H.R. 2836

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2836 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2836

To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
Assistance Act to provide for the authority to reimburse local 
governments or electric cooperatives for interest expenses, and for 
other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

April 10, 2025

Mr. Dunn of Florida (for himself, Mr. Soto, Ms. Lee of Florida, Mr. 
Carter of Louisiana, Mr. Higgins of Louisiana, Mr. Moore of Alabama, 
Mr. Webster of Florida, Mr. Gimenez, Mr. Bilirakis, Mr. Moskowitz, Mr. 
Donalds, and Mr. Mills) introduced the following bill; which was 
referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
Assistance Act to provide for the authority to reimburse local 
governments or electric cooperatives for interest expenses, 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 ``FEMA Loan Interest Payment Relief 
Act''.

SEC. 2. REIMBURSEMENT OF INTEREST PAYMENTS RELATED TO PUBLIC 
ASSISTANCE.

(a) In General.--Title IV of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 
and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170 et seq.) is amended by 
adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 431. REIMBURSEMENT OF INTEREST PAYMENTS RELATED TO PUBLIC 
ASSISTANCE.

``(a) In General.--The President, acting through the Administrator 
of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, shall provide financial 
assistance to a local government or electric cooperative as 
reimbursement for qualifying interest.
``(b) Definitions.--
``(1) In general.--In this section, the following 
definitions apply:
``(A) Qualifying interest.--The term `qualifying 
interest' means, with respect to a qualifying loan, the 
lesser of--
``(i) the actual interest paid to a lender 
for such qualifying loan; and
``(ii) the interest that would have been 
paid to a lender if such qualifying loan had an 
interest rate equal to the prime rate most 
recently published on the Federal Reserve 
Statistical Release on selected interest rates.
``(B) Qualifying loan.--The term `qualifying loan' 
means a loan--
``(i) obtained by a local government or 
electric cooperative; and
``(ii) of which not less than 90 percent of 
the proceeds are used to fund activities for 
which such local government or electric 
cooperative receives assistance under this Act 
after the date on which such loan is disbursed.
``(2) Local government.--For purposes of this section, the 
term `local government' includes the District of Columbia.''.
(b) Rules of Applicability.--
(1) Eligibility.--Any qualifying interest (as such term is 
defined in section 431 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, as added by this Act) 
incurred by a local government or electric cooperative in the 9 
years preceding the date of enactment of this Act shall be 
treated as eligible for financial assistance for purposes of 
such section.
(2) Appropriations.--Only amounts appropriated on or after 
the date of enactment of this Act may be made available to 
carry out the amendment made by this section.
(c) Alternative Procedures for Outstanding Qualifying Interest 
Reimbursement.--
(1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
law, not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this 
Act, the President, acting through the Administrator of the 
Federal Emergency Management Agency, shall establish and 
publish in the Federal Register alternative procedures for 
States to obtain reimbursement for qualifying loan interest (as 
such term is defined in section 431(b) of the Robert T. 
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, as added 
by this Act) eligible under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et. seq) 
for all projects pending obligation as of the date of enactment 
of this Act.
(2) Application.--A State requesting reimbursement pursuant 
to paragraph (1) shall submit an application to the President, 
acting through the Administrator of the Federal Emergency 
Management Agency, for outstanding qualifying interest 
reimbursement not later than 60 days after the date of 
publication of the procedures in such subsection.
(3) Reimbursement timing.--In carrying out paragraph (1), 
the President, acting through the Administrator of the Federal 
Emergency Management Agency, shall reimburse States requesting 
assistance pursuant to paragraph (1) not later than 1 year 
after the date of enactment of this Act.
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