I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7552 

To reauthorize and limit the pre-disaster mitigation program of the Small 

Business Administration, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 9, 2020 

Mr. MORELLE (for himself, Mr. BERGMAN, Mr. GOLDEN, Mr. STAUBER, Ms. 

STEFANIK, and Mrs. MURPHY of Florida) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Small Business 

A BILL 

To reauthorize and limit the pre-disaster mitigation program 

of the Small Business Administration, 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 ‘‘Providing Resources 

5 for Emergency Preparedness and Resilient Enterprises 

6 Act’’ or the ‘‘PREPARE Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. PRE-DISASTER MITIGATION PROGRAM. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 7(b) of the Small Busi9 ness Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)) is amended— 


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1 (1) in paragraph (1)(C)— 

2 (A) by striking ‘‘during fiscal years 2000 

3 through 2004, to establish a predisaster mitiga4 tion program’’ and inserting ‘‘to establish a 

5 pre-disaster mitigation program’’; 

6 (B) by inserting ‘‘in accordance with para7 graph (16) and’’ before ‘‘as the Administrator 

8 may’’; 

9 (C) by striking ‘‘to enable small busi10 nesses’’ and inserting ‘‘to small business con11 cerns to enable such concerns’’; and 

12 (D) by striking ‘‘in support of a formal’’ 

13 and all that follows and inserting ‘‘to protect 

14 the commercial real estate, equipment, inven15 tory, supplies, and materials of such concerns 

16 from damages related to disasters;’’; and 

17 (2) by inserting after paragraph (15) the fol18 lowing new paragraph: 

19 ‘‘(16) PRE-DISASTER MITIGATION PROGRAM

20 LOANS.— 

21 ‘‘(A) ANNUAL LOAN CAP.—The aggregate 

22 amount of loans made under the pre-disaster 

23 mitigation program under paragraph (1)(C) to 

24 a borrower may not exceed $500,000 in any 12- 

25 month period. 


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1 ‘‘(B) OUTREACH.—In carrying out the pre2 disaster mitigation program under paragraph 

3 (1)(C), the Administrator shall— 

4 ‘‘(i) conduct outreach campaigns to 

5 small business concerns regarding such 

6 program, including— 

7 ‘‘(I) advertising to educate such 

8 concerns on the importance of disaster 

9 mitigation; and 

10 ‘‘(II) campaigns to promote par11 ticipation in such program by small 

12 business concerns located in economi13 cally depressed areas; 

14 ‘‘(ii) provide instructions on how to 

15 participate in such program; and 

16 ‘‘(iii) provide detailed information on 

17 the purposes for which funds from loans 

18 made under such program may be used. 

19 ‘‘(C) RESERVATION OF FUNDS.—Not more 

20 than 4 percent of the funds made available to 

21 the Administrator to carry out the pre-disaster 

22 mitigation program under paragraph (1)(C) 

23 may be reserved by the Administrator for— 

24 ‘‘(i) the administrative costs of such 

25 program; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) the activities described in sub2 paragraph (B).’’. 

3 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section 

4 20(c) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 631 note) is 

5 amended to read as follows: 

6 ‘‘(c) PRE-DISASTER MITIGATION PROGRAM.—There 

7 is authorized to be appropriated for the purpose of car8 rying out the program established under section 

9 7(b)(1)(C) the following amounts: 

10 ‘‘(1) $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2021. 

11 ‘‘(2) $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2022. 

12 ‘‘(3) $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2023. 

13 ‘‘(4) $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2024. 

14 ‘‘(5) $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2025.’’. 

15 (c) PROGRAM EVALUATION.—Not later than January 

16 31, 2025, the Administrator of the Small Business Admin17 istration shall submit to the Committee on Small Business 

18 and Entrepreneurship of the Senate and the Committee 

19 on Small Business of the House of Representatives a re20 port on the pre-disaster mitigation program under section 

21 7(b)(1)(C) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

22 636(b)(1)(C)), as amended by this Act, including— 

23 (1) a list of the geographic areas in which re24 cipients of loans under the program are located; 


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1 (2) the number and dollar value of the loans 

2 made under the program; 

3 (3) the estimated aggregate value resulting 

4 from the use of mitigation techniques funded by 

5 loans made under the program, including— 

6 (A) the lost productivity and expenses that 

7 were avoided; and 

8 (B) the amount saved by the Federal Gov9 ernment; 

10 (4) the information required by paragraph (3) 

11 disaggregated by region, by State, and by industry; 

12 and 

13 (5) the estimated dollar value of loans that 

14 would have been made under section 7(b)(1)(A) of 

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

16 without the loans made under the program. 

17 (d) APPLICABILITY.—The amendments made by this 

18 Act shall apply only with respect to loans made under sec19 tion 7(b)(1)(C) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

20 636(b)(1)(C)), as amended by this Act, on or after the 

21 date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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