Flexible Financing for Rural America Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4152 To provide for the adjustment or modification by the Secretary of Agriculture of loans for critical rural utility service providers, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 2, 2020 Mr. HOEVEN (for himself, Mr. BOOZMAN, Ms. SMITH, and Ms. SINEMA) intro- duced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com- mittee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry A BILL To provide for the adjustment or modification by the Sec- retary of Agriculture of loans for critical rural utility service providers, 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 ‘‘Flexible Financing for 4 Rural America Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. LOAN ADJUSTMENTS FOR CRITICAL RURAL UTILITY 6 SERVICE PROVIDERS. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 8 date of enactment of this Act, the borrower of a qualified 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:59 Jul 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4152.IS S4152 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4152 IS loan described in subsection (b) may submit to the Sec- 1 retary of Agriculture (referred to in this section as the 2 ‘‘Secretary’’) a request to adjust the interest rate or mod- 3 ify any other term of the qualified loan, which shall include 4 a report summarizing how the adjustment or modification 5 will assist the borrower in providing critical utility services 6 to a rural community. 7 (b) QUALIFIED LOAN DESCRIBED.—A qualified loan 8 referred to in subsection (a) is a loan made or guaranteed 9 on or before the date of enactment of this Act under— 10 (1) section 4, 201, 305, 306, or 601 of the 11 Rural Electrification Act of 1936 (7 U.S.C. 904, 12 922, 935, 936, 950bb); or 13 (2) the program carried out under the matter 14 under the heading ‘‘DISTANCE LEARNING, TELE- 15 MEDICINE, AND BROADBAND PROGRAM’’ in title I of 16 division A of the American Recovery and Reinvest- 17 ment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111–5; 123 Stat. 18 118) (commonly known as the ‘‘Broadband Initia- 19 tives Program’’). 20 (c) ADJUSTMENT OF INTEREST RATE; MODIFICA- 21 TION OF LOAN TERMS.— 22 (1) IN GENERAL.—On receipt of a request 23 made under subsection (a) with respect to a loan, 24 the Secretary— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:59 Jul 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4152.IS S4152 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4152 IS (A) in the case of a request for an interest 1 rate adjustment, shall adjust the interest rate 2 on the loan to the cost of funds to the Depart- 3 ment of the Treasury, as of the date of enact- 4 ment of this Act, for obligations of comparable 5 maturity to the term remaining on the out- 6 standing balance of the loan or other such high- 7 er rate as the borrower may request; and 8 (B) in the case of a request for a modifica- 9 tion to a loan term other than the adjustment 10 described in subparagraph (A), may use the au- 11 thorities provided in sections 2, 201, 306C and 12 703 of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 (7 13 U.S.C. 902, 922, 936c, 950cc–2) and section 14 331(b)(4) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural 15 Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1981(b)(4)) to 16 make such other modifications to the loan 17 terms that the Secretary determines are nec- 18 essary— 19 (i) to address changes in the financial 20 position of the borrower due to the public 21 health emergency declared by the Secretary 22 of Health and Human Services under sec- 23 tion 319 of the Public Health Service Act 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:59 Jul 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4152.IS S4152 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4152 IS (42 U.S.C. 247d) on January 31, 2020, 1 with respect to COVID–19; and 2 (ii) to promote the financial sustain- 3 ability of the borrower. 4 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—An adjustment or 5 modification under subparagraph (A) or (B), respec- 6 tively, of paragraph (1) shall apply beginning on the 7 first day after the close of the period with respect 8 to which the first payment due on the loan after the 9 date of the request applies. 10 (d) NO FEES OR PENALTIES.—In carrying out this 11 section, the Secretary shall not impose or collect any fee 12 from, or impose any penalty on, a borrower. 13 (e) NOTICE.—Not later than 30 days after the date 14 of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall publish in 15 the Federal Register a notice of the benefits available to 16 borrowers under this section. 17 (f) APPROPRIATION.— 18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Out of any amounts in the 19 Treasury not otherwise appropriated, there are ap- 20 propriated to the Secretary— 21 (A) such sums as are necessary to carry 22 out subsection (c)(1)(A); and 23 (B) $300,000,000 to carry out subsection 24 (c)(1)(B). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:59 Jul 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4152.IS S4152 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4152 IS (2) AVAILABILITY.—The amounts appropriated 1 by paragraph (1) shall remain available through De- 2 cember 31, 2021. 3 (3) EMERGENCY DESIGNATION.— 4 (A) IN GENERAL.—The amounts provided 5 by this Act are designated as an emergency re- 6 quirement pursuant to section 4(g) of the Stat- 7 utory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 (2 U.S.C. 8 933(g)). 9 (B) DESIGNATION IN SENATE.—In the 10 Senate, this Act is designated as an emergency 11 requirement pursuant to section 4112(a) of H. 12 Con. Res. 71 (115th Congress), the concurrent 13 resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2018. 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:59 Jul 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4152.IS S4152 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS