Streamlining EIDL Act

Bill: 117-s-3349
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Risch, James E. [R-ID]
Introduced: 2021-12-09
Policy area: Commerce
Subjects: Business expenses

Cardiovascular and respiratory health

Computer security and identity theft

Congressional oversight

Crime victims

Disaster relief and insurance

Emergency medical services and trauma care

Fraud offenses and financial crimes

Government information and archives

Government lending and loan guarantees

Government studies and investigations

Infectious and parasitic diseases

Small business

Wages and earnings
Latest action: action_date: 2021-12-09
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

Summaries:
action_date: 2021-12-09
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p><strong>Streamlining EIDL Act</strong></p> <p>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.</p>

tv_txt: II 117th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 3349 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.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Streamlining EIDL Act . 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. 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). 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.