Title: Disaster Assistance for Rural Communities Act
Policy area: Commerce

Summary:
Disaster Assistance for Rural Communities Act
This bill authorizes the Small Business Administration (SBA) to declare a disaster in rural areas where significant damage has been incurred for the purpose of providing certain assistance.
A rural area is a geographic area with a population of less than 200,000 outside an urbanized area. Significant damage means uninsured losses of not less than 40% of the fair replacement value or pre-disaster fair market value of the damaged property (whichever is less).
For a rural area where the President has declared a major disaster, the SBA may declare a disaster for the purpose of providing economic injury disaster loans if (1) the state wherein the rural area is located requests the declaration; and (2) any home, small business, private nonprofit organization, or small agricultural cooperative has incurred significant damage.
The Government Accountability Office must report on (1) any unique challenges to communities in rural areas compared to communities in urbanized areas when seeking economic injury disaster assistance, and (2) any legislative recommendations for improving access to disaster assistance for communities in rural areas.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1617 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1617

To modify the requirements for the Administrator of the Small Business 
 Administration relating to declaring a disaster in a rural area, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 13, 2021

Mr. Risch (for himself, Mrs. Shaheen, Ms. Hassan, Mr. Kennedy, and Mr. 
Braun) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 
        to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To modify the requirements for the Administrator of the Small Business 
 Administration relating to declaring a disaster in a rural area, and 
                          for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Disaster Assistance for Rural 
Communities Act''.

SEC. 2. DISASTER DECLARATION IN RURAL AREAS.

    (a) In General.--Section 7(b) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
636(b)) is amended by inserting after paragraph (15) the following:
            ``(16) Disaster declaration in rural areas.--
                    ``(A) Definitions.--In this paragraph--
                            ``(i) the term `rural area' means an area 
                        with a population of less than 200,000 outside 
                        an urbanized area; and
                            ``(ii) the term `significant damage' means, 
                        with respect to property, uninsured losses of 
                        not less than 40 percent of the estimated fair 
                        replacement value or pre-disaster fair market 
                        value of the damaged property, whichever is 
                        lower.
                    ``(B) Disaster declaration.--For the purpose of 
                making loans under paragraph (1) or (2), the 
                Administrator may declare a disaster in a rural area 
                for which a major disaster was declared by the 
                President under section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford 
                Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 
                5170) if--
                            ``(i) the Governor of the State in which 
                        the rural area is located requests such a 
                        declaration; and
                            ``(ii) any home, small business concern, 
                        private nonprofit organization, or small 
                        agricultural cooperative has incurred 
                        significant damage in the rural area.
                    ``(C) SBA report.--Not later than 120 days after 
                the date of enactment of this paragraph, and every year 
                thereafter, the Administrator shall submit to the 
                Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the 
                Senate and the Committee on Small Business of the House 
                of Representatives a report on, with respect to the 1-
                year period preceding submission of the report--
                            ``(i) any economic injury that resulted 
                        from a major disaster declared by the President 
                        under section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford 
                        Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 
                        (42 U.S.C. 5170) in a rural area;
                            ``(ii) each request for assistance made by 
                        the Governor of a State under subparagraph 
                        (B)(i) and the response of the Administrator, 
                        including the timeline for each response; and
                            ``(iii) any regulatory changes that will 
                        impact the ability of communities in rural 
                        areas to obtain disaster assistance under this 
                        subsection.''.
    (b) Regulations.--Not later than 120 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Small Business 
Administration shall issue regulations to carry out the amendment made 
by subsection (a).
    (c) GAO Report.--
            (1) Definition of rural area.--In this subsection, the term 
        ``rural area'' means an area with a population of less than 
        200,000 outside an urbanized area.
            (2) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United 
        States shall submit to the Committee on Small Business and 
        Entrepreneurship of the Senate and the Committee on Small 
        Business of the House of Representatives a report on--
                    (A) any unique challenges that communities in rural 
                areas face compared to communities in urbanized areas 
                when seeking to obtain disaster assistance under 
                section 7(b) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
                636(b)); and
                    (B) legislative recommendations for improving 
                access to disaster assistance for communities in rural 
                areas.
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