H.R. 2897: To amend the Small Business Act to make disaster loans available for damages caused by prolonged power outages, and for other purposes.

This bill aims to amend the Small Business Act to make disaster loans available specifically for damages caused by prolonged power outages. Here’s a breakdown of its key points:

Small Business Disaster Loans for Prolonged Power Outages

The legislation proposes the following main amendments to the Small Business Act:

1. It redesignates an existing paragraph related to the statute of limitations, effectively updating the structure of the law.

2. It introduces a new provision to clarify that a "disaster" includes prolonged power outages.

   • This means that businesses affected by extended electrical power failures may qualify for disaster loans.

   • The bill specifies that borrowers can use these loan funds for certain specific purposes:

     • To purchase energy resilience systems such as:

       • Generators
       • Solar panels
       • Wind turbines
       • Microgrids
       • Fuel cells
       • Batteries and other technologies for electrical generation and storage.

     • To cover the costs of replacing food and drink that were lost, destroyed, or deemed unsafe for consumption due to the power outage.

   • Prolonged power outages are defined as:

     • Outages affecting at least 25 homes or businesses in a specific area, where each experiences significant uninsured losses (40% or more of their estimated fair replacement value).
     • Or where at least 25 homes or businesses concurrently lose power for at least 48 hours.

Conclusion

The bill is designed to help small businesses recover from the financial impacts of extended power outages by enabling them to access disaster loans for specific recovery efforts.

Relevant Companies

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