[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1130 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1130

     To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
   Assistance Act to modify the terms of the community disaster loan 
                    program, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 23, 2009

 Mrs. Maloney introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
             Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
   Assistance Act to modify the terms of the community disaster loan 
                    program, 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 ``Whatever It Takes To Rebuild Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Major disasters, including natural disasters and 
        disasters caused by terrorist acts, often result in a decline 
        in economic activity in areas affected by the disaster and a 
        reduction in tax collections by State and local governments 
        serving those areas.
            (2) A report of the Government Accountability Office 
        entitled ``September 11: Recent Estimates of Fiscal Impact of 
        2001 Terrorist Attack on New York'', dated March 2005, 
        confirmed prior estimates that--
                    (A) New York City lost between $2,500,000,000 and 
                $2,900,000,000 in tax revenues for fiscal years 2002 
                and 2003; and
                    (B) the State of New York lost $2,900,000,000 for 
                fiscal years 2002 and 2003.
            (3) Under the community disaster loan program (in this 
        section referred to as the ``CDL program''), as authorized by 
        the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 
        Act, the President may make loans to a local government 
        suffering a substantial loss of tax and other revenues as a 
        result of a major disaster, if the local government 
        demonstrates a need for financial assistance in order to 
        preform its governmental function.
            (4) The President may cancel the repayment of all or any 
        part of a loan made to a local government under the CDL program 
        if revenues following the disaster are insufficient to meet the 
        operating budget of that local government as a result of 
        disaster-related revenue losses and additional unreimbursed 
        disaster-related municipal operating expenses.
            (5) Assistance made available under the CDL program is 
        often instrumental in aiding the full recovery of a local 
        government following a major disaster.
            (6) The Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 established a 
        $5,000,000 limitation on loans made to a local government under 
        the CDL program in connection with a major disaster. Before the 
        date of enactment of such Act, there was not any limitation on 
        the amount of such loans.
            (7) The $5,000,000 limitation is inequitable when applied 
        to a local government serving a largely populated area, such as 
        New York City, and is inconsistent with the objective of the 
        CDL program to provide meaningful assistance to a local 
        government recovering from a major disaster.

SEC. 3. COMMUNITY DISASTER LOANS.

    (a) Eligibility of States.--Section 417 of the Robert T. Stafford 
Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5184) is 
amended by striking ``local government'' each place it appears and 
inserting ``State or local government''.
    (b) Amount.--Section 417(b) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 5184(b)) is 
amended--
            (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1) by striking 
        ``based on need, shall'' and inserting ``based on need and 
        shall''; and
            (2) in paragraphs (1) and (2) by striking ``, and shall not 
        exceed $5,000,000''.
    (c) Catastrophic Events.--Section 417 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 5184) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(e) Catastrophic Events.--In the case a loan made under this 
section to a State or local government which may suffer a substantial 
loss of tax and other revenues as a result of a major disaster that the 
President determines to be a catastrophic event--
            ``(1) the amount of the loan shall not be subject to the 
        percentage limitations in subsection (b); and
            ``(2) the President shall not require the payment of any 
        interest or principal on a loan.''.
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