§636k Reports on disaster assistance

Summary

The SBA Administrator must send regular reports to Congress about how the disaster loan program is working during a major disaster. By the fifth business day of each month, the Administrator must send a monthly report to the Senate and House Small Business and Appropriations committees. Those reports must show lending counts and dollars (daily and weekly averages), funding spent and available for loans (and where extra funds came from), how long those funds will last, staff and salary spending and numbers, and changes in each item since the last report. During a disaster update period, the Administrator must also send weekly reports to the Senate and House Small Business committees with daily counts (and State breakdowns) for staff, applications (received, pending entry, withdrawn, declined, in process, approved), dollars approved and disbursed, and key dates and county counts. While extra disaster help is authorized, the Administrator must send monthly reports to the Small Business committees with counts of applications distributed and received, approval times, loans approved, time to first disbursement, and dollars disbursed. If the Administrator asks any committee for extra money for the loan program in any fiscal year, they must on the same date also notify the Senate and House Small Business committees in writing. Within 6 months after the President declares a major disaster, and every 6 months until 18 months after that declaration, the Administrator must report to the Senate and House Small Business committees on Federal contracts tied to the disaster, giving totals for all contracts and how many went to small businesses, women- and minority-owned firms, and local businesses. Also, not later than 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator must give the Small Business committees a plan for improving loan processing. That plan must include recommendations and implementation steps on staffing, faster processing and disbursement, alternative loan-repayment checks (including use of the applicant’s credit score from the day before the disaster), ways to speed verification for key local businesses (examples given), any needed law changes for the Administration’s Accelerated Disaster Response Initiative, and how to coordinate with the Administration’s technical assistance programs.