H.R. 4238

DLARA

Sponsor: Tim Moore · 19 cosponsors

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Official summary

Written by the Congressional Research Service.

Disaster Loan Accountability and Reform Act or the DLARA

This bill modifies the Small Business Administration (SBA) disaster loan program to require additional oversight and reports regarding the program.

First, the bill requires the SBA to report monthly on the operation of the disaster loan program. (Currently, the SBA must report only during the applicable period for a major disaster.) The report must estimate the date on which available funding for such loans will reach 10% of the most recent appropriation and the date on which the funds will be depleted. If a report is not submitted by the required date, no funds may be appropriated for official travel by the SBA Administrator until the report is submitted. 

Second, the President's annual budget must include separate statements regarding the appropriations request for SBA disaster loans and COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL), including explanations for any difference between the amount requested and the 10-year average cost for such loans.

Third, the SBA must notify Congress when the balance of amounts available for disaster loans is less than 10% of the 10-year average annual cost provided in the most recent presidential budget.

Finally, the bill requires additional oversight of the disaster loan program, including

  • Government Accountability Office reports on the disbursement of disaster loans and the cost of specified SBA rules that modified the loan program; and
  • an SBA report on its actions to improve forecasting, data quality, and budget assumptions for the cost of disaster loans.

Text of the bill

Expand all
Sec. 3. Definitions Since introduced

In this Act—

(1) the terms Administration and Administrator mean the Small Business Administration and the Administrator thereof, respectively;

(2) the term appropriate committees of Congress means the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate and the Committee on Small Business and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives; and

(3) the term SBA disaster loan means a direct loan authorized by section 7(b) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)), other than a loan that was authorized under section 1110 of the CARES Act (15 U.S.C. 9009).