Expanding Assistance to Farmers Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7619 To amend the Small Business Act and the CARES Act to include rental payments for certain business-related items in the paycheck protection program, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 16, 2020 Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina (for himself and Ms. FINKENAUER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Small Business A BILL To amend the Small Business Act and the CARES Act to include rental payments for certain business-related items in the paycheck protection program, 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 ‘‘Expanding Assistance 4 to Farmers Act of 2020’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:10 Aug 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7619.IH H7619 tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7619 IH SEC. 2. INCLUSION OF RENTAL PAYMENTS ON CERTAIN 1 BUSINESS-RELATED ITEMS IN THE PAY- 2 CHECK PROTECTION PROGRAM. 3 (a) PAYCHECK PROTECTION PROGRAM.—Section 4 7(a)(36)(F)(i) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 5 636(a)(36)(F)(i)) is amended— 6 (1) in subclause (VI), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 7 end; 8 (2) in subclause (VII), by striking the period at 9 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 10 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub- 11 clause: 12 ‘‘(VIII) rental payments made by 13 an agricultural enterprise (as defined 14 in section 18(b)) on property used 15 solely for such agricultural enterprise, 16 which shall include payments for 17 equipment (including tractors, com- 18 bines, forage harvesters, planters, 19 sprayers, hay rakes and wagons, field 20 equipment, irrigation equipment, 21 tools, and supplies), land, and build- 22 ings.’’. 23 (b) FORGIVEABLE EXPENSES.— 24 (1) COVERED RENTAL PAYMENTS MADE BY AN 25 AGRICULTURAL ENTERPRISE.—Section 1106(a) of 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:10 Aug 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7619.IH H7619 tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7619 IH the CARES Act (Public Law 116–136) is amend- 1 ed— 2 (A) in paragraph (7)(D), by striking 3 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 4 (B) in paragraph (8), by striking the pe- 5 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 6 (C) by adding at the end the following new 7 paragraph: 8 ‘‘(9) the term ‘covered rental payments made 9 by an agricultural enterprise’ means rental payments 10 made pursuant to an agreement in force before Feb- 11 ruary 15, 2020, by an agricultural enterprise (as de- 12 fined in section 18(b) the Small Business Act (15 13 U.S.C. 647(b)) on property used solely for such agri- 14 cultural enterprise, which shall include payments for 15 equipment (including tractors, combines, forage har- 16 vesters, planters, sprayers, hay rakes and wagons, 17 field equipment, irrigation equipment, tools, and 18 supplies), land, and buildings.’’. 19 (2) DEFINITION OF EXPECTED FORGIVENESS 20 AMOUNT.—Section 1106(a)(7) of the CARES Act 21 (Public Law 116–136) is amended— 22 (A) in subparagraph (C), by striking 23 ‘‘and’’ at the end; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:10 Aug 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7619.IH H7619 tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7619 IH (B) by adding at the end the following new 1 subparagraph: 2 ‘‘(E) covered rental payments made by an 3 agricultural enterprise; and’’. 4 (3) FORGIVENESS.—Section 1106(b) of the 5 CARES Act (Public Law 116–136) is amended by 6 adding at the end the following new paragraphs: 7 ‘‘(5) Covered rental payments made by an agri- 8 cultural enterprise.’’. 9 (4) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 1106 10 of the CARES Act (Public Law 116–136) is amend- 11 ed— 12 (A) in subsection (e)— 13 (i) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘pay- 14 ments on covered mortgage obligations, 15 payments on covered lease obligations, and 16 covered utility payments’’ and inserting 17 ‘‘payments described under subsection (b) 18 (other than payroll costs)’’; and 19 (ii) in paragraph (3)(B), by striking 20 ‘‘, make interest payments’’ and all that 21 follows through ‘‘or make covered utility 22 payments’’ and inserting ‘‘or make pay- 23 ments described under subsection (b)’’; 24 and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:10 Aug 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7619.IH H7619 tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7619 IH (B) in subsection (h), by striking ‘‘pay- 1 ments for payroll costs, payments on covered 2 mortgage obligations, payments on covered 3 lease obligations, or covered utility payments’’ 4 each place it appears and inserting ‘‘payments 5 described under subsection (b)’’. 6 (5) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—Section 1106 of 7 the CARES Act (Public Law 116–136), is amended 8 by striking ‘‘covered lease’’ each place such term ap- 9 pears and inserting ‘‘covered rent’’. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:10 Aug 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7619.IH H7619 tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS