119-s397

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 397 Introduced in Senate

    (IS) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 S. 397

 To amend the Small Business Act to increase the minimum disaster loan 
 amount for which the Small Business Administration may require 
 collateral, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

 February 4, 2025

 Mr. Kennedy (for himself, Mr. Booker, and Ms. Hirono) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
 Small Business and Entrepreneurship

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To amend the Small Business Act to increase the minimum disaster loan 
 amount for which the Small Business Administration may require 
 collateral, 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 ``Small Business Disaster Damage 
Fairness Act of 2025''.

SEC. 2. COLLATERAL REQUIREMENTS FOR DISASTER LOANS.

 

Section 7
            (d) (6) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636
            (d) (6) ) is 
amended, in the second sentence, in the third proviso--

    (1) by striking ``$14,000'' and inserting ``$50,000''; and

    (2) by striking ``major disaster'' and inserting 
 ``disaster''.

SEC. 3. GAO REPORT ON DEFAULT RATES.

 Not later than 3 years 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 the 
performance, including the default rate, of loans made under 

section 7

    (b)

    (1) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636

    (b)

    (1) ), and the impact 
of the amendments to collateral amounts made under 

section 2 of this 
Act on the performance of those loans, during the period--

    (1) beginning on September 30, 2020; and

    (2) ending on the date on that is 2 years after the date of 
 enactment of this Act.

SEC. 4. DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN RURAL AND URBAN COMMUNITIES IN MARKETING 
 AND OUTREACH.

    (a) 

=== Definitions. ===
-In this section:

    (1) Administration.--The term ``Administration'' means the 
 Small Business Administration.

    (2) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the 
 Administrator of the Administration.

    (3) Associate administrator.--The term ``Associate 
 Administrator'' means the Associate Administrator of the Office 
 of Disaster Recovery and Resilience of the Administration.

    (4) Covered program.--The term ``covered program'' means 
 the disaster loan program authorized by 

section 7

    (b) of the 
 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636

    (b) ).

    (b) Requirement.--Beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, 
consistent with the recommendations of the Government Accountability 
Office in the report entitled ``Small Business Administration: Targeted 
Outreach about Disaster Assistance Could Benefit Rural Communities'' 
(GAO-24-106755) (February 22, 2024), the Administrator shall ensure 
that the Associate Administrator--

    (1) distinguishes between rural and urban communities in 
 the outreach and marketing plan of the Administration with 
 respect to the covered program; and

    (2) incorporates actions to mitigate challenges encountered 
 by rural communities in accessing loans under the covered 
 program.
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