I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7451 

To provide forgivable physical disaster loans to businesses damaged due 

to civil unrest, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 1, 2020 

Mr. EVANS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Small Business, and in addition to the Committee on the Budget, for 

a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 

consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To provide forgivable physical disaster loans to businesses 

damaged due to civil unrest, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Helping Entrepreneurs 

5 Access Loans Act’’ or the ‘‘HEAL Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FORGIVABLE BUSINESS PHYSICAL DISASTER LOANS 

7 FOR DAMAGE DUE TO CIVIL UNREST. 

8 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 


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1 (1) the terms ‘‘Administration’’ and ‘‘Adminis2 trator’’ mean the Small Business Administration 

3 and the Administrator thereof, respectively; 

4 (2) the term ‘‘covered period’’ means the period 

5 beginning on May 26, 2020, and ending on July 1, 

6 2020; and 

7 (3) the term ‘‘eligible entity’’ means a business 

8 concern— 

9 (A) with average annual receipts (as de10 fined in section 121.104 of title 13, Code of 

11 Federal Regulations, or any successor regula12 tion) of not more than $2,000,000; and 

13 (B) that— 

14 (i) is located within an area for which 

15 the Administrator declared a disaster in 

16 accordance with section 123.3(a)(3) of title 

17 13, Code of Federal Regulations, or any 

18 successor regulation, with respect to civil 

19 unrest that began on May 26, 2020, in 

20 Minneapolis, Minnesota, and spread across 

21 the United States; and 

22 (ii) incurred damage to real or per23 sonal property of the business concern dur24 ing the covered period as a result of the 

25 civil unrest described in clause (i). 


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1 (b) BUSINESS PHYSICAL DISASTER LOANS.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise pro3 vided in this subsection, an eligible entity shall be el4 igible for a loan made by the Administration under 

5 section 7(b)(1) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

6 636(b)(1)) under the same terms, conditions, and 

7 processes as a loan made under such section to re8 pair, rehabilitate, or replace property, real or per9 sonal, of the eligible entity that was damaged or de10 stroyed during the covered period as a result of the 

11 civil unrest described in subsection (a)(3)(B)(i). 

12 (2) DISASTER DECLARATION.—With respect to 

13 the disaster declaration described in subsection 

14 (a)(3)(B)(i) for a loan made under paragraph (1), 

15 the requirement under section 123.3(a)(3)(ii) of title 

16 13, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor 

17 regulation, that 25 percent or more of the work 

18 force in the area would be unemployed for not fewer 

19 than 90 days shall not apply. 

20 (3) LOAN AMOUNT.— 

21 (A) IN GENERAL.—The amount of a loan 

22 made under paragraph (1) shall be equal to 100 

23 percent of the amount required to repair, reha24 bilitate, or replace property, real or personal, of 

25 the eligible entity that— 


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1 (i) was damaged or destroyed during 

2 the covered period as a result of the civil 

3 unrest described in subsection (a)(3)(B)(i); 

4 and 

5 (ii) is not compensated for by— 

6 (I) insurance; 

7 (II) a grant from a State or local 

8 government; or 

9 (III) any other means. 

10 (B) DEDUCTION OF ADVANCE AMOUNT.— 

11 The amount of any advance received by an eli12 gible entity under subsection (c) shall be de13 ducted from the loan amount for the eligible en14 tity under subparagraph (A). 

15 (4) TERMS; CREDIT ELSEWHERE.— 

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—With respect to a loan 

17 made to an eligible entity under paragraph 

18 (1)— 

19 (i) the Administrator shall waive— 

20 (I) any rules related the personal 

21 guarantee on loans of not more than 

22 $200,000 during the covered period 

23 for all applicants; and 

24 (II) any requirement that an ap25 plicant needs to be in business for the 


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1 1-year period before the civil unrest 

2 described in subsection (a)(3)(B)(i), 

3 except that no waiver may be made 

4 for an eligible entity that was not in 

5 operation on January 31, 2020; 

6 (ii) the eligible entity shall not be re7 quired to show that the eligible entity is 

8 unable to obtain credit elsewhere; and 

9 (iii) no collateral shall be required for 

10 the loan. 

11 (B) REPAYMENT.—Any payments on a 

12 loan made to an eligible entity under paragraph 

13 (1) are deferred until June 30, 2022, and inter14 est shall not begin to accrue until such date. 

15 (5) APPLICATION.— 

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 7 days 

17 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Ad18 ministrator shall begin to accept applications 

19 for a loan under paragraph (1). 

20 (B) DEADLINE.—An eligible entity desir21 ing a loan under this subsection shall submit to 

22 the Administrator an application not later than 

23 December 31, 2020. 


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1 (C) APPROVAL AND ABILITY TO REPAY.— 

2 With respect to an applicant for a loan made 

3 under paragraph (1), the Administrator may— 

4 (i) approve the applicant based on the 

5 credit score or personal guarantee of the 

6 applicant; or 

7 (ii) use alternative appropriate meth8 ods to determine the applicant’s ability to 

9 repay. 

10 (6) USE OF FUNDS.—A recipient of a loan 

11 made under paragraph (1) shall use the loan pro12 ceeds to repair, rehabilitate, or replace property, real 

13 or personal, damaged or destroyed during the cov14 ered period as a result of the civil unrest described 

15 in subsection (a)(3)(B)(i), provided that such dam16 age or destruction is not compensated for by insur17 ance, a grant from a State or local government, or 

18 otherwise. 

19 (7) LOAN FORGIVENESS.— 

20 (A) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity that 

21 received a loan made under paragraph (1), or 

22 an eligible entity that received a loan under sec23 tion 7(b)(1) of the Small Business Act (15 

24 U.S.C. 636(b)(1)) before the date of enactment 

25 of this Act related to the civil unrest described 


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1 in subsection (a)(3)(B)(i), shall be eligible for 

2 forgiveness of indebtedness equal to 75 percent 

3 of the loan amount if the eligible entity— 

4 (i) submits to the Administrator docu5 mentation of sales for 2019 and 2020 and 

6 tax returns for 2019 and 2020; and 

7 (ii) the eligible entity is in operation 

8 as of December 31, 2021. 

9 (B) AMOUNTS NOT FORGIVEN.—Any re10 maining amount of a loan described in subpara11 graph (A) that is not forgiven under this para12 graph as of December 31, 2021, shall— 

13 (i) be considered a loan made under 

14 section 7(b)(1) of the Small Business Act 

15 (15 U.S.C. 636(b)(1)); 

16 (ii) bear an interest rate of 3.75 per17 cent; and 

18 (iii) have a 30-year term. 

19 (8) DUPLICATION.—An eligible entity that re20 ceived a loan under subsection (a)(36) or (b)(2) of 

21 section 7 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636) 

22 before the date of enactment of this Act shall be eli23 gible for a loan under paragraph (1) if the proceeds 

24 of the loan made under such subsection (a)(36) or 


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1 (b)(2) are not used for the same expenses as the 

2 loan under paragraph (1). 

3 (c) EMERGENCY GRANT.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity that ap5 plies for a loan under subsection (b)(1) may request 

6 that the Administrator provide an advance, subject 

7 to paragraph (3), to the eligible entity not later than 

8 10 days after the date on which the Administrator 

9 receives an application from the eligible entity. 

10 (2) VERIFICATION.—Before disbursing amounts 

11 under this subsection, the Administrator shall verify 

12 that the applicant is an eligible entity by accepting 

13 a self-certification from the applicant under penalty 

14 of perjury pursuant to section 1746 of title 28, 

15 United States Code. 

16 (3) AMOUNT.—The amount of an advance pro17 vided to an eligible entity under this subsection shall 

18 be the lesser of— 

19 (A) 20 percent of the amount requested by 

20 the eligible entity; or 

21 (B) $10,000. 

22 (4) USE OF FUNDS.—An advance received 

23 under this subsection shall only be used for the al24 lowable uses for a loan under subsection (b)(1). 

25 (5) REPAYMENT.— 


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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided 

2 under subparagraph (B), an eligible entity that 

3 receives an advance under this subsection shall 

4 not be required to repay any amounts of the ad5 vance. 

6 (B) RETURN OF ADVANCE.—If an appli7 cant for a loan under subsection (b)(1) is later 

8 determined to be ineligible for the loan because 

9 the applicant does not meet the requirements to 

10 be an eligible entity described in subsection 

11 (a)(3), the applicant shall return to the Admin12 istrator any advance amount provided under 

13 this subsection— 

14 (i) not later than 90 days after receiv15 ing notice of the determination of ineligi16 bility; or 

17 (ii) if the Administrator determines 

18 that the applicant submitted the applica19 tion in bad faith, not later than 30 days 

20 after receiving notice of that determina21 tion, plus interest in an amount equal to 

22 4.75 percent of the advance. 

23 (d) RESOURCES AND SERVICES IN LANGUAGES

24 OTHER THAN ENGLISH.—The Administrator shall pro25 vide the resources and services made available by the AdVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:37 Jul 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7451.IH H7451

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1 ministration relating to the loans and grants available 

2 under this section to eligible entities in the 10 most com3 monly spoken languages, other than English, in the 

4 United States, which shall include Mandarin, Cantonese, 

5 Japanese, and Korean. 

6 (e) REGULATIONS.—The Administrator shall issue 

7 guidance and rules to carry out this section. 

8 (f) DIRECT APPROPRIATION.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is appropriated, out 

10 of amounts in the Treasury not otherwise appro11 priated, for the fiscal year ending September 30, 

12 2020, for an additional amount for ‘‘Small Business 

13 Administration—HEAL Act’’, $80,000,000, to re14 main available until September 30, 2021, for car15 rying out this section. 

16 (2) EMERGENCY DESIGNATION.— 

17 (A) IN GENERAL.—The amounts provided 

18 under this subsection are designated as an 

19 emergency requirement pursuant to section 4(g) 

20 of the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 (2 

21 U.S.C. 933(g)). 

22 (B) DESIGNATION IN SENATE.—In the 

23 Senate, this subsection is designated as an 

24 emergency requirement pursuant to section 

25 4112(a) of H. Con. Res. 71 (115th Congress), 


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1 the concurrent resolution on the budget for fis2 cal year 2018. 

Æ 


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