II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1811 

To require the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to establish a program to make loans to certain businesses, homeowners, and 

renters affected by Superstorm Sandy. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 21, 2015 

Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mr. SCHUMER, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, and Mr. 

BOOKER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship 

A BILL 

To require the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to establish a program to make loans to certain 

businesses, homeowners, and renters affected by 

Superstorm Sandy. 

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 ‘‘Superstorm Sandy Re5 lief and Disaster Loan Program Improvement Act of 

6 2015’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

8 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) In 2012, Superstorm Sandy caused sub2 stantial physical and economic damage to the United 

3 States, and New York in particular. 

4 (2) For businesses and homeowners, the pri5 mary means of obtaining long-term Federal financial 

6 assistance in the wake of disasters such as 

7 Superstorm Sandy is through the Small Business 

8 Administration’s Disaster Loan Program. 

9 (3) With regard to the Small Business Adminis10 tration’s operation of the Disaster Loan Program 

11 after Superstorm Sandy, the Government Account12 ability Office found that the Administration did not 

13 meet its timeliness goals for processing business loan 

14 applications. 

15 (4) According to the Government Accountability 

16 Office, the Small Business Administration stated 

17 that it was challenged by an unexpectedly high vol18 ume of loan applications that it received early in its 

19 response to Superstorm Sandy. 

20 (5) As a result, many businesses and home21 owners affected by Superstorm Sandy were unable 

22 to apply for financing from the Small Business Ad23 ministration. 


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1 SEC. 3. REVISED DISASTER DEADLINE. 

2 Section 7(d) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

3 636(d)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(8) DISASTER LOANS FOR SUPERSTORM

5 SANDY.— 

6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any 

7 other provision of law, and subject to the same 

8 requirements and procedures that are used to 

9 make loans pursuant to subsection (b), a small 

10 business concern, homeowner, or renter that 

11 was located within an area and during the time 

12 period with respect to which a major disaster 

13 was declared by the President under section 

14 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 

15 and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 

16 5170) by reason of Superstorm Sandy may 

17 apply to the Administrator— 

18 ‘‘(i) for a loan to repair, rehabilitate, 

19 or replace property damaged or destroyed 

20 by reason of Superstorm Sandy; or 

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

22 has suffered substantial economic injury by 

23 reason of Superstorm Sandy, for a loan to 

24 assist such a small business concern. 

25 ‘‘(B) TIMING.—The Administrator shall 

26 select loan recipients and make available loans 


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1 for a period of not less than 1 year after the 

2 date on which the Administrator carries out 

3 this authority.’’. 

4 SEC. 4. USE OF PHYSICAL DAMAGE DISASTER LOANS TO 

5 CONSTRUCT SAFE ROOMS. 

6 Section 7(b)(1)(A) of the Small Business Act (15 

7 U.S.C. 636(b)(1)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘mitigating 

8 measures’’ and all that follows through ‘‘modifying struc9 tures’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘mitigating measures, 

10 including— 

11 ‘‘(i) construction of retaining walls and sea 

12 walls; 

13 ‘‘(ii) grading and contouring land; and 

14 ‘‘(iii) relocating utilities and modifying 

15 structures, including construction of a safe 

16 room or similar storm shelter designed to pro17 tect property and occupants from tornadoes or 

18 other natural disasters’’. 

19 SEC. 5. COLLATERAL REQUIREMENTS FOR SMALL BUSI20 NESS CONCERNS. 

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

22 636(b)) is amended by inserting after paragraph (9) the 

23 following: 

24 ‘‘(10) COLLATERAL REQUIREMENTS FOR SMALL

25 BUSINESSES.—In the case of a loan made pursuant 


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1 to this subsection in an amount not greater than 

2 $250,000, the Administrator may not require a bor3 rower to pledge his or her primary residence as col4 lateral if— 

5 ‘‘(A) other collateral exists, including as6 sets related to the operation of a business; and 

7 ‘‘(B) such an option does not delay the Ad8 ministrator’s processing of disaster applications 

9 for a disaster.’’. 

10 SEC. 6. REDUCING DELAYS ON CLOSING AND DISBURSE11 MENT OF LOANS. 

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

13 636(b)) is further amended by inserting after paragraph 

14 (10) (as added by section 5) the following: 

15 ‘‘(11) REDUCING CLOSING AND DISBURSEMENT

16 DELAYS.—The Administrator shall provide a clear 

17 and concise notification on all application materials 

18 for loans made under this subsection and on relevant 

19 websites notifying an applicant that the applicant 

20 may submit all documentation necessary for the ap21 proval of the loan at the time of application and that 

22 failure to submit all documentation could delay the 

23 approval and disbursement of the loan.’’. 


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1 SEC. 7. INCREASING TRANSPARENCY IN LOAN APPROVALS. 

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

3 636(b)) is further amended by inserting after paragraph 

4 (11) (as added by section 6) the following: 

5 ‘‘(12) INCREASING TRANSPARENCY IN LOAN AP6 PROVALS.—The Administrator shall establish and 

7 implement clear, written policies and procedures for 

8 analyzing the ability of a loan applicant to repay a 

9 loan made under this subsection.’’. 

10 SEC. 8. SAFEGUARDING TAXPAYERS’ INTERESTS. 

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

12 636(b)) is further amended by inserting after paragraph 

13 (12) (as added by section 7) the following: 

14 ‘‘(13) ENSURING ACCOUNTABILITY IN LOAN AP15 PROVALS.—The Administrator shall establish re16 quirements for the approval of economic injury dis17 aster loan assistance made available pursuant to 

18 paragraph (2), which shall include the review of ap19 plicant eligibility and shall require that all sup20 porting documentation is submitted prior to loan ap21 proval. The Administrator shall require that per22 sonnel involved in the approval of such loans be 

23 trained on such procedures.’’. 


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1 SEC. 9. DISASTER PERFORMANCE MEASURES. 

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

3 636(b)) is further amended by inserting after paragraph 

4 (13) (as added by section 8) the following: 

5 ‘‘(14) REPORTING ON DISASTER PERFORMANCE

6 MEASURES.—The Administrator shall report the av7 erage processing time for all other disaster loan ap8 plications, including disaggregated data on disaster 

9 loan applications that were declined by the Adminis10 tration’s automated disaster processing system and 

11 applications in which the Administrator performed 

12 loss verification. For each disaster described in para13 graph (2), the Administrator shall report such aver14 age processing times on its website and to the Com15 mittee on Small Business of the House of Rep16 resentatives and the Committee on Small Business 

17 and Entrepreneurship of the Senate.’’. 

18 SEC. 10. DISASTER PLAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

19 The Administrator of the Small Business Administra20 tion shall revise the comprehensive written disaster re21 sponse plan required in section 40 of the Small Business 

22 Act (15 U.S.C. 657l), or any successor thereto, to incor23 porate the Administration’s response to a situation in 

24 which an extreme volume of applications are received dur25 ing the period of time immediately after a disaster, which 

26 shall include a plan to ensure that sufficient human and 


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1 technological resources are made available and a plan to 

2 prevent delays in loan processing. 

3 SEC. 11. REPORT TO CONGRESS ON IMPLEMENTATION OF 

4 CERTAIN PROGRAMS. 

5 (a) INITIAL REPORT.—The Administrator of the 

6 Small Business Administration shall report to Congress 

7 not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this 

8 Act on the implementation and status of the private dis9 aster loan program established in section 7(c) of the Small 

10 Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(c)), the Immediate Disaster 

11 Assistance program established in section 42 of such Act 

12 (15 U.S.C. 657n), and the expedited disaster assistance 

13 business loan program established in section 12085 of the 

14 Small Business Disaster Response and Loan Improve15 ments Act of 2008 (15 U.S.C. 636j). 

16 (b) REQUIRED CONSULTATION WITH DEPOSITORY

17 INSTITUTIONS AND CREDIT UNIONS.—The Administrator 

18 shall require the Associate Administrator for the Office 

19 of Disaster Assistance to consult with depository institu20 tions (as defined in section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insur21 ance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813)) and credit unions regarding 

22 their potential participation in any of the programs de23 scribed in subsection (a). 

24 (c) REPORT ON CONSULTATION.—Not later than 6 

25 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the AdVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:38 Jul 22, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1811.IS S1811

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1 ministrator shall report to Congress on the consultation 

2 required under subsection (b). 

Æ 


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