Failed Bill: H.R.6782 – TRUTH Act
This is a three-part assignment.
[A] Find a bill that was filed in a state legislature, referred to committee, and received a favorable vote in one chamber but then failed to become law. Give me a link to the text of the bill, preferably the last version before it died.
[B] Link to a page giving me some background about a legislator who sponsored the bill.
[C] Explain how the bill died. Where was its last known location in the system?
Please use this bill lookup tool for this assignment: https://www.ncleg.gov/BillLookUp/2017/SB711
H.R.6782 – TRUTH Act
The Truth Act would be introduced by Representative Phillips but would fail for not meeting the 66.66% required vote in the House. The bill was on motion to have all the rules suspended and have it passed but failed to reach the required numbers. The Bill would require the small business administration to make information concerning economic relief measures implemented to respond to the coronavirus pandemic publicly available. In respect to the Paycheck Protection Program and the economic injury disaster loans and emergency grants, teh SBA would be mandated to publish the identity of each recipient getting assistance and the explanation to the process of decision-making that led to the disbursement. Also, they would have published the number of employees of each recipient that the disbursement dates. Each lender or intermediary would also need to be identified and the disbursed amount to the small business owned and controlled by the socially and economically disadvantaged persons.
The opposing representatives argued that the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program is itself a disaster. If the Truth Act would be implemented, considerable changes to the program would occur but fail to fix the challenges. The EIDL loan program provides low interest loans to aid with the operating expenses. The two programs would have worked together. However, the EIDL is not at the best current state and would have put the subsequent program in jeopardy. While bridging the funding towards small businesses, it would delay the processing of loans from EIDL. Therefore, the senators agreed that a negotiation of the Act was necessary to handle the significant fixes and ensure that when the ACt does pass, then jobs can be sustained in states like Louisiana.
References
H.R.6782 – TRUTH Act
116th Congress (2019-2020) |Retrieved from https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/6782?s=5&r=1
Press Release: State of Louisiana. (2020, May 28). Graves statement on PPP flexibility act passing U.S. house and supporting TRUTH act’s failure. Retrieved from https://garretgraves.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/graves-statement-ppp-flexibility-act-passing-us-house-and-supporting
