(1) Major disasters, including natural disasters and disasters caused by terrorist acts, often result in a decline in economic activity in areas affected by the disaster and a reduction in tax collections by State and local governments serving those areas.
(2) A report of the Government Accountability Office entitled ‘September 11: Recent Estimates of Fiscal Impact of 2001 Terrorist Attack on New York’, dated March 2005, confirmed prior estimates that--
(A) New York City lost between $2,500,000,000 and $2,900,000,000 in tax revenues for fiscal years 2002 and 2003; and
(B) the State of New York lost $2,900,000,000 for fiscal years 2002 and 2003.
(3) Under the community disaster loan program (in this section referred to as the ‘CDL program’), as authorized by the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, the President may make loans to a local government suffering a substantial loss of tax and other revenues as a result of a major disaster, if the local government demonstrates a need for financial assistance in order to preform its governmental function.
(4) The President may cancel the repayment of all or any part of a loan made to a local government under the CDL program if revenues following the disaster are insufficient to meet the operating budget of that local government as a result of disaster-related revenue losses and additional unreimbursed disaster-related municipal operating expenses.
(5) Assistance made available under the CDL program is often instrumental in aiding the full recovery of a local government following a major disaster.
(6) The Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 established a $5,000,000 limitation on loans made to a local government under the CDL program in connection with a major disaster. Before the date of enactment of such Act, there was not any limitation on the amount of such loans.
(7) The $5,000,000 limitation is inequitable when applied to a local government serving a largely populated area, such as New York City, and is inconsistent with the objective of the CDL program to provide meaningful assistance to a local government recovering from a major disaster.
U.S. Congress - Text of H.R.6750 as Introduced in House Whatever It Takes To Rebuild Act
