Rural Equal Aid Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4470 To authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to subsidize payments on loans made under certain rural development loan programs, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES AUGUST 6, 2020 Mr. TESTER (for himself, Mr. KING, Mr. ROMNEY, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Mr. COONS, and Mr. PERDUE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and For- estry A BILL To authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to subsidize pay- ments on loans made under certain rural development loan programs, 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 ‘‘Rural Equal Aid Act 4 of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. SUBSIDY FOR CERTAIN RURAL DEVELOPMENT 6 LOAN PAYMENTS. 7 (a) DEFINITION OF COVERED LOAN.—In this sec- 8 tion, the term ‘‘covered loan’’ means— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:20 Aug 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4470.IS S4470 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4470 IS (1) a community facilities guaranteed loan 1 under section 306(a) of the Consolidated Farm and 2 Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1926(a)); 3 (2) a business and industry guaranteed loan 4 under section 310B(g) of that Act (7 U.S.C. 5 1932(g)); 6 (3) a loan that is made by an intermediary 7 lender to an ultimate recipient using a loan received 8 under section 1323 of the Food Security Act of 9 1985 (7 U.S.C. 1932 note; Public Law 99–198); and 10 (4) a loan that is made by a microenterprise de- 11 velopment organization to a microentrepreneur 12 under section 379E of the Consolidated Farm and 13 Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 2008s). 14 (b) PRINCIPAL AND INTEREST PAYMENTS.— 15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agriculture 16 (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall 17 pay the principal, interest, and any associated fees 18 that are owed on a covered loan in a regular serv- 19 icing status— 20 (A) with respect to a covered loan made 21 before the date of enactment of this Act and 22 not on deferment, for the 6-month period begin- 23 ning with the next payment due on the covered 24 loan; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:20 Aug 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4470.IS S4470 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4470 IS (B) with respect to a covered loan made 1 before the date of enactment of this Act and on 2 deferment, for the 6-month period beginning 3 with the next payment due on the covered loan 4 after the deferment period; and 5 (C) with respect to a covered loan made 6 during the period beginning on the date of en- 7 actment of this Act and ending on the date that 8 is 6 months after that date of enactment, for 9 the 6-month period beginning with the first 10 payment due on the covered loan. 11 (2) TIMING OF PAYMENT.—The Secretary shall 12 begin making payments under paragraph (1) on a 13 covered loan not later than 30 days after the date 14 on which the first payment described in that para- 15 graph is due. 16 (3) APPLICATION OF PAYMENT.—Any payment 17 made by the Secretary under paragraph (1) shall be 18 applied to the covered loan such that the borrower 19 is relieved of the obligation to pay that amount. 20 (c) OTHER REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary shall— 21 (1) communicate and coordinate with the Fed- 22 eral Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the 23 Comptroller of the Currency, and State bank regu- 24 lators to encourage those entities to not require 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:20 Aug 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4470.IS S4470 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4470 IS lenders to increase their reserves on account of re- 1 ceiving payments made by the Secretary under sub- 2 section (b); 3 (2) waive statutory limits on maximum loan 4 maturities for any covered loan durations where the 5 lender provides a deferral and extends the maturity 6 of covered loans during the 1-year period following 7 the date of enactment of this Act; and 8 (3) when necessary to provide more time be- 9 cause of the potential of higher volumes, travel re- 10 strictions, and the inability to access some properties 11 during the COVID–19 pandemic, extend lender site 12 visit requirements to— 13 (A) not more than 60 days (which may be 14 extended at the discretion of the Secretary) 15 after the occurrence of an adverse event, other 16 than a payment default, causing a loan to be 17 classified as in liquidation; and 18 (B) not more than 90 days after a pay- 19 ment default. 20 (d) EFFECT.—Nothing in this section limits the au- 21 thority of the Secretary to make payments pursuant to 22 subsection (b) with respect to a covered loan solely because 23 the covered loan has been sold in the secondary market. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:20 Aug 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4470.IS S4470 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4470 IS (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 1 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary such 2 sums as are necessary to carry out this section. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:20 Aug 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4470.IS S4470 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS