S. 68 — Complete COVID Collections Act

This section establishes definitions for terms used in the Act, including (1) "Administration" and "Administrator" (i.e., the Small Business Administration and its head); (2) "covered funds" (i.e., amounts appropriated for COVID-19 relief under the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020; Families First Coronavirus Response Act; CARES Act; Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act; specified divisions of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021; and American Rescue Plan Act of 2021); (3) "covered loan" (i.e., loans guaranteed under specified paragraphs of section 7(a) of the Small Business Act or made under section 7(b)(2) related to COVID-19); (4) "covered program" (i.e., Paycheck Protection Program loans, COVID-19 economic injury disaster loans, specified advances under the CARES Act and subsequent laws, restaurant revitalization grants, and shuttered venue operator grants); and (5) "improper payment" (i.e., as defined in 31 U.S.C. §3351).

This section expands the duties of the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery (SIGPR)—which conducts, supervises, and coordinates audits and investigations of pandemic recovery loans, loan guarantees, investments, and programs administered by the Department of the Treasury—to also cover such assistance administered by the Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator or provided under any covered program (defined in section 2 of the Complete COVID Collections Act); extends the SIGPR through September 30, 2030 (from March 27, 2025); and requires the SIGPR to coordinate with the SBA Administrator and SBA Inspector General, with the SBA Administrator providing relevant data to the SIGPR in the same manner as to the SBA Inspector General.

This section establishes a 10-year statute of limitations, notwithstanding any other provision of law, for criminal charges or civil enforcement actions alleging fraud or related crimes by a business, State, or municipality (or, for specified programs, an eligible person or entity) with respect to (1) any loan, loan guarantee, or other investment under section 4003 of the CARES Act (15 U.S.C. 9042); (2) any grant under the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program (15 U.S.C. 9009a), which provides COVID-19 relief to operators of live venues, performing arts organizations, museums, motion picture theaters, and talent representatives that demonstrate at least a 25% revenue loss in 2020 compared to 2019; and (3) any grant under the Restaurant Revitalization Grant program (15 U.S.C. 9009c).

This section directs the Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator to refer claims for collection related to COVID-19 SBA loans (covered loans) under $100,000 to the Department of the Treasury, which must issue a final decision on whether to suspend, end, or pursue collection. It further requires (1) monthly briefings to the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship and House Committee on Small Business, beginning 30 days after enactment, on progress pursuing collections and transferring claims under federal debt collection authorities; and (2) annual, non-delegable testimony by the Administrator before those committees on collections implementation for such loans, improper payments in covered COVID-19 programs, and SBA compliance with federal improper payment reporting requirements.

This section requires the Attorney General to submit to Congress, not later than 90 days after enactment of this Act and every month thereafter, a report on Department of Justice activities related to covered programs that includes (1) a summary of total prosecutions, dollar amounts recovered from prosecutions, referrals and their sources, and declined cases with reasons; (2) for each covered program, the number and disposition of prosecutions, dollar amounts recovered, declined cases and reasons, referrals from DOJ and other sources (e.g., agency inspectors general), and disposition of each referral (prosecution or declination); and (3) any additional matters deemed appropriate by the Attorney General.

This section directs the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC), established under the CARES Act, to establish and maintain on its website real-time data on covered funds (i.e., pandemic response funds) recovered by the federal government—broken out by type of covered funds and dollar amount—not later than 60 days after enactment of this Act.