Saving Our Street Act
This bill establishes and provides funding for the Microbusiness Assistance Fund through which the Department of the Treasury must provide grants to specified small entities.
Specifically, the bill provides $125 billion for grants to entities such as community small businesses and nonprofits that have suffered a drop in revenue of over 20% during the COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic. Such a grant shall not exceed $250,000 and may only be used for certain purposes, including (1) rehiring or hiring furloughed employees; (2) payment of compensation, rent or mortgage, utilities, or insurance; and (3) providing health care and benefits to employees.
Treasury is prohibited from denying a grant on the basis of any criminal history or involvement with the criminal legal system. Further, Treasury must give priority to people of color, veterans, women-owned community businesses, and socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, and 75% of appropriated amounts shall be provided to businesses or nonprofits owned or controlled by one or more socially and economically disadvantaged individuals.
[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4047 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
116th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4047
To permit the Secretary of the Treasury to provide direct funding to
certain entities.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 23, 2020
Ms. Harris (for herself, Mrs. Gillibrand, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Markey, Ms.
Klobuchar, Ms. Warren, Ms. Duckworth, and Mr. Reed) introduced the
following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To permit the Secretary of the Treasury to provide direct funding to
certain entities.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Saving Our Street Act''.
SEC. 2. GRANTS TO SMALL BUSINESSES.
(a) Definition.--In this section:
(1) Covered period.--The term ``covered period'' means the
period beginning on February 15, 2020 and ending on December
31, 2020.
(2) Eligible entity.--The term ``eligible entity''--
(A) means an entity that--
(i) is--
(I) a community small business,
including a self-employed worker,
independent contractor, or sole
proprietor, or a community nonprofit
with less than--
(aa) $1,000,000 in gross
revenue;
(bb) $500,000 in gross
receipts for nonprofits; or
(cc) 10 employees; or
(II) a small business with--
(aa) less than 20 employees
in a low-income community; and
(bb) not less than 50
percent of employees who live
in a low-income community; and
(ii) has suffered a drop in revenue of over
20 percent of gross revenue since February 15,
2020; and
(B) does not include entities that are publicly
traded companies, private equity firms, or hedge funds.
(3) Employee.--The term ``employee'' includes--
(A) individuals employed on a full-time, part-time,
or other basis;
(B) independent contractors;
(C) any individual in a jurisdiction subject to a
stay-at-home order, even if the employee has not
physically returned to work.
(4) Low-income community.--The term ``low-income
community'' means a census tract (or equivalent geographic area
defined by the United States Census Bureau) in which at least
50 percent of households have an income less than 60 percent of
the area median gross income, as determined by the Secretary of
Housing and Urban Development.
(5) Payroll costs.--The term ``payroll costs'' means--
(A) the sum of payments of any compensation that is
a--
(i) salary, wage, commission, or similar
compensation;
(ii) payment of cash tip or equivalent;
(iii) payment for vacation, parental,
family, medical, or sick leave;
(iv) allowance for dismissal or separation;
(v) payment required for the provisions of
group healthcare benefits, including insurance
premiums;
(vi) payment of any retirement benefit; or
(vii) payment of State or local tax
assessed on the compensation of employees or
owners;
(B) the sum of payments of any compensation to or
income of a sole proprietor or independent contractor--
(i) that is a wage, commission, income, net
earnings from self-employment, or similar
compensation; and
(ii) in an amount that is not more than
$100,000 in 1 year, as prorated for the covered
period;
(C) the compensation of an individual employee in
excess of an annual salary of $100,000, as prorated for
the covered period;
(D) qualified sick leave wages for which a credit
is allowed under section 7001 of the Families First
Coronavirus Response Act (Public Law 116-127); or
(E) qualified family leave wages for which a credit
is allowed under section 7003 of the Families First
Coronavirus Response Act (Public Law 116-127).
(6) Socially and economically disadvantaged individuals.--
The term ``socially and economically disadvantaged
individuals'' means individuals described in paragraphs (5) and
(6) of section 8(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C.
637(a)).
(7) Veterans organization.--The term ``veterans
organization'' means an organization that is described in
section 501(c)(19) of the Internal Revenue Code that is exempt
from taxation under section 501(a) of such Code.
(b) Grants.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary of the Treasury shall create
the Microbusiness Assistance Fund which may provide a grant to
an eligible entity in an amount not greater than $250,000 to be
used only for--
(A) rehiring or hiring employees of the entity who
were furloughed or laid off after February 15, 2020;
(B) payment of, on or after the date described in
subparagraph (A), payroll, salaries, commissions, or
similar compensations, payroll taxes, employer
compensation, rent (including under a lease agreement)
or mortgage, including payments of interest on any
mortgage obligation (not including prepayment of or
payment of principal on a mortgage obligation),
utilities, or insurance;
(C) providing healthcare and benefits to employees
at the same or similar levels as the entity provided on
the date described in subparagraph (A), including
continuation of group healthcare benefits during
periods of paid sick, medical, or family leave, and
insurance premiums; and
(D) debt obligations that were incurred before the
covered period.
(2) Eligibility.--No person shall be denied a grant under
this subsection on the basis of--
(A) any criminal history or involvement with the
criminal legal system; or
(B) using an individual taxpayer identification
number issued pursuant to section 6109(i) of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
(3) Priority.--
(A) In general.--The Secretary shall give priority
to people of color, veterans, women-owned community
businesses, and socially and economically disadvantaged
individuals as it pertains to historically
underrepresented businesses.
(B) Historically underrepresented businesses.--Of
the amounts made available under this section, 75
percent shall be provided to businesses or nonprofits
owned and controlled by 1 or more socially and
economically disadvantaged individuals.
(4) Other assistance.--An entity that receives a grant
under this subsection shall be eligible to receive assistance
under other Federal programs, including the paycheck protection
program established under section 7(a)(36) of the Small
Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(a)(36)) or an economic injury
disaster loan made under section 7(b)(2) of the Small Business
Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)(2)) if the funds are used for a purpose
other than a purpose described in paragraph (1).
(5) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that
eligible entities should rehire employees described in
paragraph (1)(A) after the date on which the national emergency
under the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.)
with respect to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
terminates.
(c) Amounts.--
(1) In general.--Of the amounts made available under this
Act--
(A) $124,500,000,000 shall be used for grants made
under subsection (b);
(B) $400,000,000 shall be used to provide financial
education training classes and for help applying for
the grants and financial recovery for eligible
entities, of which--
(i) $50,000,000 shall be used to provide
small businesses and women development centers
with technical assistance and online training
and information, of which--
(I) $25,000,000 shall be made
available for small businesses; and
(II) $25,000,000 shall be made
available for women development
centers;
(ii) $50,000,000 shall be used to provide
minority business centers with technical
assistance and online training and information;
and
(iii) $300,000,000 shall be used to provide
nonprofit and community organizations with
assistance to small business owners; and
(C) $100,000,000 shall be made available for the
Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue
Service to carry out this Act.
(2) Availability.--Funds made available under this Act
shall be available until December 20, 2020.
(d) Need.--An eligible entity shall attest in an application for a
grant under this section that the eligible entity--
(1) was in business as of February 15, 2020;
(2) has suffered a drop in sales of 20 percent or more;
(3) meets the criteria as an eligible entity; and
(4) will use the grants for authorized expenses.
(e) Documentation.--An eligible self-employed individual,
independent contractor, or sole proprietorship applying for a grant
under this section shall submit such documentation as is necessary to
establish such individual as eligible, including payroll tax filings
reported to the Internal Revenue Service, Forms 1099-MISC, and income
and expenses from the sole proprietorship, as determined by the
Administrator of the Small Business Administration and the Secretary of
the Treasury. An applicant may submit to the Secretary of the Treasury
a self-certification for employee labor expenses and payroll.
(f) Materials.--Any application or informational material related
to the grant program provided by Department of the Treasury or the
Internal Revenue Service shall be made available in the 10 most used
languages in the United States after English.
(g) Receipt of Funds.--Any eligible entity shall receive a grant
made under subsection (b) not later than 14 days after the date on
which the entity submitted an application for the grant.
(h) Reporting.--The Secretary of the Treasury shall submit to the
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and the Committee on
Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate and the Committee on
Financial Service, the Committee on Small Business, and the Committee
on Oversight and Reform of the House of Representatives a report on the
information about the ethnicity, race, industry, geographical
demographics, and sex of applicants for grants made under this section.
SEC. 3. DIRECT APPROPRIATION.
(a) In General.--There is appropriated, out of amounts in the
Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to the Secretary of the Treasury
$125,000,000,000 to carry out this Act.
(b) Emergency Designation.--
(1) In general.--The amounts provided under this Act are
designated as an emergency requirement pursuant to section 4(g)
of the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 (2 U.S.C. 933(g)).
(2) Designation in senate.--In the Senate, this Act is
designated as an emergency requirement pursuant to section
4112(a) of H. Con. Res. 71 (115th Congress), the concurrent
resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2018.
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
Llama 3.2 · runs locally in your browser
Ask anything about this bill. The AI reads the full text to answer.
Enter to send · Shift+Enter for new line