[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1309 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1309

   To modify the definition of disaster in the Small Business Act to 
      include low or no snowfall amounts, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 4, 2025

 Ms. Baldwin (for herself, Ms. Collins, Mr. Peters, Ms. Smith, and Ms. 
  Klobuchar) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
    referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To modify the definition of disaster in the Small Business Act to 
      include low or no snowfall amounts, 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 ``Winter Recreation Small Business 
Recovery Act of 2025''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) According to the American Meteorology Society Glossary 
        of Meteorology, snow drought occurs when there is a period of 
        abnormally low snowpack for the time of year.
            (2) Snow drought is described as either dry or warm, 
        depending on whether the drought is a result of below-normal 
        cold-season precipitation or a lack of snow accumulation 
        despite near-normal precipitation, usually as a result of warm 
        temperatures that cause precipitation to fall as rain rather 
        than snow or an unusually early snowmelt.

SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF DISASTER.

    (a) In General.--Section 3(k)(2) of the Small Business Act (15 
U.S.C. 632(k)(2)) is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) in subparagraph (C), by striking the period at the end 
        and inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(D) snow drought.''.
    (b) Regulations.--Not later than 90 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Small Business 
Administration, in consultation with the Director of the National 
Weather Service, shall promulgate rules to implement the amendment made 
by subsection (a).
    (c) Review of Existing Resources and Ways To Adapt.--
            (1) Definition.--In this subsection, the term ``small 
        business concern'' has the meaning given the term in section 3 
        of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632).
            (2) Interagency review.--The Comptroller General of the 
        United States shall submit to Congress a report--
                    (A) providing a review of resources available to 
                Federal agencies to assist small business concerns that 
                have suffered economic injury or been economically 
                impacted by lack of snow or low snow precipitation;
                    (B) identifying ways small business concerns can 
                become more resilient and adapt the business model of 
                the concerns related to snow droughts; and
                    (C) providing recommendations for legislative and 
                administrative action to provide assistance to small 
                business concerns impacted by lack of snow or low snow 
                precipitation, including an evaluation of the 
                capabilities of the Small Business Administration to 
                support expanded disaster recovery efforts related to a 
                lack of snow or low snow precipitation and other 
                similar tasks through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan 
                program.
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