Helping America’s Farmers Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8042 To provide for agricultural economic injury disaster loans, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AUGUST 14, 2020 Mrs. HAYES (for herself and Mr. DELGADO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently de- termined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To provide for agricultural economic injury disaster loans, 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 ‘‘Helping America’s 4 Farmers Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. AGRICULTURAL ECONOMIC INJURY DISASTER 6 LOAN. 7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:25 Sep 02, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8042.IH H8042 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8042 IH (1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti- 1 ty’’ means— 2 (A) a producer— 3 (i) of horticulture, nursery crops, flo- 4 riculture, non-specialty crops, wool, live- 5 stock, dairy, aquaculture, or specialty 6 crops; or 7 (ii) engaged in the production of food 8 and fiber; or 9 (B) a farmer or rancher. 10 (2) LARGE ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term 11 ‘‘large eligible entity’’ means an eligible entity with 12 an adjusted gross income of greater than $500,000. 13 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 14 the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Ad- 15 ministrator of the Farm Service Agency. 16 (4) SMALL ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term 17 ‘‘small eligible entity’’ means an eligible entity with 18 an adjusted gross income of less than or equal to 19 $500,000. 20 (b) AGRICULTURAL ECONOMIC INJURY DISASTER 21 LOAN PROGRAM.— 22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry 23 out a program to make loans under this subsection 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:25 Sep 02, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8042.IH H8042 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8042 IH to small eligible entities for the purposes described 1 in paragraph (3). 2 (2) TERMS OF LOANS.— 3 (A) AMOUNT OF LOAN.—In carrying out 4 this subsection, the Secretary shall make loans 5 to small eligible entities in an amount less than 6 or equal to $2,000,000. 7 (B) INTEREST RATE.—A loan under sub- 8 paragraph (A) shall have an interest rate equal 9 to zero percent. 10 (C) REPAYMENT.—The Secretary shall es- 11 tablish the repayment terms with respect to 12 each loan to a small eligible entity under this 13 subsection, except that such repayment may 14 not— 15 (i) begin before the date that is 1 year 16 after the date on which such loan is made 17 to such small eligible entity; and 18 (ii) be for a period of less than 10 19 years or a period of greater than 15 years; 20 and 21 (D) WAIVER OF CERTAIN REQUIRE- 22 MENTS.—With respect to a loan made under 23 this subsection in response to an economic dis- 24 aster, the Secretary shall waive— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:25 Sep 02, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8042.IH H8042 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8042 IH (i) any rules related the personal 1 guarantee on advances and loans of not 2 more than $200,000 for all applicants; 3 (ii) any requirement that the small el- 4 igible entity exhaust other loan options be- 5 fore applying for a loan under this sub- 6 section; and 7 (iii) any requirement that an appli- 8 cant needs to be in business for the 1-year 9 period before the disaster, except that no 10 waiver may be made for a business that 11 was not in operation on January 31, 2020. 12 (E) PRIORITY.—In making loans under 13 this subsection the Secretary shall give priority 14 to— 15 (i) small eligible entities located in 16 States most impacted by an economic dis- 17 aster, as determined by the Secretary; 18 (ii) minority, veteran, and women 19 farmers and ranchers; and 20 (iii) such other small eligible entities 21 as the Secretary determines appropriate. 22 (3) USE OF FUNDS.—A small eligible entity 23 that receives a loan under this subsection shall use 24 the loan funds to— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:25 Sep 02, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8042.IH H8042 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 8042 IH (A) provide paid sick leave to employees 1 unable to work due to the direct effect of an 2 economic disaster; 3 (B) maintain payroll to retain employees 4 during business disruptions or substantial slow- 5 downs; 6 (C) meet increased costs to obtain mate- 7 rials unavailable from the applicant’s original 8 source due to interrupted supply chains; 9 (D) make rent or mortgage payments; 10 (E) purchase personal protective equip- 11 ment; and 12 (F) repay obligations that cannot be met 13 due to revenue losses. 14 (4) FORGIVENESS.—A small eligible entity shall 15 be eligible for forgiveness of indebtedness on a loan 16 under this subsection in an amount determined by 17 the Secretary based on the losses of the small eligi- 18 ble entity— 19 (A) due to commodity price decreases dur- 20 ing an economic disaster; or 21 (B) revenue loss due to an economic dis- 22 aster, including from— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:25 Sep 02, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8042.IH H8042 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 8042 IH (i) canceled purchasing contracts or 1 agreements with schools, institutions, food 2 hubs, and restaurants; 3 (ii) loss of recurring deliveries of farm 4 products to schools, institutions, food hubs, 5 and restaurants; or 6 (iii) any other unexpected source dur- 7 ing such economic disaster. 8 (c) LOAN GUARANTEES.—The Secretary may guar- 9 antee a loan made by lenders approved by the Farm Serv- 10 ice Agency to large eligible entities if— 11 (1) such loan— 12 (A) is for the purposes described in sub- 13 section (b)(3); 14 (B) is in an amount greater than 15 $2,000,000; 16 (C) has an interest rate equal to or less 17 than 1 percent; and 18 (D) has a repayment term that— 19 (i) begins after the date that is 1 year 20 after the date on which such loan is made 21 an eligible entity; and 22 (ii) is for a period of not less than 15 23 years and not greater than 20 years; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:25 Sep 02, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8042.IH H8042 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 8042 IH (2) the lender making such loan offers forgive- 1 ness of indebtedness on such loan under such terms 2 as the Secretary determines are commensurate with 3 the loan forgiveness under subsection (b)(4). 4 (d) APPROVAL AND ABILITY TO REPAY FOR SMALL 5 DOLLAR LOANS.—With respect to a loan made under sub- 6 section (b) in response to an economic disaster, the Sec- 7 retary may— 8 (1) approve an applicant based solely on the 9 credit score of the applicant and shall not require an 10 applicant to submit a tax return or a tax return 11 transcript for such approval; or 12 (2) use alternative appropriate methods to de- 13 termine an applicant’s ability to repay. 14 (e) EMERGENCY GRANT.— 15 (1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity that ap- 16 plies for a loan under subsection (b) or a loan guar- 17 antee under subsection (c) in response to an eco- 18 nomic disaster may request that the Secretary pro- 19 vide an advance that is, subject to paragraph (3), in 20 the amount requested by such applicant to such ap- 21 plicant within 3 days after the Secretary receives an 22 application from such applicant. 23 (2) VERIFICATION.—Before disbursing amounts 24 under this subsection, the Secretary shall verify that 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:25 Sep 02, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8042.IH H8042 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 8042 IH the applicant is an eligible entity by accepting a self- 1 certification from the applicant under penalty of per- 2 jury pursuant to section 1746 of title 28 United 3 States Code. 4 (3) AMOUNT.—The amount of an advance pro- 5 vided under this subsection shall be not less than 6 $20,000. 7 (4) USE OF FUNDS.—An advance provided 8 under this subsection may be used to address any al- 9 lowable purpose for a loan made under subsection 10 (b) or a loan guarantee made under subsection (c). 11 (5) REPAYMENT.—An applicant shall not be re- 12 quired to repay any amounts of an advance provided 13 under this subsection, even if subsequently denied a 14 loan under subsection (b) or a loan guarantee under 15 subsection (c). 16 (f) OTHER BENEFITS.—Receipt of a grant, loan, or 17 loan guarantee under this section shall not be construed 18 as to prohibit receipt of any Federal grant, loan, or other 19 aid. 20 (g) TAXABILITY.—For purposes of the Internal Rev- 21 enue Code of 1986— 22 (1) any amount which would be includible in 23 gross income of the eligible entity by reason of for- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:25 Sep 02, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8042.IH H8042 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 8042 IH giveness described in this paragraph shall be ex- 1 cluded from gross income; and 2 (2) any amount received under this section shall 3 be excluded from gross income. 4 (h) FUNDING.—There is hereby appropriated, out of 5 any amounts in the Treasury not otherwise appro- 6 priated— 7 (1) $6,000,000,000, to remain available until 8 September 30, 2021, to make loans to small eligible 9 entities under this section; 10 (2) $6,000,000,000, to remain available until 11 September 30, 2021, to make loan guarantees to 12 large eligible entities under this section; 13 (3) $4,000,000,000, to remain available until 14 September 30, 2021, to make grants under sub- 15 section (e) to small eligible entities; and 16 (4) $4,000,000,000, to remain available until 17 September 30, 2021, to make grants under sub- 18 section (e) to large eligible entities. 19 SEC. 3. TRAINING FOR LOAN SERVICERS. 20 There is hereby appropriated, out of any amounts in 21 the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, $300,000,000, 22 to the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out a training pro- 23 gram to provide Farm Service Agency staff with appro- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:25 Sep 02, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8042.IH H8042 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 8042 IH priate training relating to economic injury loan processing 1 and servicing under section 2. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:25 Sep 02, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8042.IH H8042 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS