“A bill to modify the definition of disaster in the Small Business Act to include low or no snowfall amounts, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section states congressional findings defining snow drought as a period of abnormally low snowpack for the time of year, which may be dry (due to below-normal cold-season precipitation) or warm (due to warm temperatures causing near-normal precipitation to fall as rain rather than snow or resulting in unusually early snowmelt).
This section amends the definition of "disaster" in the Small Business Act to include snow drought as a new subparagraph (D). (Thus, small business concerns affected by snow drought become eligible for SBA disaster assistance programs such as Economic Injury Disaster Loans.) This section directs the SBA Administrator, in consultation with the Director of the National Weather Service, to promulgate implementing regulations not later than 90 days after enactment. This section requires the Comptroller General to submit a report to Congress reviewing (1) federal resources available to assist small business concerns economically impacted by lack of snow or low snow precipitation; (2) ways for such small business concerns to increase resilience and adapt their business models to snow droughts; and (3) recommendations for legislative and administrative actions, including an evaluation of SBA's capabilities to support expanded disaster recovery via the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program.