[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2897 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2897
To amend the Small Business Act to make disaster loans available for
damages caused by prolonged power outages, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 10, 2025
Ms. Stevens introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Small Business
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Small Business Act to make disaster loans available for
damages caused by prolonged power outages, 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. SMALL BUSINESS DISASTER LOANS FOR PROLONGED POWER OUTAGES.
Section 7(b) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)) is
amended--
(1) by redesignating the second paragraph (16) (relating to
statute of limitations) as paragraph (17); and
(2) by inserting after paragraph (17), as so redesignated,
the following new paragraph:
``(18) Prolonged power outage.--
``(A) In general.--For the purposes of paragraphs
(1)(A) and (2), the term `disaster' includes prolonged
power outages.
``(B) Use of loan amounts.--In addition to any
other allowable uses of a loan made under paragraph
(1)(A) or (2), if a borrower receives such a loan
pursuant to a disaster that is prolonged power outage,
the borrower may use the proceeds of such loan to--
``(i) purchase energy resilience systems
that enable the borrower to cope with and
recover from disruptions to the commercial
availability of electrical power, including
generators, solar panels, wind turbines,
microgrids, fuel cells, batteries, and other
technologies that provide electrical generation
and storage capabilities, as determined
appropriate by the Administrator; and
``(ii) pay for the cost of replacing any
food and drink of the borrower that was lost,
destroyed, or rendered unfit for human
consumption as a result of such disaster.
``(C) Prolonged power outage defined.--In this
subsection, the term `prolonged power outage' means--
``(i) for the purposes of paragraph (1)(A),
a loss of electrical power that causes not
fewer than 25 homes or 25 business concerns, or
any combination of not fewer than 25 homes,
business concerns, or other eligible recipients
of a loan under such paragraph, located in any
county or smaller political subdivision of a
State or territory or possession of the United
States to each sustain 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; and
``(ii) for the purposes of paragraph (2),
not fewer than 25 homes or 25 business
concerns, or any combination of not fewer than
25 homes, business concerns, or other eligible
recipients of a loan under such paragraph,
located in any county or smaller political
subdivision of a State or territory or
possession of the United States concurrently
losing electrical power for not fewer than 48
hours.''.
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