I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 564 

To amend the Small Business Act to ensure that when a small business 

participating in the 8(a) business development program is affected by 

a catastrophic incident, the period in which it can participate is extended 

by 18 months. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 18, 2007 

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

Committee on Small Business 

A BILL 

To amend the Small Business Act to ensure that when 

a small business participating in the 8(a) business development program is affected by a catastrophic incident, 

the period in which it can participate is extended by 

18 months. 

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 ‘‘Disadvantaged Busi5 ness Disaster Eligibility Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AVAILABILITY OF DISASTER LOANS FOR CATA2 STROPHIC INCIDENTS. 

3 Section 7 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636) 

4 is amended in subsection (j)(10) by adding at the end the 

5 following new subparagraph: 

6 ‘‘(K) EXTENSION OF PARTICIPATION FOR

7 CATASTROPHIC INCIDENTS.— 

8 ‘‘(i) DEFINITION.—In this subpara9 graph, the term ‘catastrophic incident’ 

10 means a disaster that— 

11 ‘‘(I) results in extraordinary lev12 els of mass casualties, damage, or dis13 ruption severely affecting the popu14 lation, infrastructure, environment, 

15 economy, national morale, or govern16 ment functions; 

17 ‘‘(II) has the potential to result 

18 in sustained national impacts over a 

19 prolonged period of time; 

20 ‘‘(III) almost immediately ex21 ceeds resources normally available to 

22 State, local, tribal, and private-sector 

23 authorities in the impacted area; and 

24 ‘‘(IV) significantly interrupts 

25 governmental operations and emerVerDate Aug 31 2005 17:53 Jan 20, 2007 Jkt 059196 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H564.IH H564

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1 gency services to such an extent that 

2 national security could be threatened. 

3 ‘‘(ii) EXTENSION OF PARTICIPA4 TION.—If a small business concern is af5 fected by a catastrophic incident while par6 ticipating in any program or activity under 

7 the authority of this paragraph, the period 

8 during which the small business concern is 

9 permitted continuing participation and eli10 gibility in such program or activity shall be 

11 extended for an additional 18 months.’’. 

12 SEC. 3. RETROACTIVITY FOR VICTIMS OF HURRICANES 

13 KATRINA, RITA, AND WILMA. 

14 (a) RETROACTIVITY.—Subparagraph (K) of section 

15 7(j)(10) of the Small Business Act, as added by section 

16 2 of this Act, applies to all catastrophic incidents occur17 ring on or after August 29, 2005. 

18 (b) HURRICANES KATRINA, RITA, AND WILMA.—For 

19 purposes of such subparagraph (K), Hurricanes Katrina, 

20 Rita, and Wilma of 2005 are hereby deemed to be cata21 strophic incidents. 

22 (c) REVIEW AND COMPLIANCE.—The Administrator 

23 of the Small Business Administration shall ensure that the 

24 case of every small business concern participating before 

25 the date of the enactment of this Act in a program or 


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1 activity covered by such subparagraph (K) is reviewed and 

2 brought into compliance with this section. 

Æ 


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