Saving Our Street Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6949 To permit the Secretary of the Treasury to provide direct funding to certain entities. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 19, 2020 Ms. PRESSLEY (for herself, Ms. BASS, Mr. MEEKS, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. NEGUSE, Ms. OMAR, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. CASTRO of Texas, Mr. MCNERNEY, Mr. COHEN, Mr. MCEACHIN, Mr. TED LIEU of California, Mr. KHANNA, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. LAWSON of Florida, Ms. FUDGE, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. NORTON, Mr. HASTINGS, Ms. ADAMS, Ms. SCANLON, Mr. RYAN, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. CLAY, Mr. ESPAILLAT, and Ms. JOHNSON of Texas) in- troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Small Business, and in addition to the Committee on the Budget, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider- ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To permit the Secretary of the Treasury to provide direct funding to certain entities. 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 ‘‘Saving Our Street 4 Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 Jun 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6949.IH H6949 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6949 IH SEC. 2. GRANTS TO SMALL BUSINESSES. 1 (a) DEFINITION.—In this section: 2 (1) COVERED PERIOD.—The term ‘‘covered pe- 3 riod’’ means the period beginning on February 15, 4 2020 and ending on December 31, 2020. 5 (2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti- 6 ty’’— 7 (A) means an entity that— 8 (i) is— 9 (I) a community small business, 10 including a self-employed worker, 11 independent contractor, or sole propri- 12 etor, or a community nonprofit with 13 less than— 14 (aa) $1,000,000 in gross 15 revenue; 16 (bb) $500,000 in gross re- 17 ceipts for nonprofits; or 18 (cc) 10 employees; or 19 (II) a small business with— 20 (aa) less than 20 employees 21 in a low-income community; and 22 (bb) not less than 50 per- 23 cent of employees who live in a 24 low-income community; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 Jun 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6949.IH H6949 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6949 IH (ii) has suffered a drop in revenue of 1 over 20 percent of gross revenue since 2 February 15, 2020; and 3 (B) does not include entities that are pub- 4 licly traded companies, private equity firms, or 5 hedge funds. 6 (3) EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘employee’’ in- 7 cludes— 8 (A) individuals employed on a full-time, 9 part-time, or other basis; 10 (B) independent contractors; 11 (C) any individual in a jurisdiction subject 12 to a stay-at-home order, even if the employee 13 has not physically returned to work. 14 (4) LOW-INCOME COMMUNITY.—The term ‘‘low- 15 income community’’ means a census tract (or equiv- 16 alent geographic area defined by the United States 17 Census Bureau) in which at least 50 percent of 18 households have an income less than 60 percent of 19 the area median gross income, as determined by the 20 Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. 21 (5) PAYROLL COSTS.—The term ‘‘payroll costs’’ 22 means— 23 (A) the sum of payments of any compensa- 24 tion that is a— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 Jun 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6949.IH H6949 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6949 IH (i) salary, wage, commission, or simi- 1 lar compensation; 2 (ii) payment of cash tip or equivalent; 3 (iii) payment for vacation, parental, 4 family, medical, or sick leave; 5 (iv) allowance for dismissal or separa- 6 tion; 7 (v) payment required for the provi- 8 sions of group health care benefits, includ- 9 ing insurance premiums; 10 (vi) payment of any retirement ben- 11 efit; or 12 (vii) payment of State or local tax as- 13 sessed on the compensation of employees 14 or owners; 15 (B) the sum of payments of any compensa- 16 tion to or income of a sole proprietor or inde- 17 pendent contractor— 18 (i) that is a wage, commission, in- 19 come, net earnings from self-employment, 20 or similar compensation; and 21 (ii) in an amount that is not more 22 than $100,000 in 1 year, as prorated for 23 the covered period; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 Jun 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6949.IH H6949 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6949 IH (C) the compensation of an individual em- 1 ployee in excess of an annual salary of 2 $100,000, as prorated for the covered period; 3 (D) qualified sick leave wages for which a 4 credit is allowed under section 7001 of the 5 Families First Coronavirus Response Act (Pub- 6 lic Law 116– 127); or 7 (E) qualified family leave wages for which 8 a credit is allowed under section 7003 of the 9 Families First Coronavirus Response Act (Pub- 10 lic Law 116–127). 11 (6) SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVAN- 12 TAGED INDIVIDUALS.—The term ‘‘socially and eco- 13 nomically disadvantaged individuals’’ means individ- 14 uals described in paragraphs (5) and (6) of section 15 8(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(a)). 16 (7) VETERANS ORGANIZATION.—The term ‘‘vet- 17 erans organization’’ means an organization that is 18 described in section 501(c)(19) of the Internal Rev- 19 enue Code that is exempt from taxation under sec- 20 tion 501(a) of such Code. 21 (b) GRANTS.— 22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Treas- 23 ury shall create the Microbusiness Assistance Fund 24 which may provide a grant to an eligible entity in an 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 Jun 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6949.IH H6949 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 6949 IH amount not greater than $250,000 to be used only 1 for— 2 (A) rehiring or hiring employees of the en- 3 tity who were furloughed or laid off after Feb- 4 ruary 15, 2020; 5 (B) payment of, on or after the date de- 6 scribed in subparagraph (A), payroll, salaries, 7 commissions, or similar compensations, payroll 8 taxes, employer compensation, rent (including 9 under a lease agreement) or mortgage, includ- 10 ing payments of interest on any mortgage obli- 11 gation (not including prepayment of or payment 12 of principal on a mortgage obligation), utilities, 13 or insurance; 14 (C) providing healthcare and benefits to 15 employees at the same or similar levels as the 16 entity provided on the date described in sub- 17 paragraph (A), including continuation of group 18 healthcare benefits during periods of paid sick, 19 medical, or family leave, and insurance pre- 20 miums; and 21 (D) debt obligations that were incurred be- 22 fore the covered period. 23 (2) ELIGIBILITY.—No person shall be denied a 24 grant under this subsection on the basis of— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 Jun 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6949.IH H6949 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 6949 IH (A) any criminal history or involvement 1 with the criminal legal system; or 2 (B) using an individual taxpayer identifica- 3 tion number issued pursuant to section 6109(i) 4 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 5 (3) PRIORITY.— 6 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 7 give priority to people of color, veterans, 8 women-owned community businesses, and so- 9 cially and economically disadvantaged individ- 10 uals as it pertains to historically underrep- 11 resented businesses. 12 (B) HISTORICALLY UNDERREPRESENTED 13 BUSINESSES.—Of the amounts made available 14 under this section, 75 percent shall be provided 15 to businesses or nonprofits owned and con- 16 trolled by 1 or more socially and economically 17 disadvantaged individuals. 18 (4) OTHER ASSISTANCE.—An entity that re- 19 ceives a grant under this subsection shall be eligible 20 to receive assistance under other Federal programs, 21 including the paycheck protection program estab- 22 lished under section 7(a)(36) of the Small Business 23 Act (15 U.S.C. 636(a)(36)) or an economic injury 24 disaster loan made under section 7(b)(2) of the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 Jun 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6949.IH H6949 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 6949 IH Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)(2)) if the 1 funds are used for a purpose other than a purpose 2 described in paragraph (1). 3 (5) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 4 Congress that eligible entities should rehire employ- 5 ees described in paragraph (1)(A) after the date on 6 which the national emergency under the National 7 Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) with re- 8 spect to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID–19) 9 terminates. 10 (c) AMOUNTS.— 11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Of the amounts made avail- 12 able under this Act— 13 (A) $124,500,000,000 shall be used for 14 grants made under subsection (b); 15 (B) $400,000,000 shall be used to provide 16 financial education training classes and for help 17 applying for the grants and financial recovery 18 for eligible entities, of which— 19 (i) $50,000,000 shall be used to pro- 20 vide small businesses and women develop- 21 ment centers with technical assistance and 22 online training and information, of 23 which— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 Jun 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6949.IH H6949 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 6949 IH (I) $25,000,000 shall be made 1 available for small businesses; and 2 (II) $25,000,000 shall be made 3 available for women development cen- 4 ters; 5 (ii) $50,000,000 shall be used to pro- 6 vide minority business centers with tech- 7 nical assistance and online training and in- 8 formation; and 9 (iii) $300,000,000 shall be used to 10 provide nonprofit and community organiza- 11 tions with assistance to small business 12 owners; and 13 (C) $100,000,000 shall be made available 14 for the Department of the Treasury and the In- 15 ternal Revenue Service to carry out this Act. 16 (2) AVAILABILITY.—Funds made available 17 under this Act shall be available until December 20, 18 2020. 19 (d) NEED.—An eligible entity shall attest in an appli- 20 cation for a grant under this section that the eligible enti- 21 ty— 22 (1) was in business as of February 15, 2020; 23 (2) has suffered a drop in sales of 20 percent 24 or more; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 Jun 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6949.IH H6949 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 6949 IH (3) meets the criteria as an eligible entity; and 1 (4) will use the grants for authorized expenses. 2 (e) DOCUMENTATION.—An eligible self-employed in- 3 dividual, independent contractor, or sole proprietorship 4 applying for a grant under this section shall submit such 5 documentation as is necessary to establish such individual 6 as eligible, including payroll tax filings reported to the In- 7 ternal Revenue Service, Forms 1099–MISC, and income 8 and expenses from the sole proprietorship, as determined 9 by the Administrator of the Small Business Administra- 10 tion and the Secretary of the Treasury. An applicant may 11 submit to the Secretary of the Treasury a self-certification 12 for employee labor expenses and payroll. 13 (f) MATERIALS.—Any application or informational 14 material related to the grant program provided by Depart- 15 ment of the Treasury or the Internal Revenue Service 16 shall be made available in the 10 most used languages in 17 the United States after English. 18 (g) RECEIPT OF FUNDS.—Any eligible entity shall re- 19 ceive a grant made under subsection (b) not later than 20 14 days after the date on which the entity submitted an 21 application for the grant. 22 (h) REPORTING.—The Secretary of the Treasury 23 shall submit to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 24 Urban Affairs and the Committee on Small Business and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 Jun 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6949.IH H6949 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 6949 IH Entrepreneurship of the Senate and the Committee on Fi- 1 nancial Service, the Committee on Small Business, and 2 the Committee on Oversight and Reform of the House of 3 Representatives a report on the information about the eth- 4 nicity, race, industry, geographical demographics, and sex 5 of applicants for grants made under this section. 6 SEC. 3. DIRECT APPROPRIATION. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is appropriated, out of 8 amounts in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to 9 the Secretary of the Treasury $125,000,000,000 to carry 10 out this Act. 11 (b) EMERGENCY DESIGNATION.— 12 (1) IN GENERAL.—The amounts provided under 13 this Act are designated as an emergency require- 14 ment pursuant to section 4(g) of the Statutory Pay- 15 As-You-Go Act of 2010 (2 U.S.C. 933(g)). 16 (2) DESIGNATION IN SENATE.—In the Senate, 17 this Act is designated as an emergency requirement 18 pursuant to section 4112(a) of H. Con. Res. 71 19 (115th Congress), the concurrent resolution on the 20 budget for fiscal year 2018. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 Jun 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6949.IH H6949 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS