[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7071 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7071

To amend section 7(b) of the Small Business Act to make disaster loans 
available for damages caused by prolonged power outages, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 22, 2024

 Ms. Stevens introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Small Business

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend section 7(b) of the Small Business Act to make disaster loans 
available for damages caused by prolonged power outages, 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. SMALL BUSINESS DISASTER LOANS FOR PROLONGED POWER OUTAGES.

    Section 7(b) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)) is 
amended--
            (1) by redesignating the second paragraph (16) as paragraph 
        (17); and
            (2) by inserting after paragraph (17), as so redesignated, 
        the following new paragraph:
            ``(18) Prolonged power outage.--
                    ``(A) In general.--For the purposes of paragraphs 
                (1)(A) and (2), the term `disaster' includes prolonged 
                power outages.
                    ``(B) Use of loan amounts.--In addition to any 
                other allowable uses of a loan made under paragraph 
                (1)(A) or (2), if a borrower receives such a loan 
                pursuant to a disaster that is prolonged power outage, 
                the borrower may use the proceeds of such loan to--
                            ``(i) purchase energy resilience systems 
                        that enable the borrower to cope with and 
                        recover from disruptions to the commercial 
                        availability of electrical power, including 
                        generators, solar panels, wind turbines, 
                        microgrids, fuel cells, batteries, and other 
                        technologies that provide electrical generation 
                        and storage capabilities as determined 
                        appropriate by the Administrator; and
                            ``(ii) pay for the cost of replacing any 
                        food and drink of the borrower that was lost, 
                        destroyed, or rendered unfit for human 
                        consumption as a result of such disaster.
                    ``(C) Prolonged power outage defined.--In this 
                subsection, the term `prolonged power outage' means--
                            ``(i) for the purposes of paragraph (1)(A), 
                        a loss of electrical power that causes not 
                        fewer than 25 homes or 25 business concerns, or 
                        any combination of not fewer than 25 homes, 
                        business concerns, or other eligible recipients 
                        of a loan under such paragraph, located in any 
                        county or smaller political subdivision of a 
                        State or territory or possession of the United 
                        States to each sustain 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; and
                            ``(ii) for the purposes of paragraph (2), 
                        not fewer than 25 homes or 25 business 
                        concerns, or any combination of not fewer than 
                        25 homes, business concerns, or other eligible 
                        recipients of a loan under such paragraph, 
                        located in any county or smaller political 
                        subdivision of a State or territory or 
                        possession of the United States concurrently 
                        losing electrical power for not fewer than 48 
                        hours.''.
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