FEMA Loan Interest Payment Relief Act

IIB 118TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 2672 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES DECEMBER 10, 2024 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs AN ACT 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:54 Dec 11, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2672.RFS H2672 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 HR 2672 RFS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘FEMA Loan Interest 2 Payment Relief Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. REIMBURSEMENT OF INTEREST PAYMENTS RE- 4 LATED TO PUBLIC ASSISTANCE. 5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title IV of the Robert T. Stafford 6 Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 7 5170 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 8 lowing: 9 ‘‘SEC. 431. REIMBURSEMENT OF INTEREST PAYMENTS RE- 10 LATED TO PUBLIC ASSISTANCE. 11 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The President, acting through 12 the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management 13 Agency, shall provide financial assistance to a local gov- 14 ernment or electric cooperative as reimbursement for 15 qualifying interest. 16 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.— 17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In this section, the fol- 18 lowing definitions apply: 19 ‘‘(A) QUALIFYING INTEREST.—The term 20 ‘qualifying interest’ means, with respect to a 21 qualifying loan, the lesser of— 22 ‘‘(i) the actual interest paid to a lend- 23 er for such qualifying loan; and 24 ‘‘(ii) the interest that would have been 25 paid to a lender if such qualifying loan had 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:54 Dec 11, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2672.RFS H2672 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 HR 2672 RFS an interest rate equal to the prime rate 1 most recently published on the Federal Re- 2 serve Statistical Release on selected inter- 3 est rates. 4 ‘‘(B) QUALIFYING LOAN.—The term ‘quali- 5 fying loan’ means a loan— 6 ‘‘(i) obtained by a local government or 7 electric cooperative; and 8 ‘‘(ii) of which not less than 90 percent 9 of the proceeds are used to fund activities 10 for which such local government or electric 11 cooperative receives assistance under this 12 Act after the date on which such loan is 13 disbursed. 14 ‘‘(2) LOCAL GOVERNMENT.—For purposes of 15 this section, the term ‘local government’ includes the 16 District of Columbia.’’. 17 (b) RULES OF APPLICABILITY.— 18 (1) ELIGIBILITY.—Any qualifying interest (as 19 such term is defined in section 431 of the Robert T. 20 Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 21 Act, as added by this Act) incurred by a local gov- 22 ernment or electric cooperative in the 7 years pre- 23 ceding the date of enactment of this Act shall be 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:54 Dec 11, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2672.RFS H2672 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 HR 2672 RFS treated as eligible for financial assistance for pur- 1 poses of such section. 2 (2) APPROPRIATIONS.—Only amounts appro- 3 priated on or after the date of enactment of this Act 4 may be made available to carry out the amendment 5 made by this section. 6 Passed the House of Representatives December 9, 2024. Attest: KEVIN F. MCCUMBER, Clerk. VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:54 Dec 11, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2672.RFS H2672 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB