S397Referred to Committee

Small Business Disaster Damage Fairness Act of 2025

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Introduced
In Committee
3
Passed One Chamber
4
Passed Both
5
Signed into Law
119th
Congress
2025-02-04
Introduced
2
Cosponsors
S
ⓘ
Type

Sponsor

John Kennedy
John Kennedy
Republican · LA · Senator
Votes with party: 33.3% (318 recorded votes)

Full profile: /officials/K000393

Source: Congress.gov · FEC

Cosponsors (2)

Members who have signed on to support this bill since introduction. Source: Congress.gov.

Latest Action

The most recent step in the bill's legislative path. Committee Activity below shows referrals and reports; the full action-by-action history including floor proceedings lives at Congress.gov →

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

2025-02-04

Source: Congress.gov

Plain-English Summary

This bill would change how small businesses get disaster relief after hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, or other major disasters, likely by making it easier for them to qualify for federal aid or receive larger assistance amounts. The legislation aims to address situations where small business owners struggle to recover after disasters strike their communities. Small business owners and their employees would be the primary beneficiaries of any changes to disaster assistance programs.

AI-assisted summary generated from the official bill metadata (title, subjects, actions) sourced from Congress.gov. Cached and reviewed. Always verify against the official text linked below.

Affected Industries

Industries and interest groups with a stake in how this bill is resolved. Compare with each member's outside-money backers on their finance page.

Small Business

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Subjects

Commerce

Full Bill Text

Verbatim text published on Congress.gov via GovInfo. Use Cmd+F / Ctrl+F to search within this excerpt.

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [S. 397 Introduced in Senate (IS)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 397 To amend the Small Business Act to increase the minimum disaster loan amount for which the Small Business Administration may require collateral, and for other purposes. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES February 4, 2025 Mr. Kennedy (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 Administration may require collateral, 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 ``Small Business Disaster Damage Fairness Act of 2025''. SEC. 2. COLLATERAL REQUIREMENTS FOR DISASTER LOANS. Section 7(d)(6) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(d)(6)) is amended, in the second sentence, in the third proviso-- (1) by striking ``$14,000'' and inserting ``$50,000''; and (2) by striking ``major disaster'' and inserting ``disaster''. SEC. 3. GAO REPORT ON DEFAULT RATES. Not later than 3 years 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 the performance, including the default rate, of loans made under section 7(b)(1) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)(1)), and the impact of the amendments to collateral amounts made under section 2 of this Act on the performance of those loans, during the period-- (1) beginning on September 30, 2020; and (2) ending on the date on that is 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act. SEC. 4. DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN RURAL AND URBAN COMMUNITIES IN MARKETING AND OUTREACH. (a) Definitions.--In this section: (1) Administration.--The term ``Administration'' means the Small Business Administration. (2) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the Administrator of the Administration. (3) Associate administrator.--The term ``Associate Administrator'' means the Associate Administrator of the Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience of the Administration. (4) Covered program.--The term ``covered program'' means the disaster loan program authorized by section 7(b) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)). (b) Requirement.--Beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, consistent with the recommendations of the Government Accountability Office in the report entitled ``Small Business Administration: Targeted Outreach about Disaster Assistance Could Benefit Rural Communities'' (GAO-24-106755) (February 22, 2024), the Administrator shall ensure that the Associate Administrator-- (1) distinguishes between rural and urban communities in the outreach and marketing plan of the Administration with respect to the covered program; and (2) incorporates actions to mitigate challenges encountered by rural communities in accessing loans under the covered program. <all>
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