II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 397
To amend the Small Business Act to increase the minimum disaster loan
amount for which the Small Business Administration may require collat-
eral, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY4, 2025
Mr. K
ENNEDY(for himself, Mr. BOOKER, and Ms. HIRONO) introduced the
following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
Small Business and Entrepreneurship
A BILL
To amend the Small Business Act to increase the minimum
disaster loan amount for which the Small Business Ad-
ministration may require collateral, and for other pur-
poses.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Small Business Dis-4
aster Damage Fairness Act of 2025’’. 5
VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:03 Mar 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S397.IS S397
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2
•S 397 IS
SEC. 2. COLLATERAL REQUIREMENTS FOR DISASTER 1
LOANS. 2
Section 7(d)(6) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 3
636(d)(6)) is amended, in the second sentence, in the third 4
proviso— 5
(1) by striking ‘‘$14,000’’ and inserting 6
‘‘$50,000’’; and 7
(2) by striking ‘‘major disaster’’ and inserting 8
‘‘disaster’’. 9
SEC. 3. GAO REPORT ON DEFAULT RATES. 10
Not later than 3 years after the date of enactment 11
of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 12
shall submit to the Committee on Small Business and En-13
trepreneurship of the Senate and the Committee on Small 14
Business of the House of Representatives a report on the 15
performance, including the default rate, of loans made 16
under section 7(b)(1) of the Small Business Act (15 17
U.S.C. 636(b)(1)), and the impact of the amendments to 18
collateral amounts made under section 2 of this Act on 19
the performance of those loans, during the period— 20
(1) beginning on September 30, 2020; and 21
(2) ending on the date on that is 2 years after 22
the date of enactment of this Act. 23
VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:03 Mar 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S397.IS S397
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3
•S 397 IS
SEC. 4. DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN RURAL AND URBAN 1
COMMUNITIES IN MARKETING AND OUT-2
REACH. 3
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 4
(1) A
DMINISTRATION.—The term ‘‘Administra-5
tion’’ means the Small Business Administration. 6
(2) A
DMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-7
trator’’ means the Administrator of the Administra-8
tion. 9
(3) A
SSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR .—The term 10
‘‘Associate Administrator’’ means the Associate Ad-11
ministrator of the Office of Disaster Recovery and 12
Resilience of the Administration. 13
(4) C
OVERED PROGRAM .—The term ‘‘covered 14
program’’ means the disaster loan program author-15
ized by section 7(b) of the Small Business Act (15 16
U.S.C. 636(b)). 17
(b) R
EQUIREMENT.—Beginning on the date of enact-18
ment of this Act, consistent with the recommendations of 19
the Government Accountability Office in the report enti-20
tled ‘‘Small Business Administration: Targeted Outreach 21
about Disaster Assistance Could Benefit Rural Commu-22
nities’’ (GAO–24–106755) (February 22, 2024), the Ad-23
ministrator shall ensure that the Associate Adminis-24
trator— 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:03 Mar 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S397.IS S397
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4
•S 397 IS
(1) distinguishes between rural and urban com-1
munities in the outreach and marketing plan of the 2
Administration with respect to the covered program; 3
and 4
(2) incorporates actions to mitigate challenges 5
encountered by rural communities in accessing loans 6
under the covered program. 7
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:03 Mar 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S397.IS S397
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB