S. 1617, Disaster Assistance for Rural Communities Act — 117th Congress

Summary

The Senate-passed text of S. 1617, the Disaster Assistance for Rural Communities Act, from the 117th Congress, 2d Session, which passed the Senate September 28, 2022. The bill amends section 7(b) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)) to let the Administrator of the Small Business Administration declare a disaster in a rural area where a major disaster was declared but individual assistance was not authorized, if the Governor or tribal Chief Executive requests it and significant damage has occurred. It defines significant damage as uninsured losses of not less than 40 percent of property value. The bill requires an annual SBA report to the House and Senate small business committees, regulations within 120 days, and a Comptroller General report within 1 year on rural communities' access to disaster assistance.

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Full text

117TH CONGRESS
   2D SESSION
                     S. 1617

                     AN ACT
To modify the requirements for the Administrator of the
   Small Business Administration relating to declaring a
   disaster in a rural area, and for other purposes.

 1      Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
 2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
                                 2
 1   SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 2       This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Disaster Assistance
 3 for Rural Communities Act’’.
 4   SEC. 2. DISASTER DECLARATION IN RURAL AREAS.

5        (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 7(b) of the Small Busi-
6 ness Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)) is amended by inserting after
7 paragraph (15) the following:
 8              ‘‘(16)   DISASTER    DECLARATION      IN   RURAL

 9       AREAS.—

10                   ‘‘(A) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph—
11                        ‘‘(i) the term ‘rural area’ means any
12                   county or other political subdivision of a
13                   State, the District of Columbia, or a terri-
14                   tory or possession of the United States
15                   that is designated as a rural area by the
16                   Bureau of the Census; and
17                        ‘‘(ii) the term ‘significant damage’
18                   means, with respect to property, uninsured
19                   losses of not less than 40 percent of the es-
20                   timated fair replacement value or pre-dis-
21                   aster fair market value of the damaged
22                   property, whichever is lower.
23                   ‘‘(B) DISASTER DECLARATION.—For the
24              purpose of making loans under paragraph (1)
25              or (2), the Administrator may declare a disaster
26              in a rural area for which a major disaster was
      † S 1617 ES
                                3
1              declared by the President under section 401 of
2              the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and
3              Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170)
4              and for which individual assistance was not au-
5              thorized under section 408 of such Act (42
6              U.S.C. 5174) if—
7                       ‘‘(i) the Governor of the State or the
8                  Chief Executive of the Indian tribal gov-
9                  ernment in which the rural area is located
10                 requests such a declaration; and
11                      ‘‘(ii) any home, small business con-
12                 cern, private nonprofit organization, or
13                 small agricultural cooperative has incurred
14                 significant damage in the rural area.
15                 ‘‘(C) SBA REPORT.—Not later than 120
16             days after the date of enactment of this para-
17             graph, and every year thereafter, the Adminis-
18             trator shall submit to the Committee on Small
19             Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate
20             and the Committee on Small Business of the
21             House of Representatives a report on, with re-
22             spect to the 1-year period preceding submission
23             of the report—
24                      ‘‘(i) any economic injury that resulted
25                 from a major disaster declared by the


     † S 1617 ES
                                4
 1                 President under section 401 of the Robert
 2                 T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency
 3                 Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170) in a rural
 4                 area;
 5                      ‘‘(ii) each request for assistance made
 6                 by the Governor of a State or the Chief
 7                 Executive of an Indian tribal government
 8                 under subparagraph (B)(i) and the re-
 9                 sponse of the Administrator, including the
10                 timeline for each response; and
11                      ‘‘(iii) any regulatory changes that will
12                 impact the ability of communities in rural
13                 areas to obtain disaster assistance under
14                 this subsection.’’.
15      (b) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 120 days after
16 the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of
17 the Small Business Administration shall issue regulations
18 to carry out the amendment made by subsection (a).
19      (c) GAO REPORT.—
20             (1) DEFINITION OF RURAL AREA.—In this sub-
21      section, the term ‘‘rural area’’ means any county or
22      other political subdivision of a State, the District of
23      Columbia, or a territory or possession of the United
24      States that is designated as a rural area by the Bu-
25      reau of the Census.


     † S 1617 ES
                               5
 1             (2) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the
 2      date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller Gen-
 3      eral of the United States shall submit to the Com-
 4      mittee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of
 5      the Senate and the Committee on Small Business of
 6      the House of Representatives a report on—
 7                 (A) any unique challenges that commu-
 8             nities in rural areas face compared to commu-
 9             nities in urbanized areas when seeking to obtain
10             disaster assistance under section 7(b) of the
11             Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)); and
12                 (B) legislative recommendations for im-
13             proving access to disaster assistance for com-
14             munities in rural areas.
        Passed the Senate September 28, 2022.
        Attest:




                                                  Secretary.




     † S 1617 ES
117TH CONGRESS
   2D SESSION       S. 1617
                 AN ACT
To modify the requirements for the Administrator
  of the Small Business Administration relating to
  declaring a disaster in a rural area, and for other
  purposes.


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