Title: Streamlining EIDL Act
Policy area: Commerce

Summary:
Streamlining EIDL Act
This bill requires the Small Business Administration (SBA) to provide status updates on, review, and approve or disapprove Economic Injury Disaster Loans within certain time frames. It also requires the SBA to report on its efforts to address fraud under the program.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3349 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 3349

 To require the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to 
   provide applicants for certain loans and grants with updates with 
         respect to those applications, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            December 9, 2021

    Mr. Risch (for himself, Mr. Hickenlooper, Ms. Cortez Masto, Mr. 
  Marshall, and Mr. Kennedy) introduced the following bill; which was 
    read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and 
                            Entrepreneurship

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to 
   provide applicants for certain loans and grants with updates with 
         respect to those applications, 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 ``Streamlining EIDL Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act--
            (1) the term ``Administration'' means the Small Business 
        Administration;
            (2) the term ``Administrator'' means the Administrator of 
        the Administration;
            (3) the terms ``compliance'' and ``improper payment'' have 
        the meanings given the terms in section 3351 of title 31, 
        United States Code;
            (4) the term ``covered application''--
                    (A) means an application that is--
                            (i) for any assistance provided under 
                        section 7(b)(2) of the Small Business Act (15 
                        U.S.C. 636(b)(2)), including any loan or grant 
                        made under section 1110 of the CARES Act (15 
                        U.S.C. 9009); and
                            (ii) submitted to the Administrator on or 
                        after the date of enactment of this Act; and
                    (B) includes an application that is--
                            (i) for an increase with respect to 
                        assistance that is--
                                    (I) described in subparagraph 
                                (A)(i); and
                                    (II) provided to the applicant 
                                before the date of enactment of this 
                                Act; and
                            (ii) submitted to the Administrator on or 
                        after the date of enactment of this Act; and
            (5) the term ``covered assistance'' means a loan or grant 
        made under section 7(b)(2) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
        636(b)(2)), including under section 1110 of the CARES Act (15 
        U.S.C. 9009), related to COVID-19.

SEC. 3. EIDL LOANS.

    (a) Requirements.--The Administrator shall--
            (1) not later than 7 days after the date on which the 
        Administrator receives a covered application, provide the 
        applicant with--
                    (A) notice that the Administrator has received the 
                application; and
                    (B) information regarding an office or official of 
                the Administration that the applicant may contact in 
                the event that the applicant has questions regarding 
                the application;
            (2) not later than 21 days after the date on which the 
        Administrator receives a covered application, provide the 
        applicant with--
                    (A) a written report detailing the status of the 
                application and any requirements for completion of the 
                application, including any external or internal delays; 
                and
                    (B) an explanation regarding the appeals process 
                with respect to a covered application that the 
                Administrator disapproves; and
            (3) not later than 45 days after the date on which the 
        Administrator receives a completed covered application that is 
        in accordance with all applicable requirements, including such 
        requirements as the Administrator may prescribe by regulation--
                    (A) review the application in its entirety; and
                    (B)(i) approve the application and make the loan 
                (or the increase in the loan amount) that is the 
                subject of the covered application if all applicable 
                requirements with respect to the applicable loan are 
                satisfied; or
                    (ii) disapprove the application and notify the 
                applicant in writing of the disapproval.
    (b) Review and Reporting.--Not later than 90 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall--
            (1) conduct a comprehensive review of the process for 
        submitting a covered application, which shall focus on ways to 
        ensure that applicants submitting covered applications--
                    (A) are not asked to submit materials with respect 
                to such an application more than once;
                    (B) receive timely responses and updates from the 
                Administrator with respect to those covered 
                applications, including the information required under 
                paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (a); and
                    (C) receive the loans (or loan increases) sought in 
                those covered applications in a manner that complies 
                with subsection (a)(3); and
            (2) submit to Congress a report regarding the review 
        conducted under paragraph (1).

SEC. 4. REPORTS.

    (a) Report on Implementation of Inspector General 
Recommendations.--Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of 
this Act, the Administrator shall submit to Congress a report on the 
specific steps that the Administration has taken to meet the 
recommendations provided by the Inspector General of the Administration 
in the report issued on May 6, 2021, entitled ``SBA's Handling of 
Identity Theft in the COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program'', 
which shall include a description of--
            (1) the system that the Administration has developed to 
        maintain and track all identity theft complaints related to 
        covered assistance;
            (2) how the Administration is providing guidance, 
        assistance, and status updates to complainants that allege 
        their identity has been stolen;
            (3) how the Administration is restoring identity theft 
        victims to their condition prior to fraud, including details on 
        how the Administration will file collateral releases and 
        specify if the Administration or the complainant is paying for 
        costs to file Uniform Commercial Code lien release documents;
            (4) the process of the Administration for removing 
        fraudulent covered assistance, and related Uniform Commercial 
        Code filing fees, from the financial records of the 
        Administration, including how--
                    (A) the system described in paragraph (1)--
                            (i) will charge off and remove partially or 
                        fully disbursed covered assistance from the 
                        financial records; and
                            (ii) addresses charge off or removal of 
                        related Uniform Commercial Code filing fees; 
                        and
                    (B) the Administration is differentiating between--
                            (i) routine defaults in covered assistance 
                        that--
                                    (I) have been or will be charged 
                                off; and
                                    (II) are required to be submitted 
                                to the Department of the Treasury for 
                                collection; and
                            (ii) identity theft-related covered 
                        assistance that the Administration is required 
                        to charge off without being sent to the 
                        Department of the Treasury for collection;
            (5) the process of the Administration for tracking the 
        recovery of funds from fraudsters to offset the outstanding 
        identity theft-related covered assistance before any charge off 
        action; and
            (6) actions the Administration has taken to recover 
        improper payments related to identity theft-related covered 
        assistance and how the Administration is taking steps to be in 
        compliance.
    (b) Regular Reports.--The Administrator shall submit to Congress--
            (1) a monthly report that, in order to identify individual 
        allegations of identity theft that have not been refiled, 
        reconciles--
                    (A) applications submitted during the period 
                beginning on March 1, 2020, and ending on January 31, 
                2021, for covered assistance based on identity theft 
                allegations; and
                    (B) applications based on refiled allegations of 
                identity theft relating to the covered assistance 
                described in subparagraph (A); and
            (2) not later than 180 days after the date on which the 
        first report under paragraph (1) is submitted, a detailed plan 
        on how the Administration will attempt, or has attempted, to 
        contact the remaining individuals whose identity theft 
        allegations have not been refiled.
                                 <all>