I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2594 

To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 

Act to ensure that the receipt of certain loans provided by the Small 

Business Administration does not violate the prohibition against receiving 

duplicative financial assistance in the case of a disaster. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 1, 2015 

Mr. MACARTHUR introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to ensure that the receipt of certain 

loans provided by the Small Business Administration 

does not violate the prohibition against receiving duplicative financial assistance in the case of a disaster. 

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 ‘‘Disaster Survivor Ben5 efit Clarification Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 

2 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122 et seq.) 

3 prohibits duplication of benefits, including any Fed4 eral financial assistance or insurance, which includes 

5 loans made by the Small Business Administration 

6 which carry interest. 

7 (2) Loans made by the Small Business Admin8 istration were aggressively marketed to Hurricane 

9 Sandy survivors, who were also qualified for grants 

10 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. 

11 (3) Many survivors applied for these loans at 

12 the encouragement of the Small Business Adminis13 tration, without knowing that receipt of these loans 

14 could make the survivors ineligible for grants from 

15 the Federal Emergency Management Agency. 

16 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

17 It is the sense of Congress that disaster loans made 

18 by the Small Business Administration that carry interest 

19 and must be repaid should not be considered the same 

20 type of benefit as a grant from the Federal Emergency 

21 Management Agency for the purposes of calculating dupli22 cation of benefits under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 

23 Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122 et 

24 seq.). 


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1 SEC. 4. SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION DISASTER 

2 LOANS PERMITTED. 

3 Section 312(b) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re4 lief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5155(b)) 

5 is amended— 

6 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (2) and (3) as 

7 paragraphs (3) and (4), respectively; and 

8 (2) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol9 lowing new paragraph: 

10 ‘‘(2) EXEMPTION FOR SMALL BUSINESS ADMIN11 ISTRATION DISASTER LOANS.—A loan made pursu12 ant to section 7(b) of the Small Business Act (15 

13 U.S.C. 636(b)) shall not be considered financial as14 sistance for the purposes of subsection (a) if— 

15 ‘‘(A) such loan has been repaid in full (in16 cluding interest); or 

17 ‘‘(B) the borrower of such loan is making 

18 the required payments on time, as determined 

19 by the terms of such loan.’’. 

20 SEC. 5. APPLICABILITY. 

21 The amendments made by section 4 shall apply to 

22 loans made pursuant to section 7(b) of the Small Business 

23 Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)) that were made on or after Janu24 ary 1, 2012. 


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1 SEC. 6. EXCEPTION FOR CERTAIN LOANS. 

2 For any loan made pursuant to section 7(b) of the 

3 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)) during the period 

4 beginning on January 1, 2012, and ending on the date 

5 of enactment of this Act in which the borrower was not 

6 making the required payments for such loan on time (as 

7 determined by the terms of such loan) the borrower shall 

8 be deemed to be compliant with the requirements of sec9 tion 312(2)(B) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 

10 and Emergency Assistance Act (as added by section 4 of 

11 this Act) if, within 60 days, the borrower becomes current 

12 on payments on the loan. 

Æ 


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