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103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 991

To waive certain requirement under the Small Business Act for disaster

relief assistance.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 18, 1993

Mrs. MINK introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on Small Business

A BILL

To waive certain requirement under the Small Business Act

for disaster relief assistance.

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

3 SECTION 1. WAIVER OF REQUIREMENTS.

4 Notwithstanding any provision of the Small Business

5 Act, a qualifying business that has suffered economic in6 jury as a result of Hurricane Andrew, Hurricane Iniki,

7 or Typhoon Omar, shall be eligible to apply for and to

8 receive loan assistance in accordance with section 7(b)(2)

9 of the Small Business Act, without regard to—

10 (1) the size of the qualifying business;
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1 (2) the availability to that business of non-Fed2 eral sources of credit; or

3 (3) the maximum amount of assistance estab4 lished under that section or regulations issued there5 under.

6 SEC. 2. QUALIFYING BUSINESSES.

7 For purposes of this Act, a qualifying business is—

8 (1) a regulated public utility company, if—

9 (A) the disaster area is more than 1,000

10 miles from the major sources of materials and

11 supplies necessary to restore the public utility

12 to full operating service;

13 (B) the public utility is not physically con14 nected to any other public utility service that

15 can provide the same type of services to cus16 tomers of the affected public utility company;

17 (C) the cost to repair, reconstruct, and re18 store the facilities of the public utility company

19 is equal to not less than 20 percent of the dol20 lar value of its facilities prior to the occurrence

21 of the disaster; and

22 (D) the regulated public utility had not

23 more than 500,000 customers at the time of the

24 disaster;
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1 (2) an interstate transportation service provider

2 operating in the disaster area, if—

3 (A) such provider is the only transpor4 tation link to the areas affected by the disaster,

5 other than by carriage over water; and

6 (B) assistance provided in accordance with

7 this Act and section 7(b)(2) of the Small Busi8 ness Act will be used to finance repair, recon9 struction, and restoration of the provider’s fa10 cilities as they existed prior to the occurrence of

11 the disaster; and

12 (3) any communications media business, the fa13 cilities of which were damaged or destroyed by Hur14 ricane Andrew, Hurricane Iniki, or Typhoon Omar

15 (including all such facilities related to the gathering,

16 printing, or dissemination of information).

17 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

18 For purposes of this Act—

19 (1) the term ‘‘regulated public utility’’ means a

20 corporation engaged in the furnishing of telephone

21 service or in the sale of electrical energy, gas, or

22 water, if the rates for such furnishing or sale, as the

23 case may be, have been established or approved by

24 a State or political subdivision thereof or by an

25 agency or instrumentality of the United States or by
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1 a public utility or public service commission or other

2 similar body of the District of Columbia, Guam, or

3 of any State or political subdivision thereof; and

4 (2) the term ‘‘disaster area’’ means any area

5 affected by a major disaster, as declared by the

6 President in accordance with section 401 of the Rob7 ert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency As8 sistance Act, as a result of the occurrences of Hurri9 cane Andrew, Hurricane Iniki, or Typhoon Omar.

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