PREPARE Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7552 To reauthorize and limit the pre-disaster mitigation program of the Small Business Administration, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 9, 2020 Mr. MORELLE (for himself, Mr. BERGMAN, Mr. GOLDEN, Mr. STAUBER, Ms. STEFANIK, and Mrs. MURPHY of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Small Business A BILL To reauthorize and limit the pre-disaster mitigation program of the Small Business Administration, and for other pur- poses. 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 ‘‘Providing Resources 4 for Emergency Preparedness and Resilient Enterprises 5 Act’’ or the ‘‘PREPARE Act’’. 6 SEC. 2. PRE-DISASTER MITIGATION PROGRAM. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 7(b) of the Small Busi- 8 ness Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)) is amended— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:45 Aug 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7552.IH H7552 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7552 IH (1) in paragraph (1)(C)— 1 (A) by striking ‘‘during fiscal years 2000 2 through 2004, to establish a predisaster mitiga- 3 tion program’’ and inserting ‘‘to establish a 4 pre-disaster mitigation program’’; 5 (B) by inserting ‘‘in accordance with para- 6 graph (16) and’’ before ‘‘as the Administrator 7 may’’; 8 (C) by striking ‘‘to enable small busi- 9 nesses’’ and inserting ‘‘to small business con- 10 cerns to enable such concerns’’; and 11 (D) by striking ‘‘in support of a formal’’ 12 and all that follows and inserting ‘‘to protect 13 the commercial real estate, equipment, inven- 14 tory, supplies, and materials of such concerns 15 from damages related to disasters;’’; and 16 (2) by inserting after paragraph (15) the fol- 17 lowing new paragraph: 18 ‘‘(16) PRE-DISASTER MITIGATION PROGRAM 19 LOANS.— 20 ‘‘(A) ANNUAL LOAN CAP.—The aggregate 21 amount of loans made under the pre-disaster 22 mitigation program under paragraph (1)(C) to 23 a borrower may not exceed $500,000 in any 12- 24 month period. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:45 Aug 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7552.IH H7552 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7552 IH ‘‘(B) OUTREACH.—In carrying out the pre- 1 disaster mitigation program under paragraph 2 (1)(C), the Administrator shall— 3 ‘‘(i) conduct outreach campaigns to 4 small business concerns regarding such 5 program, including— 6 ‘‘(I) advertising to educate such 7 concerns on the importance of disaster 8 mitigation; and 9 ‘‘(II) campaigns to promote par- 10 ticipation in such program by small 11 business concerns located in economi- 12 cally depressed areas; 13 ‘‘(ii) provide instructions on how to 14 participate in such program; and 15 ‘‘(iii) provide detailed information on 16 the purposes for which funds from loans 17 made under such program may be used. 18 ‘‘(C) RESERVATION OF FUNDS.—Not more 19 than 4 percent of the funds made available to 20 the Administrator to carry out the pre-disaster 21 mitigation program under paragraph (1)(C) 22 may be reserved by the Administrator for— 23 ‘‘(i) the administrative costs of such 24 program; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:45 Aug 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7552.IH H7552 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7552 IH ‘‘(ii) the activities described in sub- 1 paragraph (B).’’. 2 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section 3 20(c) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 631 note) is 4 amended to read as follows: 5 ‘‘(c) PRE-DISASTER MITIGATION PROGRAM.—There 6 is authorized to be appropriated for the purpose of car- 7 rying out the program established under section 8 7(b)(1)(C) the following amounts: 9 ‘‘(1) $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2021. 10 ‘‘(2) $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2022. 11 ‘‘(3) $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2023. 12 ‘‘(4) $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2024. 13 ‘‘(5) $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2025.’’. 14 (c) PROGRAM EVALUATION.—Not later than January 15 31, 2025, the Administrator of the Small Business Admin- 16 istration shall submit to the Committee on Small Business 17 and Entrepreneurship of the Senate and the Committee 18 on Small Business of the House of Representatives a re- 19 port on the pre-disaster mitigation program under section 20 7(b)(1)(C) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 21 636(b)(1)(C)), as amended by this Act, including— 22 (1) a list of the geographic areas in which re- 23 cipients of loans under the program are located; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:45 Aug 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7552.IH H7552 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7552 IH (2) the number and dollar value of the loans 1 made under the program; 2 (3) the estimated aggregate value resulting 3 from the use of mitigation techniques funded by 4 loans made under the program, including— 5 (A) the lost productivity and expenses that 6 were avoided; and 7 (B) the amount saved by the Federal Gov- 8 ernment; 9 (4) the information required by paragraph (3) 10 disaggregated by region, by State, and by industry; 11 and 12 (5) the estimated dollar value of loans that 13 would have been made under section 7(b)(1)(A) of 14 the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)(1)(A)) 15 without the loans made under the program. 16 (d) APPLICABILITY.—The amendments made by this 17 Act shall apply only with respect to loans made under sec- 18 tion 7(b)(1)(C) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 19 636(b)(1)(C)), as amended by this Act, on or after the 20 date of the enactment of this Act. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:45 Aug 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7552.IH H7552 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS