II 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4072 

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

States impacted by Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 16, 2006 

Ms. LANDRIEU (for herself and Mr. KERRY) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business 

and Entrepreneurship 

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 and Homes Act of 2006’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) 43 percent of businesses that close following 

9 a natural disaster never reopen; 


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1 (2) an additional 29 percent of businesses close 

2 down permanently within 2 years of a natural dis3 aster; 

4 (3) Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast of 

5 the United States on August 29, 2005, negatively 

6 impacting small business concerns and disrupting 

7 commerce in the States of Louisiana, Mississippi, 

8 and Alabama; 

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

10 United States on September 24, 2005, negatively 

11 impacting small business concerns and disrupting 

12 commerce in the States of Texas and Louisiana; 

13 (5) according to the United States Chamber of 

14 Commerce, more than 125,000 small and medium15 sized businesses in the Gulf Coast were disrupted by 

16 Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane Rita; 

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

18 the widespread devastation in the affected States, 

19 businesses impacted by Hurricane Katrina are in 

20 dire need of increased access to capital and technical 

21 assistance to recover and prosper; and 

22 (7) without the full recovery and prosperity of 

23 affected businesses, the Gulf Coast, and the rest of 

24 the United States, will be negatively impacted. 


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1 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act— 

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

4 which the President has declared a major disaster in 

5 response to Hurricane Katrina of 2005 or Hurricane 

6 Rita of 2005; 

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

8 given the term in section 102 of the Robert T. Staf9 ford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 

10 (42 U.S.C. 5122); and 

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

12 meaning given the term in section 3 of the Small 

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

14 SEC. 4. SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN RECOVERY GRANTS. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro16 priated to the Secretary of Commerce $100,000,000 for 

17 the Economic Development Administration of the Depart18 ment of Commerce to make grants to the appropriate 

19 State government agencies in Louisiana, Alabama, Mis20 sissippi, and Texas, to carry out this section. 

21 (b) DISBURSEMENT OF FUNDS.—The Department of 

22 Commerce shall disburse the funds authorized under sub23 section (a) in the most expeditious manner possible to the 

24 designated States, based on— 


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1 (1) the number of small business concerns di2 rectly damaged or disrupted by Hurricane Katrina 

3 of 2005 or Hurricane Rita of 2005 in the State; 

4 (2) the number of residents displaced from the 

5 State by Hurricane Katrina of 2005 or Hurricane 

6 Rita of 2005; 

7 (3) the number of jobs lost or disrupted by 

8 Hurricane Katrina of 2005 or Hurricane Rita of 

9 2005 in the State; 

10 (4) the extent of economic disruption by Hurri11 cane Katrina of 2005 or Hurricane Rita of 2005 in 

12 the State; and 

13 (5) the number of evacuees from any other 

14 State due to Hurricane Katrina of 2005 or Hurri15 cane Rita of 2005, to whom the designated State is 

16 providing assistance. 

17 (c) USE OF FUNDS.— 

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

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

20 provide grants, which may be made to any small 

21 business concern located in a Disaster Area that was 

22 negatively impacted by Hurricane Katrina of 2005 

23 or Hurricane Rita of 2005, to assist such small busi24 ness concern for the purposes of— 

25 (A) paying employees; 


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1 (B) paying bills and other existing finan2 cial obligations; 

3 (C) making repairs; 

4 (D) purchasing inventory; 

5 (E) restarting or operating that business 

6 in the community in which it was conducting 

7 operations prior to Hurricane Katrina of 2005 

8 or Hurricane Rita of 2005, or to a neighboring 

9 area or county or parish in a Disaster Area; or 

10 (F) 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.—Notwithstanding any other pro15 vision of law, in making grants under paragraph (1), 

16 a State may use such criteria as the State deter17 mines appropriate, and shall not be required to 

18 apply eligibility criteria for programs administered 

19 by the Federal Government, including the Depart20 ment of Commerce. 

21 (3) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—The Depart22 ment of Commerce may use not more than 

23 $1,000,000 of the funds authorized under subsection 

24 (a) to administer the provision of grants to the des25 ignated States under this subsection. 


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1 SEC. 5. DISASTER LOANS AFTER HURRICANE KATRINA OR 

2 HURRICANE RITA. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 7(b) of the Small Busi4 ness Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)) is amended by inserting im5 mediately after paragraph (3) the following: 

6 ‘‘(4) DISASTER LOANS AFTER HURRICANE

7 KATRINA OR HURRICANE RITA IN A DISASTER

8 AREA.— 

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

10 ‘‘(i) the term ‘Disaster Area’ means 

11 an area in which the President has de12 clared a major disaster in response to Hur13 ricane Katrina of 2005 or Hurricane Rita 

14 of 2005; and 

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

16 means a person to whom the Administrator 

17 made a loan under this section because of 

18 Hurricane Katrina of 2005 or Hurricane 

19 Rita of 2005. 

20 ‘‘(B) DEFERMENT OF DISASTER LOAN

21 PAYMENTS.— 

22 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding 

23 any other provision of law, payments of 

24 principal and interest on a loan to a quali25 fied borrower made before December 31, 

26 2006, shall be deferred, and no interest 


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1 shall accrue with respect to such loan, dur2 ing the time period described in clause (ii). 

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

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

5 from the later of the date of enactment of 

6 this paragraph or the date on which funds 

7 are distributed under a loan described in 

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

9 from such date, at the discretion of the 

10 Administrator. 

11 ‘‘(iii) RESUMPTION OF PAYMENTS.— 

12 At the end of the time period described in 

13 clause (ii), the payment of periodic install14 ments of principal and interest shall be re15 quired with respect to such loan, in the 

16 same manner and subject to the same 

17 terms and conditions as would otherwise be 

18 applicable to any other loan made under 

19 this subsection.’’. 

20 (b) INCREASING COLLATERAL REQUIREMENTS.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

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

23 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(c)(6)), the Ad24 ministrator may not require collateral for any cov25 ered loan made by the Administrator. 


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

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

3 more than $35,000 made— 

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

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

6 (B) as a result of Hurricane Katrina of 

7 2005 or Hurricane Rita of 2005; and 

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

9 SEC. 6. WAIVER OF DUPLICATION OF CERTAIN BENEFITS. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 9 of title II of the Emer11 gency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the 

12 Global War on Terror, and Hurricane Recovery, 2006 

13 (Public Law 109–234; 120 Stat. 471) is amended under 

14 the heading ‘‘COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT FUND (INCLUD15 ING TRANSFER OF FUNDS)’’ under the heading ‘‘COMMU16 NITY PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT’’ under the heading 

17 ‘‘DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DE18 VELOPMENT’’, by inserting after ‘‘Army Corps of Engi19 neers:’’ the following: ‘‘Provided further, That notwith20 standing the previous proviso or any other provision of 

21 law, in providing assistance in the State of Louisiana, the 

22 Administrator of the Small Business Administration may 

23 (in determining whether activities are reimbursable under, 

24 or whether funds have been made available under, the 

25 Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency AssistVerDate Aug 31 2005 01:34 Nov 21, 2006 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4072.IS S4072

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1 ance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.) using amounts made 

2 available under this heading) use as the amount of a loan 

3 under section 7(b) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

4 636(b)) the amount attributable to the difference between 

5 the rate of interest on such loan and the market rate at 

6 which such borrower could have borrowed such funds, over 

7 the period of such loan:’’. 

8 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE AND APPLICABILITY.— 

9 (1) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 

10 by this section shall be deemed to have taken effect 

11 as though enacted as part of the Emergency Supple12 mental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global 

13 War on Terror, and Hurricane Recovery, 2006 

14 (Public Law 109–234; 120 Stat. 418). 

15 (2) APPLICABILITY.—The amendments made 

16 by this section shall apply to any application for as17 sistance under section 7(b) of the Small Business 

18 Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)) that is submitted not later 

19 than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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