FEMA Loan Interest Payment Relief Act

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1180 To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to provide for the authority to reimburse local governments or electric cooperatives for interest expenses, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 18, 2023 Mr. RUBIO (for himself and Mr. SCOTT of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs A BILL To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer- gency Assistance Act to provide for the authority to reimburse local governments or electric cooperatives for interest expenses, 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 ‘‘FEMA Loan Interest 4 Payment Relief Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:49 Apr 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1180.IS S1180 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •S 1180 IS SEC. 2. REIMBURSEMENT OF INTEREST PAYMENTS RE- 1 LATED TO PUBLIC ASSISTANCE. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title IV of the Robert T. Stafford 3 Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 4 5170 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 5 lowing: 6 ‘‘SEC. 431. REIMBURSEMENT OF INTEREST PAYMENTS RE- 7 LATED TO PUBLIC ASSISTANCE. 8 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 9 ‘‘(1) QUALIFYING INTEREST.—The term ‘quali- 10 fying interest’ means, with respect to a qualifying 11 loan, the lesser of— 12 ‘‘(A) the actual interest paid to a lender 13 for such qualifying loan; and 14 ‘‘(B) the interest that would have been 15 paid to a lender if such qualifying loan had an 16 interest rate equal to the prime rate most re- 17 cently published on the Federal Reserve Statis- 18 tical Release on selected interest rates. 19 ‘‘(2) QUALIFYING LOAN.—The term ‘qualifying 20 loan’ means a loan— 21 ‘‘(A) obtained by a local government or 22 electric cooperative; and 23 ‘‘(B) of which not less than 90 percent of 24 the proceeds are used to fund activities for 25 which such local government or electric coopera- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:49 Apr 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1180.IS S1180 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •S 1180 IS tive receives assistance under this Act after the 1 date on which such loan is disbursed. 2 ‘‘(b) FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.—The President, act- 3 ing through the Administrator of the Federal Emergency 4 Management Agency, shall provide financial assistance to 5 a local government or electric cooperative as reimburse- 6 ment for qualifying interest.’’. 7 (b) RULE OF APPLICABILITY.—Any qualifying inter- 8 est (as such term is defined in section 431 of the Robert 9 T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 10 Act, as added by this Act) incurred by a local government 11 or electric cooperative in the 5 years preceding the date 12 of enactment of this Act shall be treated as eligible for 13 financial assistance for purposes of such section. 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:49 Apr 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1180.IS S1180 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB