[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1617 Engrossed in Senate (ES)]

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117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 1617

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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.

            Passed the Senate September 28, 2022.

            Attest:

                                                             Secretary.
117th CONGRESS

  2d Session

                                S. 1617

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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.