STEP Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4299 To provide grants for tourism and events support and promotion in areas affected by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID–19), and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 23, 2020 Ms. CORTEZ MASTO (for herself, Mr. BLUNT, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, and Mr. CRAMER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works A BILL To provide grants for tourism and events support and pro- motion in areas affected by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID–19), 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 ‘‘Sustaining Tourism 4 Enterprises During the COVID–19 Pandemic Act’’ or the 5 ‘‘STEP Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:04 Aug 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4299.IS S4299 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4299 IS SEC. 2. TOURISM AND EVENTS SUPPORT AND PROMOTION. 1 Title II of the Public Works and Economic Develop- 2 ment Act of 1965 is amended by inserting after section 3 207 (42 U.S.C. 3147) the following: 4 ‘‘SEC. 208. TOURISM AND EVENTS SUPPORT AND PRO- 5 MOTION. 6 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 7 date of enactment of the Sustaining Tourism Enterprises 8 During the COVID–19 Pandemic Act, the Secretary shall 9 provide grants to eligible entities— 10 ‘‘(1) to assist with loss of revenue due to the 11 economic impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 12 (COVID–19); and 13 ‘‘(2) to promote economic recovery in commu- 14 nities affected by a decline in tourism and events 15 due to COVID–19. 16 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—An entity eligible to re- 17 ceive a grant under this section is an entity that performs 18 tourism promotion responsibilities, hosts, organizes, owns, 19 operates, or staffs an event venue, a convention, or a trade 20 show, or provides services as a concessionaire to events 21 and tourism locations, including— 22 ‘‘(1) a State tourism board or department; 23 ‘‘(2) a political subdivision or instrumentality of 24 a State or local government; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:04 Aug 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4299.IS S4299 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4299 IS ‘‘(3) a unit of local government, including a 1 county government; 2 ‘‘(4) a Tribal government; 3 ‘‘(5) a multijurisdictional or regional group; 4 ‘‘(6) a nonprofit organization described in sec- 5 tion 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 6 and exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of 7 that Code; 8 ‘‘(7) a quasi-governmental organization; and 9 ‘‘(8) a private business. 10 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant 11 under this section, an eligible entity shall submit to the 12 Secretary an application at such time, in such manner, 13 and containing such information as the Secretary may re- 14 quire. 15 ‘‘(d) SELECTION.—The Secretary shall select eligible 16 entities to receive grants under this section based on fac- 17 tors to be determined by the Secretary, using the best 18 available data, including economic impact information pro- 19 vided by applicants, such as information on job losses 20 faced by the eligible entity or within the industry of the 21 eligible entity, to address the economic recovery needs in 22 areas impacted by the decline in travel, tourism, and 23 events activities, and the associated revenues, due to 24 COVID–19. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:04 Aug 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4299.IS S4299 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4299 IS ‘‘(e) USE OF FUNDS.— 1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity may use 2 the funds from a grant under this section— 3 ‘‘(A) to pay costs associated with tourism 4 marketing and promotion activities necessary to 5 assist with economic recovery from lost revenue 6 due to COVID–19, including to purchase media 7 advertisements on print, broadcast, or digital 8 media for the purpose of marketing, public 9 awareness, or information campaigns relating to 10 local tourism; 11 ‘‘(B) to pay costs to promote economic re- 12 covery in communities impacted by a decline in 13 travel, tourism, and events revenue as a result 14 of COVID–19, including through the provision 15 of information on the safety and security of 16 sites for traveler or attendee awareness; 17 ‘‘(C) to pay cleaning and sanitary costs, in- 18 cluding physical modifications, associated with 19 precautions to provide for safe worker, traveler, 20 or event environments; and 21 ‘‘(D) to pay the costs of salaries and ex- 22 penses associated with the operations of the eli- 23 gible entity with respect to activities described 24 in subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:04 Aug 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4299.IS S4299 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4299 IS ‘‘(2) PROHIBITION.—Funds from a grant under 1 this section may not be used for activities related to 2 or for purposes of lobbying any governmental entity. 3 ‘‘(f) DISTRIBUTION.—Of the amounts made available 4 to carry out this section— 5 ‘‘(1) $2,000,000,000 shall be for expedited 6 grants to eligible entities to offset revenue losses due 7 to the economic impact of COVID–19; and 8 ‘‘(2) any remaining amounts shall be for grants 9 for activities described in subparagraphs (A) 10 through (D) of subsection (e)(1). 11 ‘‘(g) MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF GRANT.—An eligible en- 12 tity may not receive a grant under this section in an 13 amount that is— 14 ‘‘(1) in the case of a grant under subsection 15 (f)(1), more than 80 percent of the loss in revenue 16 experienced by the eligible entity during the period 17 beginning March 1, 2020, and ending on the date of 18 submission of the application, as compared to the 19 same period in 2019; and 20 ‘‘(2) in the case of a grant under subsection 21 (f)(2), more than 80 percent of the revenue of the 22 eligible entity during calendar year 2019. 23 ‘‘(h) LIMITATION.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:04 Aug 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4299.IS S4299 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4299 IS ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not more than 15 percent 1 of the amounts made available to carry out this sec- 2 tion may be used to provide grants to eligible enti- 3 ties that are private businesses. 4 ‘‘(2) PRIORITY.—The Secretary shall give pri- 5 ority for the amounts under paragraph (1) to private 6 businesses that are small business concerns (within 7 the meaning of section 3 of the Small Business Act 8 (15 U.S.C. 632)). 9 ‘‘(i) NO CEDS REQUIRED.—To receive a grant under 10 this section, an eligible entity shall not be required to have 11 a comprehensive economic development strategy. 12 ‘‘(j) WAIVER.—The Secretary may waive, or specify 13 alternative requirements for, any provision of any statute 14 or regulation that the Secretary administers in connection 15 with a grant under this section if the Secretary determines 16 that any such waivers or alternative requirements are nec- 17 essary to expedite or facilitate the use of the amounts 18 made available under this section. 19 ‘‘(k) FEDERAL SHARE.—Notwithstanding section 20 204, the Federal share of the cost of an activity carried 21 out with a grant under this section shall be 100 percent. 22 ‘‘(l) ADMINISTRATION.— 23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not more than 2 percent of 24 the amounts made available to carry out this section 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:04 Aug 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4299.IS S4299 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4299 IS may be used for the administrative costs of carrying 1 out this section. 2 ‘‘(2) STAFFING.— 3 ‘‘(A) TEMPORARY APPOINTMENT.—The 4 Secretary may appoint and fix the compensa- 5 tion of such temporary personnel as may be 6 necessary to carry out this section, without re- 7 gard to the provisions of title 5, United States 8 Code, governing appointments in competitive 9 service. 10 ‘‘(B) PERMANENT APPOINTMENT.— 11 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In the case of an 12 individual appointed as temporary per- 13 sonnel under subparagraph (A) who has 14 served continuously for not less than 2 15 years, the Secretary may appoint that indi- 16 vidual to a position in the Economic Devel- 17 opment Administration in the same man- 18 ner that competitive service employees with 19 competitive status are considered for trans- 20 fer, reassignment, or promotion to such po- 21 sitions. 22 ‘‘(ii) TREATMENT.—An individual ap- 23 pointed to a position under clause (i) shall 24 become a career-conditional employee, un- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:04 Aug 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4299.IS S4299 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 4299 IS less the employee has already completed 1 the service requirements for career tenure. 2 ‘‘(3) INVESTIGATIONS AND AUDITS.—The Sec- 3 retary shall use $3,000,000 of the amounts made 4 available to carry out this section to carry out inves- 5 tigations and audits related to the provision of 6 grants under this section. 7 ‘‘(m) FUNDING.— 8 ‘‘(1) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 9 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Sec- 10 retary to carry out this section $10,000,000,000, to 11 remain available until September 30, 2022. 12 ‘‘(2) ADDITIONAL FUNDING.—Notwithstanding 13 any other provision of law, the Secretary may use 14 any amounts made available to the Secretary under 15 the heading ‘ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE 16 PROGRAMS (INCLUDING TRANSFERS OF FUNDS)’ 17 under the heading ‘ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AD- 18 MINISTRATION’ under the heading ‘DEPARTMENT 19 OF COMMERCE’ in title II of division B of the 20 CARES Act (Public Law 116–136) that are unobli- 21 gated as of the date of enactment of the Sustaining 22 Tourism Enterprises During the COVID–19 Pan- 23 demic Act to provide grants under this section.’’. 24 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:04 Aug 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4299.IS S4299 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS