I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4367 

To amend the Small Business Act to provide guaranteed disaster loans 

to certain small business concerns, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 9, 2017 

Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Small Business 

A BILL 

To amend the Small Business Act to provide guaranteed 

disaster loans to certain small business concerns, 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 ‘‘Small Business Emer5 gency Disaster Bridge Loan Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SMALL BUSINESS EMERGENCY BRIDGE LOAN PRO7 GRAM. 

8 Section 7(b) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

9 636(b)) is amended by inserting after paragraph (15) the 

10 following new paragraph: 


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1 ‘‘(16) SMALL BUSINESS EMERGENCY BRIDGE

2 LOAN PROGRAM.— 

3 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator 

4 may guarantee a bridge loan to a small busi5 ness concern made by an eligible lender, if such 

6 small business concern was located within an 

7 area and during the time period with respect to 

8 which— 

9 ‘‘(i) a major disaster was declared by 

10 the President under section 401 of the 

11 Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 

12 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 

13 5170); or 

14 ‘‘(ii) the Administrator determined a 

15 disaster occurred. 

16 ‘‘(B) PROCEDURES.—Except as otherwise 

17 provided in this paragraph, a bridge loan guar18 antee made under this paragraph shall be sub19 ject to the same requirements and procedures 

20 that are used to make loans pursuant to this 

21 subsection. 

22 ‘‘(C) USE OF FUNDS.—A small business 

23 concern described in subparagraph (A) may 

24 apply to the Administrator— 


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1 ‘‘(i) for a bridge loan to repair or re2 place real property or property of the small 

3 business concern property damaged or de4 stroyed by reason of such major disaster; 

5 or 

6 ‘‘(ii) if such a small business concern 

7 has suffered substantial economic injury by 

8 reason of such major disaster, for a bridge 

9 loan to assist such a small business con10 cern. 

11 ‘‘(D) RATE.—The Administrator may 

12 guarantee not more than 95 percent of a bridge 

13 loan made under this paragraph. 

14 ‘‘(E) REQUIREMENTS.—A bridge loan 

15 guaranteed under this subsection— 

16 ‘‘(i) may not exceed $50,000; 

17 ‘‘(ii) shall be for a term of not more 

18 than 10 years; 

19 ‘‘(iii) during the 6-month period be20 ginning on the date on which the bridge 

21 loan is disbursed, the rate of interest on 

22 such loan shall be zero and the borrower 

23 shall not be required to make any pay24 ments on such bridge loan; and 


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1 ‘‘(iv) after such 6-month period, the 

2 rate of interest on such bridge loan shall 

3 be determined by the Administrator. 

4 ‘‘(F) UNDERWRITING.—An eligible lender 

5 shall use the procedures and forms of such eli6 gible lender in making a bridge loan under this 

7 subsection. 

8 ‘‘(G) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 

9 ‘‘(i) BRIDGE LOAN.—The term ‘bridge 

10 loan’ means a loan made to a small busi11 ness concern while the application of such 

12 concern for assistance under a disaster 

13 loan program is pending. 

14 ‘‘(ii) DISASTER LOAN PROGRAM.—The 

15 term ‘disaster loan program’ means a pro16 gram established under paragraphs (1), 

17 (2), or (9) of this subsection. 

18 ‘‘(iii) ELIGIBLE LENDER.—The term 

19 ‘eligible lender’ means a lender who is a 

20 community development financial institu21 tion, as defined in section 103(5) of the 

22 Riegle Community Development and Regu23 latory Improvement Act of 1994 (12 

24 U.S.C. 4702(5)) or another lender that the 


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1 Administrator has determined is an appro2 priate lender.’’. 

Æ 


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