11 franchisee or affiliate of or owned or 12 controlled by a parent company or an 13 investment company, or management 14 thereof, shall be treated as an inde- 15 pendent, non-affiliated entity upon 16 certification to the Administrator that 17 the request for the covered loan is 18 necessary to support expenses associ- 19 ated with the continued provision of 20 local news, information, content, or 21 emergency information. 22 ‘‘(II) REPORT.—The Adminis- 23 trator and the Secretary of the Treas- 24 ury shall submit to the Committee on 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:30 Jun 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6897.IH H6897 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6897 IH Small Business and Entrepreneurship 1 of the Senate, the Committee on 2 Small Business of the House of Rep- 3 resentatives, and the Congressional 4 Oversight Commission established 5 under section 4020 of division B of 6 the CARES Act (Public Law 116– 7 136) a report regarding covered loans 8 made to business concerns described 9 in subclause (I).’’. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:30 Jun 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6897.IH H6897 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS