[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1975 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 1975

To broaden eligibility for emergency loans under the Consolidated Farm 
                       and Rural Development Act.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 23, 1998

 Mr. Coverdell introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To broaden eligibility for emergency loans under the Consolidated Farm 
                       and Rural Development Act.

    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 ``Farmers Emergency Loan Reform Act of 
1998''.

SEC. 2. BROADENING OF ELIGIBILITY FOR EMERGENCY LOANS.

    (a) Elimination of Credit Elsewhere Test.--
            (1) In general.--Section 321(a) of such Act (7 U.S.C. 
        1961(a)) is amended in the 1st sentence by striking ``and are 
        not able to obtain sufficient credit elsewhere''.
            (2) Conforming amendments.--
                    (A) Section 321(d) of such Act (7 U.S.C. 1961(d)) 
                is amended--
                            (i) by striking ``--'' and all that follows 
                        through ``(1)''; and
                            (ii) by striking the semicolon and all that 
                        follows through ``periods of time''.
                    (B) Section 322 of such Act (7 U.S.C. 1962) is 
                amended by striking subsection (b).
    (b) Applicability of Disaster Loan Collateral Requirements Under 
the Small Business Act.--Section 322 of such Act (7 U.S.C. 1962) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) The collateral requirements for disaster loans under section 
7(b) of the Small Business Act shall apply to loans under this subtitle 
in lieu of any other collateral requirements.''.
    (c) Effect of Prior Forgiveness of Loans.--Section 373(b)(2) of 
such Act (7 U.S.C. 2008h(b)(2)) is amended by adding at the end the 
following: ``The Secretary may make an emergency loan under section 321 
to a borrower who has received not more than one debt forgiveness on a 
loan made or guaranteed under this title, if that debt forgiveness was 
in the form of a restructuring, write-down, or net recovery buy-out 
that is due to a financial problem of the borrower relating to a 
natural disaster or a medical condition of the borrower or a member of 
the immediate family of the borrower (or in the case of a borrower that 
is an entity, a principal owner of the borrower or a member of the 
immediate family of such an owner).''.
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