[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1180 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1180

     To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
    Assistance Act to provide for the authority to reimburse local 
  governments or electric cooperatives for interest expenses, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 18, 2023

    Mr. Rubio (for himself and Mr. Scott of Florida) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
               Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
    Assistance Act to provide for the authority to reimburse local 
  governments or electric cooperatives for interest expenses, 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 ``FEMA Loan Interest Payment Relief 
Act''.

SEC. 2. REIMBURSEMENT OF INTEREST PAYMENTS RELATED TO PUBLIC 
              ASSISTANCE.

    (a) In General.--Title IV of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 
and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170 et seq.) is amended by 
adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 431. REIMBURSEMENT OF INTEREST PAYMENTS RELATED TO PUBLIC 
              ASSISTANCE.

    ``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Qualifying interest.--The term `qualifying interest' 
        means, with respect to a qualifying loan, the lesser of--
                    ``(A) the actual interest paid to a lender for such 
                qualifying loan; and
                    ``(B) the interest that would have been paid to a 
                lender if such qualifying loan had an interest rate 
                equal to the prime rate most recently published on the 
                Federal Reserve Statistical Release on selected 
                interest rates.
            ``(2) Qualifying loan.--The term `qualifying loan' means a 
        loan--
                    ``(A) obtained by a local government or electric 
                cooperative; and
                    ``(B) of which not less than 90 percent of the 
                proceeds are used to fund activities for which such 
                local government or electric cooperative receives 
                assistance under this Act after the date on which such 
                loan is disbursed.
    ``(b) Financial Assistance.--The President, acting through the 
Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, shall provide 
financial assistance to a local government or electric cooperative as 
reimbursement for qualifying interest.''.
    (b) Rule of Applicability.--Any qualifying interest (as such term 
is defined in section 431 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 
Emergency Assistance Act, as added by this Act) incurred by a local 
government or electric cooperative in the 5 years preceding the date of 
enactment of this Act shall be treated as eligible for financial 
assistance for purposes of such section.
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