I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1243 

To address ongoing small business and homeowner needs in the Gulf Coast 

States impacted by Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 28, 2007 

Mr. JEFFERSON (for himself, Mr. MELANCON, and Mr. TAYLOR) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Small Business, and in addition to the Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure and Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To address ongoing small business and homeowner needs 

in the Gulf Coast States impacted by Hurricane Katrina 

and Hurricane Rita. 

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 ‘‘Gulf Coast Back to 

5 Business Act of 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 


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1 (1) 43 percent of businesses that close following 

2 a natural disaster never reopen; 

3 (2) an additional 29 percent of businesses close 

4 down permanently within 2 years of a natural dis5 aster; 

6 (3) Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast of 

7 the United States on August 29, 2005, negatively 

8 impacting small business concerns and disrupting 

9 commerce in the States of Louisiana, Mississippi, 

10 and Alabama; 

11 (4) Hurricane Rita struck the Gulf Coast of the 

12 United States on September 24, 2005, negatively 

13 impacting small business concerns and disrupting 

14 commerce in the States of Texas and Louisiana; 

15 (5) according to the United States Chamber of 

16 Commerce, more than 125,000 small- and medium17 sized businesses in the Gulf Coast were disrupted by 

18 Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane Rita; 

19 (6) due to a slow initial Federal response and 

20 the widespread devastation in the affected States, 

21 businesses impacted by Hurricane Katrina are in 

22 dire need of increased access to capital and technical 

23 assistance to recover and prosper; and 


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1 (7) without the full recovery and prosperity of 

2 affected businesses, the Gulf Coast and the rest of 

3 the United States will be negatively impacted. 

4 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

5 In this Act— 

6 (1) the term ‘‘Disaster Area’’ means an area in 

7 which the President has declared a major disaster in 

8 response to Hurricane Katrina of 2005 or Hurricane 

9 Rita of 2005; 

10 (2) the term ‘‘major disaster’’ has the meaning 

11 given that term in section 102 of the Robert T. 

12 Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 

13 Act (42 U.S.C. 5122); and 

14 (3) the term ‘‘small business concern’’ has the 

15 meaning given that term in section 3 of the Small 

16 Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632). 

17 SEC. 4. SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN RECOVERY GRANTS. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro19 priated to the Secretary of Commerce $100,000,000 for 

20 the Economic Development Administration of the Depart21 ment of Commerce to make grants to the appropriate 

22 State government agencies in Louisiana and Mississippi, 

23 to carry out this section. 

24 (b) DISBURSEMENT OF FUNDS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

2 the Secretary of Commerce shall disburse the funds 

3 authorized under subsection (a) as follows: 

4 (A) $75,000,000 to the State of Louisiana. 

5 (B) $25,000,000 to the State of Mis6 sissippi. 

7 (2) PROPORTIONATE ALLOCATION.—Regardless 

8 of the amount appropriated under subsection (a), 

9 the amount appropriated shall be allocated among 

10 the States listed in paragraph (1) of this subsection 

11 in direct proportion to the allocation under that 

12 paragraph. 

13 (c) USE OF FUNDS.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Grants awarded to a State 

15 under subsection (a) shall be used by the State to 

16 provide grants, which may be made to any small 

17 business concern located in a Disaster Area that was 

18 negatively impacted by Hurricane Katrina of 2005 

19 or Hurricane Rita of 2005, to assist such small busi20 ness concern for the purposes of— 

21 (A) paying employees; 

22 (B) paying bills, insurance costs, and other 

23 existing financial obligations; 

24 (C) making repairs; 

25 (D) purchasing inventory; 


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1 (E) restarting or operating that business 

2 in the community in which it was conducting 

3 operations prior to Hurricane Katrina of 2005 

4 or Hurricane Rita of 2005, or to a neighboring 

5 area or county or parish in a Disaster Area; 

6 (F) compensating such small business con7 cerns for direct economic injury suffered as a 

8 result of Hurricane Katrina of 2005 or Hurri9 cane Rita of 2005; or 

10 (G) covering additional costs until that 

11 small business concern is able to obtain funding 

12 through insurance claims, Federal assistance 

13 programs, or other sources. 

14 (2) CRITERIA.— 

15 (A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any 

16 other provision of law, in making grants under 

17 paragraph (1), a State may use such criteria as 

18 the State determines appropriate, and shall not 

19 be required to apply eligibility criteria for pro20 grams administered by the Federal Govern21 ment, including the Department of Commerce. 

22 (B) EXCLUSION.—In making grants under 

23 paragraph (1), a State may not exclude a small 

24 business concern based on any increase in the 

25 revenue of that small business concern during 


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1 the 12-month period beginning on October 1, 

2 2005. 

3 (3) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—The Depart4 ment of Commerce may use not more than 

5 $1,500,000 of the funds authorized under subsection 

6 (a) to administer the provision of grants to the des7 ignated States under this subsection. 

8 SEC. 5. DISASTER LOANS AFTER HURRICANE KATRINA OR 

9 HURRICANE RITA. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 7(b) of the Small Busi11 ness Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)) is amended by inserting im12 mediately after paragraph (3) the following: 

13 ‘‘(4) DISASTER LOANS AFTER HURRICANE

14 KATRINA OR HURRICANE RITA IN A DISASTER

15 AREA.— 

16 ‘‘(A) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph— 

17 ‘‘(I) the term ‘Disaster Area’ means 

18 an area in which the President has de19 clared a major disaster in response to Hur20 ricane Katrina of 2005 or Hurricane Rita 

21 of 2005; and 

22 ‘‘(ii) the term ‘qualified borrower’ 

23 means a person to whom the Administrator 

24 made a loan under this section because of 


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1 Hurricane Katrina of 2005 or Hurricane 

2 Rita of 2005. 

3 ‘‘(B) DEFERMENT OF DISASTER LOAN

4 PAYMENTS.— 

5 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding 

6 any other provision of law, payments of 

7 principal and interest on a loan to a quali8 fied borrower made before December 31, 

9 2006, shall be deferred, and no interest 

10 shall accrue with respect to such loan, dur11 ing the time period described in clause (ii). 

12 ‘‘(ii) TIME PERIOD.—The time period 

13 for purposes of clause (i) shall be 1 year 

14 from the later of the date of enactment of 

15 this paragraph or the date on which funds 

16 are distributed under a loan described in 

17 clause (i), but may be extended to 2 years 

18 from such date, at the discretion of the 

19 Administrator. 

20 ‘‘(iii) RESUMPTION OF PAYMENTS.— 

21 At the end of the time period described in 

22 clause (ii), the payment of periodic install23 ments of principal and interest shall be re24 quired with respect to such loan, in the 

25 same manner and subject to the same 


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1 terms and conditions as would otherwise be 

2 applicable to any other loan made under 

3 this subsection.’’. 

4 (b) INCREASING COLLATERAL REQUIREMENTS.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

6 provision of law, including section 7(c)(6) of the 

7 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(c)(6)), the Ad8 ministrator may not require collateral for any cov9 ered loan made by the Administrator. 

10 (2) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 

11 ‘‘covered loan’’ means a loan in an amount of not 

12 more than $35,000 made— 

13 (A) under section 7(b)(1) of the Small 

14 Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)(1)); 

15 (B) as a result of Hurricane Katrina of 

16 2005 or Hurricane Rita of 2005; and 

17 (C) after the date of enactment of this Act. 

18 SEC. 6. OTHER PROGRAMS. 

19 (a) HUBZONES.—Section 3(p) of the Small Business 

20 Act (15 U.S.C. 632(p)) is amended— 

21 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

22 (A) in subparagraph (D), by striking ‘‘or’’; 

23 (B) in subparagraph (E), by striking the 

24 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

25 (C) by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(F) an area in which the President has 

2 declared a major disaster (as that term is de3 fined in section 102 of the Robert T. Stafford 

4 Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 

5 (42 U.S.C. 5122)) as a result of Hurricane 

6 Katrina of August 2005 or Hurricane Rita of 

7 September 2005, during the time period de8 scribed in paragraph (8).’’; and 

9 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘(8) TIME PERIOD.—The time period for the 

11 purposes of paragraph (1)(F)— 

12 ‘‘(A) shall be the 2-year period beginning 

13 on the later of the date of enactment of this 

14 paragraph and August 29, 2007; and 

15 ‘‘(B) may, at the discretion of the Admin16 istrator, be extended to be the 3-year period be17 ginning on the later of the date of enactment 

18 of this paragraph and August 29, 2007.’’. 

19 (b) RELIEF FROM TEST PROGRAM.—Section 711(d) 

20 of the Small Business Competitive Demonstration Pro21 gram Act of 1988 (15 U.S.C. 644 note) is amended— 

22 (1) by striking ‘‘The Program’’ and inserting 

23 the following: 

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para25 graph (2), the Program’’; and 


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1 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

2 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.— 

3 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Program shall 

4 not apply to any contract related to relief or re5 construction from Hurricane Katrina of 2005 

6 or Hurricane Rita of 2005 during the time pe7 riod described in subparagraph (B). 

8 ‘‘(B) TIME PERIOD.—The time period for 

9 the purposes of subparagraph (A)— 

10 ‘‘(I) shall be the 2-year period begin11 ning on the later of the date of enactment 

12 of this paragraph and August 29, 2007; 

13 and 

14 ‘‘(ii) may, at the discretion of the Ad15 ministrator, be extended to be the 3-year 

16 period beginning on the later of the date of 

17 enactment of this paragraph and August 

18 29, 2007.’’. 

Æ 


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