Disaster Assistance for Rural Communities Act
This bill authorizes the Small Business Administration (SBA) to declare a disaster in rural areas where significant damage has been incurred for the purpose of providing certain assistance.
A rural area is a geographic area with a population of less than 200,000 outside an urbanized area. Significant damage means uninsured losses of not less than 40% of the fair replacement value or pre-disaster fair market value of the damaged property (whichever is less).
For a rural area where the President has declared a major disaster, the SBA may declare a disaster for the purpose of providing economic injury disaster loans if (1) the state wherein the rural area is located requests the declaration; and (2) any home, small business, private nonprofit organization, or small agricultural cooperative has incurred significant damage.
The Government Accountability Office must report on (1) any unique challenges to communities in rural areas compared to communities in urbanized areas when seeking economic injury disaster assistance, and (2) any legislative recommendations for improving access to disaster assistance for communities in rural areas.
[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3192 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3192
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.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 13, 2021
Mr. Golden (for himself and Mr. Hagedorn) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Small Business
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
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.
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 ``Disaster Assistance for Rural
Communities Act''.
SEC. 2. DISASTER DECLARATION IN RURAL AREAS.
(a) In General.--Section 7(b) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C.
636(b)) is amended by inserting after paragraph (15) the following:
``(16) Disaster declaration in rural areas.--
``(A) Definitions.--In this paragraph--
``(i) the term `rural area' means a
geographic area with a population of less than
200,000 outside an urbanized area; and
``(ii) the term `significant damage' means,
with respect to property, uninsured losses of
not less than 40 percent of the estimated fair
replacement value or pre-disaster fair market
value of the damaged property, whichever is
lower.
``(B) Disaster declaration.--For the purpose of
making loans under paragraph (1) or (2), the
Administrator may declare a disaster in a rural area
for which a major disaster was declared by the
President under section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford
Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C.
5170) if--
``(i) the Governor of the State in which
the rural area is located requests such a
declaration; and
``(ii) any home, small business concern,
private nonprofit organization, or small
agricultural cooperative has incurred
significant damage in the rural area.
``(C) SBA report.--Not later than 120 days after
the date of enactment of this paragraph, and every year
thereafter, the Administrator shall submit to the
Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the
Senate and the Committee on Small Business of the House
of Representatives a report on, with respect to the 1-
year period preceding submission of the report--
``(i) any economic injury that resulted
from a major disaster declared by the President
under section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford
Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act
(42 U.S.C. 5170) in a rural area;
``(ii) each request for assistance made by
the Governor of a State under subparagraph
(B)(i) and the response of the Administrator,
including the timeline for each response; and
``(iii) any regulatory changes that will
impact the ability of communities in rural
areas to obtain disaster assistance under this
subsection.''.
(b) Regulations.--Not later than 120 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Small Business
Administration shall issue regulations to carry out the amendment made
by subsection (a).
(c) GAO Report.--
(1) Definition of rural area.--In this subsection, the term
``rural area'' means an area with a population of less than
200,000 outside an urbanized area.
(2) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United
States shall submit to the Committee on Small Business and
Entrepreneurship of the Senate and the Committee on Small
Business of the House of Representatives a report on--
(A) any unique challenges that communities in rural
areas face compared to communities in urbanized areas
when seeking to obtain disaster assistance under
section 7(b) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C.
636(b)); and
(B) legislative recommendations for improving
access to disaster assistance for communities in rural
areas.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Small Business.
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