[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1617 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        S.1617

                    One Hundred Seventeenth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

           Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday,
          the third day of January, two thousand and twenty two


                                 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.

    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 any county or other 
            political subdivision of a State, the District of Columbia, 
            or a territory or possession of the United States that is 
            designated as a rural area by the Bureau of the Census; 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) and for which individual assistance was not 
        authorized under section 408 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 5174) if--
                ``(i) the Governor of the State or the Chief Executive 
            of the Indian tribal government 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 or the Chief Executive of an Indian tribal 
            government 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 any county or other political subdivision of a 
    State, the District of Columbia, or a territory or possession of 
    the United States that is designated as a rural area by the Bureau 
    of the Census.
        (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.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.