Disaster Assistance for Rural Communities Act

“(16) Disaster declaration in rural areas

“(A) Definitions—In this paragraph—

“(i) the term rural area means a geographic area with a population of less than 200,000 outside an urbanized area; and

“(ii) the term significant damage means, with respect to property, uninsured losses of not less than 40 percent of the estimated fair replacement value or pre-disaster fair market value of the damaged property, whichever is lower.

“(B) Disaster declaration—For the purpose of making loans under paragraph (1) or (2), the Administrator may declare a disaster in a rural area for which a major disaster was declared by the President under section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170) if—

“(i) the Governor of the State in which the rural area is located requests such a declaration; and

“(ii) any home, small business concern, private nonprofit organization, or small agricultural cooperative has incurred significant damage in the rural area.

“(C) SBA report—Not later than 120 days after the date of enactment of this paragraph, and every year thereafter, the Administrator shall submit to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate and the Committee on Small Business of the House of Representatives a report on, with respect to the 1-year period preceding submission of the report—

“(i) any economic injury that resulted from a major disaster declared by the President under section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170) in a rural area;

“(ii) each request for assistance made by the Governor of a State under subparagraph (B)(i) and the response of the Administrator, including the timeline for each response; and

“(iii) any regulatory changes that will impact the ability of communities in rural areas to obtain disaster assistance under this subsection.”