Santa Rosa City Council
September 30, 2025

I
119TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. R. 4669
To authorize and improve the Federal Emergency Management Agency and reform Federal disaster mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 23, 2025
Mr. GRAVES (for himself, Mr. L ARSEN of Washington, Mr. W EBSTER of Flor- ida, and Mr. S TANTON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committee on Homeland Security, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provi- sions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL
To authorize and improve the Federal Emergency Manage-
ment Agency and reform Federal disaster mitigation,
preparedness, response, and recovery, and for other pur- poses.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3
(a) S HORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4
‘‘Fixing Emergency Management for Americans Act of 5
2025’’ or the ‘‘FEMA Act of 2025’’. 6
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(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 1
this Act is as follows: 2
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.

DIVISION A—ESTABLISHMENT OF FEMA AS CABINET-LEVEL

INDEPENDENT AGENCY
TITLE I—ESTABLISHMENT OF FEDERAL EMERGENCY

MANAGEMENT AGENCY
Sec. 11. Establishment of independent agency.

Sec. 12. Administrator; Deputy Administrator; other officials of the Agency.

Sec. 13. Authority and responsibilities.

Sec. 14. Office of the Inspector General.

Sec. 15. Transfer of functions.

Sec. 16. Personnel and other transfers.

Sec. 17. Saving provisions.

Sec. 18. References.

Sec. 19. Federal Emergency Management Agency Working Capital Fund.

Sec. 20. Improving disaster assistance for veterans.

TITLE II—OFFICES AND FUNCTIONS OF FEDERAL EMERGENCY

MANAGEMENT AGENCY
Sec. 21. National emergency management.

TITLE III—RELATED MATTERS
Sec. 31. Changes to administrative documents.

Sec. 32. Recommended legislation.

DIVISION B—FEMA REFORMS
TITLE I—PUBLIC ASSISTANCE REFORMS
Sec. 101. Rebuilding public infrastructure.

Sec. 102. Task force to address backlog of open declared disasters.

Sec. 103. Disaster declaration damage thresholds.

Sec. 104. Federal permitting improvement.

Sec. 105. Unified Federal review.

Sec. 106. Block grants for small disasters.

Sec. 107. Common sense debris removal.

Sec. 108. Disaster management costs modernization.

Sec. 109. Streamlining and consolidating information collection and preliminary damage assessments.

Sec. 110. Reasonable incident periods.

Sec. 111. Fire management assistance program policy.

Sec. 112. Indian tribal government eligibility.

Sec. 113. Strengthening closeouts for critical services.

Sec. 114. Sheltering of emergency response personnel.

Sec. 115. Emergency protective measures to fight flooding damage.

Sec. 116. Fairness and accountability in appeals.

Sec. 117. Expedited funding for emergency work.

Sec. 118. Consistency in procurement practices.

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TITLE II—INDIVIDUAL ASSISTANCE REFORMS
Sec. 201. Information sharing for Federal agencies.

Sec. 202. Universal application for individual assistance.

Sec. 203. Clarifying duplication of benefits.

Sec. 204. Crisis counseling and addiction in disasters.

Sec. 205. Repair and rebuilding.

Sec. 206. FEMA emergency home repair program.

Sec. 207. Direct assistance.

Sec. 208. Accurate information to disaster victims.

Sec. 209. Improved notices for FEMA assistance.

Sec. 210. Common sense displacement assistance for disaster victims.

Sec. 211. State-managed housing authority.

Sec. 212. Improved rental assistance.

Sec. 213. Online guides for postdisaster assistance.

Sec. 214. Clarifying sheltering assistance eligibility.

Sec. 215. Access to lifesaving non-congregate sheltering.

Sec. 216. Assistance for total loss.

TITLE III—MITIGATION REFORMS
Sec. 301. Preapproved project mitigation plans.

Sec. 302. Reducing disaster costs and protecting lives.

Sec. 303. Resilient buildings and communities.

Sec. 304. Strengthening hazard risk reduction.

Sec. 305. Utility resiliency.

Sec. 306. Additional amendments to hazard mitigation revolving loan fund.

Sec. 307. Streamlined hazard mitigation application process.

Sec. 308. Study and report on mitigation benefits.

TITLE IV—TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY
Sec. 401. GAO review of FEMA transition.

Sec. 402. Transparency and online accountability.

Sec. 403. Prohibition on political discrimination.

Sec. 404. Review of burdensome regulations and policies.

Sec. 405. Report on assistance to individuals.

Sec. 406. Individual assistance dashboard.

Sec. 407. GAO report on preliminary damage assessments.

Sec. 408. Improved rental assistance.

Sec. 409. GAO assessment on identity theft and disaster fraud in disaster as- sistance programs.

Sec. 410. GAO study on insurance utilization for public assistance-eligible fa- cilities.

Sec. 411. Study on wildfire management plans.

Sec. 412. Effectiveness of local, State, territory, and Federal alerting systems.

Sec. 413. GAO review of management costs.

Sec. 414. Report on coordination of disaster assistance to individuals.

Sec. 415. GAO review of cost savings associated with repair and rebuilding re- forms.

Sec. 416. Transparency for disaster declarations.

Sec. 417. Fast-moving disasters working group.

Sec. 418. Public assistance dashboard.

Sec. 419. Improving disaster workforce retention.

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DIVISION A—ESTABLISHMENT 1
OF FEMA AS CABINET-LEVEL 2
INDEPENDENT AGENCY 3
TITLE I—ESTABLISHMENT OF 4
FEDERAL EMERGENCY MAN-5
AGEMENT AGENCY 6
SEC. 11. ESTABLISHMENT OF INDEPENDENT AGENCY. 7
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Federal Emergency Manage-8
ment Agency is established as a cabinet-level independent 9 establishment in the executive branch. 10
(b) MISSION.—The primary mission of the Agency is 11
to reduce the loss of life and property of the Nation from 12 all hazards, including natural disasters and manmade dis-13 asters, by leading and supporting the Nation in a com-14 prehensive emergency management system of prepared-15
ness, response, recovery, and mitigation. 16
(c) SPECIFIC ACTIVITIES.—In support of the primary 17
mission of the Agency, the Administrator of the Agency 18 shall— 19
(1) lead the Nation’s efforts to prepare for, re-20
spond to, recover from, and mitigate against the risk 21 of natural disasters and manmade disasters, includ-22
ing catastrophic incidents; 23
(2) to build a national system of emergency 24
management that can effectively and efficiently use 25
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the full measure of the Nation’s resources to re-1
spond to natural disasters and manmade disasters, 2
including catastrophic incidents, partner with— 3
(A) State, local, and Tribal governments; 4
(B) emergency response providers; 5
(C) other Federal agencies; 6
(D) the private sector; and 7
(E) nongovernmental organizations; 8
(3) develop a Federal response capability that, 9
when necessary and appropriate, can act effectively 10
and rapidly to deliver assistance essential to saving 11 lives or protecting or preserving property or public 12 health and safety in a natural disaster or manmade 13
disaster; 14
(4) integrate the emergency preparedness, re-15
sponse, recovery, and mitigation responsibilities of 16 the Agency to confront effectively the challenges of 17 a natural disaster or manmade disaster; 18
(5) develop and maintain robust Regional Of-19
fices, inclusive of regional disability integration spe-20 cialists, that work with State, local, and Tribal gov-21 ernments, emergency response providers, and other 22
appropriate entities to identify and address regional 23 priorities; 24
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(6) provide funding, training, exercises, tech-1
nical assistance, planning, and other assistance to 2
build the Tribal, local, State, regional, and national 3 capabilities (including communications capabilities) 4
necessary to respond to a natural disaster or man-5
made disaster; 6
(7) develop and coordinate the implementation 7
of an all-hazards strategy for preparedness that 8
builds the common capabilities necessary to respond 9
to natural disasters and manmade disasters while 10
also building the unique capabilities necessary to re-11 spond to specific types of incidents that pose the 12
greatest risk to our Nation; and 13
(8) identify, integrate, and implement the needs 14
of children, including children within underserved 15
communities, individuals with disabilities, and other 16 vulnerable populations with access and functional 17
needs, into activities to prepare for, respond to, re-18 cover from, and mitigate against the risk of natural 19 disasters and other disasters, including catastrophic 20 incidents, including by appointing a technical expert, 21 who may consult with relevant outside organizations 22
and experts, as necessary, to coordinate such inte-23
gration, as necessary. 24
(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 25
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(1) C ATASTROPHIC INCIDENT .—The term ‘‘cat-1
astrophic incident’’ means any natural disaster, act 2
of terrorism, or other man-made disaster that re-3
sults in extraordinary levels of casualties or damage 4 or disruption severely affecting the population (in-5
cluding mass evacuations), infrastructure, environ-6
ment, economy, national morale, or government 7
functions in an area. 8
(2) C RITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE .—The term 9
‘‘critical infrastructure’’ has the meaning given that 10 term in section 1016(e) of Public Law 107–56 (42 11
U.S.C. 5195c(e)). 12
(3) L OCAL GOVERNMENT .—The term local gov-13
ernment means— 14
(A) a county, municipality, city, town, 15
township, local public authority, school district, 16
special district, intrastate district, council of 17
governments (regardless of whether the council 18
of governments is incorporated as a nonprofit 19
corporation under State law), regional or inter-20
state government entity, or agency or instru-21
mentality of a local government; 22
(B) an Indian tribe or authorized tribal or-23
ganization, or in Alaska a Native village or 24
Alaska Regional Native Corporation; and 25
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(C) a rural community, unincorporated 1
town or village, or other public entity. 2
(4) R ESOURCES.—The term ‘‘resources’’ means 3
personnel and major items of equipment, supplies, 4
and facilities available or potentially available for re-5 sponding to a natural disaster, act of terrorism, or 6
other manmade disaster. 7
(5) S TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any 8
State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 9 the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Is-10
lands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth 11
of the Northern Mariana Islands, and any possession 12
of the United States. 13
(6) T RIBAL GOVERNMENT .—The term ‘‘Tribal 14
government’’ means the government of an Indian 15
tribe or authorized tribal organization, or in Alaska 16 a Native village or Alaska Regional Native Corpora-17
tion. 18
(7) V ULNERABLE POPULATIONS WITH ACCESS 19
AND FUNCTIONAL NEEDS .—The term ‘‘vulnerable 20
populations with access and functional needs’’ 21
means— 22
(A) the elderly, children, and individuals 23
with disabilities (including individuals with mo-24
bility, communication, intellectual, and proc-25
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essing disabilities) for whom emergencies may 1
present unique access and functional needs, 2
such as maintaining independence, communica-3
tion, transportation, supervision, and medical 4
care; and 5
(B) include individuals described in sub-6
paragraph (A) who reside in institutionalized 7
settings. 8
SEC. 12. ADMINISTRATOR; DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR; 9
OTHER OFFICIALS OF THE AGENCY. 10
(a) ADMINISTRATOR.— 11
(1) I N GENERAL .—The Federal Emergency 12
Management Agency shall be headed by an Adminis-13
trator, who shall be appointed by the President, by 14
and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and 15
who shall report directly to the President. 16
(2) P RINCIPAL ADVISOR ON EMERGENCY MAN -17
AGEMENT.—The Administrator is the principal advi-18
sor to the President for all matters relating to emer-19 gency management in the United States. 20
(3) Q UALIFICATIONS.—The Administrator shall 21
be appointed from among individuals who have— 22
(A) a demonstrated ability in, and knowl-23
edge of, emergency management; and 24
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(B) not less than 5 years of executive lead-1
ership and management experience in the public 2
or private sector. 3
(4) E XECUTIVE SCHEDULE .—Title 5, United 4
States Code, is amended— 5
(A) in section 5312, by adding at the end 6
the following: 7
‘‘Administrator of the Federal Emergency Man-8
agement Agency.’’; and 9
(B) in section 5313, by striking the item 10
relating to ‘‘Administrator of the Federal 11
Emergency Management Agency.’’. 12
(b) DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR.— 13
(1) I N GENERAL .—The Agency shall have one 14
Deputy Administrator, who shall be appointed by 15
the President, by and with the advice and consent 16
of the Senate. The Deputy Administrator shall carry 17
out duties and powers prescribed by the Adminis-18
trator and act for the Administrator when the Ad-19
ministrator is absent or unable to serve or when the 20 position of the Administrator is vacant. 21
(2) Q UALIFICATIONS.—The Deputy Adminis-22
trator shall be appointed from among individuals 23
who have extensive experience in emergency pre-24
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paredness, response, recovery, and mitigating haz-1
ards. 2
(3) E XECUTIVE SCHEDULE .—Section 5314 of 3
title 5, United States Code, is amended by striking 4
the item relating to ‘‘Deputy Administrators, Fed-5
eral Emergency Management Agency.’’ and inserting 6
the following: 7
‘‘Deputy Administrator, Federal Emergency Manage-8
ment Agency.’’. 9
(c) ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATORS.— 10
(1) I N GENERAL .—The Agency shall have one 11
or more Assistant Administrators, who shall be ap-12
pointed by the Administrator, and whose duties shall 13 be determined by the Administrator. 14
(2) Q UALIFICATIONS.—Each Assistant Admin-15
istrator shall be appointed from among individuals 16
who have a demonstrated ability in and knowledge 17
of emergency management or other field relevant to 18
their position. 19
SEC. 13. AUTHORITY AND RESPONSIBILITIES. 20
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the Federal 21
Emergency Management Agency shall provide Federal 22
leadership necessary to prepare for, respond to, recover 23 from, or mitigate against all disasters, including natural 24 or manmade, including— 25
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(1) helping to ensure the effectiveness of emer-1
gency response providers to major disasters (as that 2
term is defined in section 102 of the Robert T. Staf-3
ford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 4
(42 U.S.C. 5122)) and other emergencies; 5
(2) with respect to the Nuclear Incident Re-6
sponse Team— 7
(A) establishing standards and certifying 8
when such standards have been met; and 9
(B) conducting joint and other exercises 10
and training and evaluating performance; 11
(3) providing the Federal Government’s re-12
sponse to all disasters, including— 13
(A) managing such response; 14
(B) directing the Domestic Emergency 15
Support Team and the Nuclear Incident Re-16
sponse Team; 17
(C) overseeing the Metropolitan Medical 18
Response System; and 19
(D) coordinating other Federal response 20
resources, including requiring deployment of the 21
Strategic National Stockpile, in the event of a 22
disaster; 23
(4) aiding the recovery from a disaster; 24
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(5) building a comprehensive national incident 1
management system with Federal, State, and local 2
government personnel, agencies, and authorities, to 3
respond to such attacks and disasters; 4
(6) consolidating existing Federal Government 5
emergency response plans into a single, coordinated 6
national response plan; 7
(7) helping ensure the acquisition of operable 8
and interoperable communications capabilities by 9
Federal, State, local, and Tribal governments and 10
emergency response providers; 11
(8) assisting the President in carrying out the 12
functions under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re-13
lief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 14
et seq.) and carrying out all functions and authori-15
ties given to the Administrator under such Act; 16
(9) carrying out the mission of the Agency to 17
reduce the loss of life and property and prepare the 18 Nation for all hazards by leading and supporting the 19 Nation in a comprehensive emergency management 20
system of— 21
(A) mitigation, by taking sustained actions 22
to reduce or eliminate long-term risks to people 23
and property from hazards and their effects; 24
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(B) preparedness, by planning, training, 1
and building the emergency management pro-2
fession to prepare effectively for, mitigate 3
against, respond to, and recover from any haz-4
ard; 5
(C) response, by conducting emergency op-6
erations to save lives and property through po-7
sitioning emergency equipment, personnel, and 8
supplies, through evacuating potential victims, 9
through providing food, water, shelter, and 10
medical care to those in need, and through re-11
storing critical public services; and 12
(D) recovery, by rebuilding communities so 13
individuals, businesses, and governments can 14
function on their own, return to normal life, 15
and protect against future hazards; 16
(10) increasing efficiencies, by coordinating ef-17
forts relating to preparedness, response, recovery, 18
and mitigation; 19
(11) helping to ensure the effectiveness of emer-20
gency response providers in responding to all haz-21
ards, including natural or man-made; 22
(12) supervising grant programs administered 23
by the Agency; 24
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(13) administering and ensuring the implemen-1
tation of the National Response Plan, including co-2
ordinating and ensuring the readiness of each emer-3
gency support function under the National Response 4
Plan; 5
(14) coordinating with the National Advisory 6
Council established under section 508 of the Home-7
land Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 318); 8
(15) preparing and implementing the plans and 9
programs of the Federal Government for— 10
(A) continuity of operations; 11
(B) continuity of government; and 12
(C) continuity of plans; 13
(16) minimizing, to the extent practicable, over-14
lapping planning and reporting requirements appli-15
cable to State, local, and Tribal governments and 16
the private sector; 17
(17) maintaining and operating within the 18
Agency the National Response Coordination Center 19
or its successor; 20
(18) developing a national emergency manage-21
ment system that is capable of preparing for, re-22
sponding to, recovering from, and mitigating against 23 catastrophic incidents; 24
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(19) assisting the President in carrying out the 1
functions under the national preparedness goal and 2
the national preparedness system and carrying out 3
all functions and authorities of the Administrator 4
under the national preparedness System; 5
(20) carrying out all authorities of the Federal 6
Emergency Management Agency; and 7
(21) otherwise carrying out the mission of the 8
Agency as described in section 11(b). 9
(b) A LL-HAZARDS APPROACH.—In carrying out the 10
responsibilities under this section, the Administrator shall 11 coordinate the implementation of an all-hazards strategy 12 that builds those common capabilities necessary to prepare 13 for, respond to, recover from, or mitigate against all-haz-14 ards whether natural or manmade, while also building the 15 unique capabilities necessary to prepare for, respond to, 16 recover from, or mitigate against the risks of specific types 17 of incidents that pose the greatest risk to the Nation. 18 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 19
(1) I NTEROPERABLE.—The term ‘‘interoper-20
able’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘interoperable 21 communications’’ under section 7303(g)(1) of the 22
Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act 23
of 2004 (6 U.S.C. 194(g)(1)). 24
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(2) L OCAL GOVERNMENT .—The term local gov-1
ernment means— 2
(A) a county, municipality, city, town, 3
township, local public authority, school district, 4
special district, intrastate district, council of 5
governments (regardless of whether the council 6
of governments is incorporated as a nonprofit 7
corporation under State law), regional or inter-8
state government entity, or agency or instru-9
mentality of a local government; 10
(B) an Indian tribe or authorized tribal or-11
ganization, or in Alaska a Native village or 12
Alaska Regional Native Corporation; and 13
(C) a rural community, unincorporated 14
town or village, or other public entity. 15
(3) R ESOURCES.—The term ‘‘resources’’ means 16
personnel and major items of equipment, supplies, 17
and facilities available or potentially available for re-18 sponding to a natural disaster, act of terrorism, or 19 other manmade disaster. 20
(4) S TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any 21
State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 22 the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Is-23
lands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth 24
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of the Northern Mariana Islands, and any possession 1
of the United States. 2
(5) T RIBAL GOVERNMENT .—The term ‘‘Tribal 3
government’’ means the government of an Indian 4
tribe or authorized tribal organization, or in Alaska 5 a Native village or Alaska Regional Native Corpora-6
tion. 7
SEC. 14. OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL. 8
The Federal Emergency Management Agency shall 9
have an Office of the Inspector General, headed by an In-10 spector General who shall be appointed by the President, 11 by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, in ac-12 cordance with chapter 4 of title 5, United States Code. 13 SEC. 15. TRANSFER OF FUNCTIONS. 14
(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided by subsection 15
(c), there shall be transferred to the Administrator of the 16 Federal Emergency Management Agency the following: 17
(1) All functions of the Federal Emergency 18
Management Agency, as constituted on the day be-19
fore the date of enactment of this Act, including 20
continuity of operations and continuity of Govern-21
ment plans and programs. 22
(2) The functions relating to the Agency under 23
the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-24
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gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.) and 1
other laws, including— 2
(A) the National Flood Insurance Act of 3
1968 (42 U.S.C. 4001 et seq.); 4
(B) the Earthquake Hazards Reduction 5
Act of 1977 (42 U.S.C. 7701 et seq.); 6
(C) the National Dam Safety Program Act 7
(33 U.S.C. 467 et seq.); 8
(D) the Federal Fire Prevention and Con-9
trol Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 2201 et seq.); 10
(E) Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 (5 11
U.S.C. App.); 12
(F) section 612 of the Security and Ac-13
countability For Every Port Act of 2006 (6 14
U.S.C. 314a); 15
(G) title III of the McKinney-Vento Home-16
less Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11331 et seq.); 17
(H) the Department of Homeland Security 18
Appropriations Act, 2007 (Public Law 109– 19
295); 20
(I) the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act, 21
2013 (Public Law 113–2); 22
(J) the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 23
(Public Law 115–254); 24
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(K) the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 1
(Public Law 115–123); 2
(L) the Implementing Recommendations of 3
the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007 (Public Law 4
110–53); and 5
(M) any other relevant laws relating to the 6
Agency. 7
(b) I NSPECTOR GENERAL.—There shall be trans-8
ferred to the Inspector General of the Federal Emergency 9 Management Agency all of the functions relating to the 10 Inspector General that were transferred from the Federal 11 Emergency Management Agency to the Department of 12
Homeland Security on or after January 1, 2003. 13
(c) EXCEPTIONS.— 14
(1) P ROGRAMS UNAFFECTED .—The following 15
programs shall not be affected by this Act and shall 16 remain within the Department of Homeland Secu-17
rity: 18
(A) The grant programs authorized by sec-19
tions 1406, 1513, and 1532 of the Imple-20
menting Recommendations of the 9/11 Commis-21
sion Act (6 U.S.C. 1135, 1163, and 1182). 22
(B) The grant program authorized by sec-23
tion 70107 of title 46, United States Code. 24
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(C) Programs authorized in subtitle A of 1
title XX of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 2
(6 U.S.C. 603 et seq.). 3
(2) M EMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING .—With 4
respect to the programs under paragraph (1), the 5
Secretary of Homeland Security and the Adminis-6
trator shall enter into a memorandum of under-7
standing providing that— 8
(A) during the transition period under sub-9
section (e), the Administrator shall continue to 10
administer such programs; and 11
(B) the Administrator may assess a fee on 12
the Secretary for the administration of such 13
programs and any additional programs, as con-14
sidered necessary by the Administrator or the 15
Secretary. 16
(d) U NITED STATES FIRE ADMINISTRATOR; F ED-17
ERAL INSURANCE ADMINISTRATOR.—Nothing in this Act 18
shall be construed to affect the appointment of the United 19 States Fire Administrator under section 5(b) of the Fire 20 Prevention and Control Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 2204(b)) 21 or the Federal Insurance Administrator under section 22 1105(a) of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 23
1968 (42 U.S.C. 4129). 24
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(e) T RANSITION PERIOD.—The transfers under this 1
section shall be carried out not later than 1 year after 2 the date of enactment of this Act. During the transition 3 period, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall provide 4 to the Administrator such assistance, including the use of 5 personnel and assets, as the Administrator may request 6 in preparing for the transfer. 7
(f) TRANSITION.—The Administrator may use— 8
(1) the services of such officers, employees, and 9
other personnel of the Department of Homeland Se-10
curity with respect to functions transferred by this 11 section; and 12
(2) funds appropriated to such functions for 13
such period of time as may reasonably be needed to 14
facilitate the orderly implementation of this section. 15 (g) L IAISON OFFICE TO ENSURE COORDINATION 16
WITH DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY.—The Ad-17
ministrator shall establish a liaison office within the Agen-18 cy to ensure adequate coordination with the Department 19 of Homeland Security. 20
SEC. 16. PERSONNEL AND OTHER TRANSFERS. 21
(a) PERSONNEL PROVISIONS.— 22
(1) A PPOINTMENTS.—The Administrator of the 23
Federal Emergency Management Agency may ap-24
point and fix the compensation of such officers and 25
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employees, including investigators, attorneys, and 1
administrative law judges, as may be necessary to 2
carry out the respective functions transferred under 3
section 15. Except as otherwise provided by law, 4
such officers and employees shall be appointed in ac-5
cordance with the civil service laws and their com-6
pensation fixed in accordance with title 5, United 7
States Code. 8
(2) EXPERTS AND CONSULTANTS .—The Admin-9
istrator may obtain the services of experts and con-10
sultants in accordance with section 3109 of title 5, 11 United States Code, and compensate such experts 12
and consultants for each day (including travel time) 13 during which they are engaged in the actual per-14
formance of such services at rates not in excess of 15
the rate of pay for level IV of the Executive Sched-16
ule under section 5315 of such title. The Adminis-17
trator may pay experts and consultants who are 18
serving away from their homes or regular place of 19
business, travel expenses and per diem in lieu of 20
subsistence at rates authorized by sections 5702 and 21 5703 of such title for persons in Government service 22 employed intermittently. 23
(b) D ELEGATION AND ASSIGNMENT.—Except where 24
otherwise expressly prohibited by law or otherwise pro-25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Aug 02, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00023 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4669.IH H4669ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 24 •HR 4669 IH
vided by this division, the Administrator may delegate any 1 of the functions transferred to the Administrator by sec-2 tion 15 and any function transferred or granted to the 3 Administrator after the date of the transfers by section 4 15 to such officers and employees of the Agency as the 5 Administrator may designate and may authorize succes-6
sive redelegations of such functions as may be necessary 7 or appropriate. No delegation of functions by the Adminis-8 trator under this subsection or under any other provision 9 of this division shall relieve the Administrator of responsi-10 bility for the administration of such functions. 11
(c) REORGANIZATION.—The Administrator may allo-12
cate or reallocate any function transferred under section 13 15 among the officers of the Agency, and may establish, 14 consolidate, alter, or discontinue such organizational enti-15 ties in the Agency as may be necessary or appropriate if 16 the Administrator, on or before the 30th day preceding 17 the date of the allocation or reallocation, provides to Con-18 gress written notice of the allocation or reallocation. 19 (d) RULES.—The Administrator may prescribe, in ac-20
cordance with the provisions of chapters 5 and 6 of title 21 5, United States Code, such rules and regulations as the 22 Administrator determines necessary or appropriate to ad-23 minister and manage the functions of the Agency. 24
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(e) T RANSFER AND ALLOCATIONS OF APPROPRIA-1
TIONS AND PERSONNEL.—Except as otherwise provided 2
in this division, the personnel employed in connection with, 3 and the assets, liabilities, contracts, property, records, and 4 unexpended balances of appropriations, authorizations, al-5 locations, and other funds employed, used, held, arising 6 from, available to, or to be made available in connection 7 with the functions transferred by section 15, subject to 8 section 1531 of title 31, United States Code, shall be 9 transferred to the Agency. Unexpended funds transferred 10 pursuant to this subsection shall be used only for the pur-11 poses for which the funds were originally authorized and 12 appropriated. 13
(f) I NCIDENTAL TRANSFERS.—The Director of the 14
Office of Management and Budget, in consultation with 15 the Administrator, may make such determinations as may 16 be necessary with regard to the functions transferred by 17 section 15, and may make such additional incidental dis-18 positions of personnel, assets, liabilities, grants, contracts, 19 property, records, and unexpended balances of appropria-20 tions, authorizations, allocations, and other funds held, 21 used, arising from, available to, or to be made available 22 in connection with such functions, as may be necessary 23 to carry out the provisions of this division. The Director 24 of the Office of Management and Budget shall provide for 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Aug 02, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00025 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4669.IH H4669ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 26 •HR 4669 IH
the termination of the affairs of all entities terminated by 1 this division and for such further measures and disposi-2 tions as may be necessary to effectuate the purposes of 3 this division. 4
(g) EFFECT ON PERSONNEL.— 5
(1) I N GENERAL .—Except as otherwise pro-6
vided by this division, the transfer pursuant to this 7 division of full-time personnel (except special Gov-8
ernment employees) and part-time personnel holding 9
permanent positions shall not cause any such em-10
ployee to be separated or reduced in grade or com-11
pensation for one year after the date of transfer of 12 such employee under this division. 13
(2) EXECUTIVE SCHEDULE POSITIONS .—Except 14
as otherwise provided in this division, any person 15
who, on the day preceding the date of the transfers 16
of functions under section 15, held a position com-17
pensated in accordance with the Executive Schedule 18
prescribed in chapter 53 of title 5, United States 19
Code, and who, without a break in service, is ap-20
pointed in the Agency to a position having duties 21
comparable to the duties performed immediately pre-22
ceding such appointment shall continue to be com-23
pensated in such new position at not less than the 24
rate provided for such previous position, for the du-25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Aug 02, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00026 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4669.IH H4669ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 27 •HR 4669 IH
ration of the service of such person in such new po-1
sition. 2
SEC. 17. SAVING PROVISIONS. 3
(a) CONTINUING EFFECT OF LEGAL DOCUMENTS.— 4
All orders, determinations, rules, regulations, permits, 5 agreements, grants, contracts, certificates, licenses, reg-6 istrations, privileges, and other administrative actions— 7 (1) which have been issued, made, granted, or 8
allowed to become effective by the President, any 9
Federal agency or official thereof, or by a court of 10 competent jurisdiction, in the performance of func-11
tions that are transferred under section 15; and 12
(2) which are in effect on the date of the trans-13
fers of functions under section 15, or were final be-14 fore such date and are to become effective on or 15
after such date, shall continue in effect according to 16 their terms until modified, terminated, superseded, 17
set aside, or revoked in accordance with law by the 18
President, the Administrator, or other authorized of-19 ficial, a court of competent jurisdiction, or by oper-20 ation of law. 21
(b) P ROCEEDINGS NOT AFFECTED.—The provisions 22
of this division shall not affect any proceedings, including 23 notices of proposed rulemaking, or any application for any 24 license, permit, certificate, or financial assistance pending 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Aug 02, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00027 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4669.IH H4669ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 28 •HR 4669 IH
before the Agency on the date of the transfers of functions 1 under section 15, with respect to functions transferred by 2 section 15, but such proceedings and applications shall 3 continue. Orders shall be issued in such proceedings, ap-4 peals shall be taken therefrom, and payments shall be 5 made pursuant to such orders, as if this division had not 6 been enacted, and orders issued in any such proceedings 7 shall continue in effect until modified, terminated, super-8 seded, or revoked by a duly authorized official, by a court 9 of competent jurisdiction, or by operation of law. Nothing 10 in this subsection shall be deemed to prohibit the dis-11 continuance or modification of any such proceeding under 12 the same terms and conditions and to the same extent that 13 such proceeding could have been discontinued or modified 14 if this division had not been enacted. 15
(c) S UITS NOT AFFECTED.—The provisions of this 16
division shall not affect suits commenced before the date 17 of the transfers of functions under section 15, and in all 18 such suits, proceedings shall be had, appeals taken, and 19 judgments rendered in the same manner and with the 20
same effect as if this division had not been enacted. 21 (d) N ONABATEMENT OF ACTIONS.—No suit, action, 22
or other proceeding commenced by or against the Agency, 23 or by or against any individual in the official capacity of 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Aug 02, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00028 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4669.IH H4669ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 29 •HR 4669 IH
such individual as an officer of the Agency, shall abate 1 by reason of the enactment of this division. 2
(e) A DMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS RELATING TO PRO-3
MULGATION OF REGULATIONS.—Any administrative ac-4
tion relating to the preparation or promulgation of a regu-5 lation by the Agency relating to a function transferred 6 under section 15 may be continued by the Agency with 7
the same effect as if this division had not been enacted. 8 SEC. 18. REFERENCES. 9
(a) R EFERENCES TO FEMA.—Any reference to the 10
Federal Emergency Management Agency in any law, Ex-11
ecutive order, rule, regulation, certificate, directive, in-12 struction, delegation of authority, or other official paper 13 shall be considered to refer and apply to the Agency estab-14 lished by section 11. 15
(b) R EFERENCES TO ADMINISTRATOR OF FEMA.— 16
Any reference to the Administrator of the Federal Emer-17 gency Management Agency in any law, Executive order, 18 rule, regulation, certificate, directive, instruction, delega-19 tion of authority, or other official paper shall be consid-20 ered to refer and apply to the Administrator established 21 by section 12(a)(1). 22
(c) R EFERENCES TO INSPECTOR GENERAL.—Any 23
reference to the Inspector General of the Federal Emer-24 gency Management Agency or to the functions relating to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Aug 02, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00029 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4669.IH H4669ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 30 •HR 4669 IH
such office that were transferred from the Federal Emer-1 gency Management Agency to the Department of Home-2
land Security on or after January 1, 2003, in any law, 3 Executive order, rule, regulation, certificate, directive, in-4 struction, delegation of authority, or other official paper 5 shall be considered to refer and apply to the Inspector 6 General established by section 14 or to the functions re-7 lated to the office of such Inspector General. 8
SEC. 19. FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY 9
WORKING CAPITAL FUND. 10
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is hereby established in 11
the Treasury a revolving fund for the Federal Emergency 12 Management Agency for operation of any Federal Emer-13
gency Management Agency headquarters, multi-discipline 14 facility to be known as the ‘‘Federal Emergency Manage-15 ment Agency Working Capital Fund’’. 16
(b) FEES FOR SERVICES.— 17
(1) I N GENERAL .—The Administrator of the 18
Federal Emergency Management Agency may 19
charge a fee for services and equipment provided at 20
any Federal Emergency Management Agency head-21
quarters, multi-discipline facility to the Department 22 of Homeland Security, other Federal agencies, and 23
other sources authorized by law, and shall deposit 24
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such fees charged into the account of the revolving 1
fund established under this section. 2
(2) F EE AMOUNT .—The Administrator of the 3
Federal Emergency Management Agency shall set 4
the fee authorized under this subsection at rates 5
that will return in full all expenses of operation for 6 the facility or facilities, including accrued leave, de-7 preciation of fund plant and equipment, amortiza-8
tion of automated data processing software and sys-9
tems (either acquired or donated), and an amount 10
necessary to maintain reasonable operating reserve 11
as determined by the Administrator. 12
(3) A DVANCE OF FUNDS .—Participants re-13
questing services or equipment at the facility or fa-14 cilities shall pay for such services and equipment by 15 advance of funds— 16
(A) if the Administrator determines that 17
amounts in the revolving fund are otherwise in-18
sufficient to cover the costs of providing such 19
equipment and services; or 20
(B) upon agreement between the partici-21
pants and the Administrator. 22
(c) CONTENTS OF FUND.—The revolving fund estab-23
lished under this section shall consist of the following 24 amounts: 25
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(1) Amounts deposited by the Administrator 1
under subsection (b). 2
(2) Any other amounts received by the Adminis-3
trator which are attributable to the programs cov-4
ered by the fund. 5
(3) Such other amounts as may be appropriated 6
under law. 7
(d) USE OF AMOUNTS.—Amounts deposited into the 8
revolving fund established under this section shall be avail-9 able for the necessary expenses of operating the facility 10 or facilities, including the provision of equipment and serv-11 ices on a fee basis as authorized under subsection (b). 12 (e) DEPOSIT OF FUNDS DURING TRANSITION.—Not-13
withstanding section 506 of the Department of Homeland 14 Security Appropriations Act, 2004 (Public Law 108–90; 15 31 U.S.C. 501 note) (as extended by section 504 of the 16 Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 17
2023 (division F of Public Law 117–328), and any subse-18 quent law), there shall be transferred to the revolving fund 19 established under this section the assets, liabilities, con-20 tracts, inventory, equipment, property, records, and unex-21 pended balance of appropriations and other funds held, 22 used, arising from, available to, or to be made available 23 to the Department of Homeland Security Working Capital 24 Fund for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. 25
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Unexpended funds transferred pursuant to this paragraph 1 shall be merged with the revolving fund and shall be avail-2 able as authorized by this section. 3
SEC. 20. IMPROVING DISASTER ASSISTANCE FOR VET-4
ERANS. 5
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title III of the Robert T. Stafford 6
Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (15 U.S.C. 7 5141 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol-8 lowing: 9
‘‘SEC. 328. DESIGNATION OF VETERANS ADVOCATE. 10
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The President shall designate in 11
the Federal Emergency Management Agency a Veterans 12
Advocate. 13
‘‘(b) R ESPONSIBILITIES.—The Veterans Advocate 14
shall be an advocate for the fair treatment of veterans in 15 the provision of assistance under this Act. 16
‘‘(c) DUTIES.—The Veterans Advocate shall— 17
‘‘(1) participate in the disaster declaration 18
process under section 401 and the emergency dec-19
laration process under section 501 to ensure that the 20 needs of veterans are being addressed; 21
‘‘(2) serve as the primary point of contact be-22
tween veterans service organizations and the Federal 23 Emergency Management Agency; 24
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‘‘(3) identify opportunities for expanded veteran 1
recruitment for Federal Emergency Management 2
Agency employment, including Federal Emergency 3
Management Agency reservist positions; and 4
‘‘(4) conduct such other activities as the Ad-5
ministrator of the Federal Emergency Management 6
Agency considers appropriate.’’. 7
(b) S TATUTORY CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in the 8
amendment made by this section shall be construed to au-9 thorize major disaster or emergency assistance under the 10 Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist-11 ance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.) that is not authorized 12 as of the date of enactment of this Act. 13
TITLE II—OFFICES AND FUNC-14
TIONS OF FEDERAL EMER-15
GENCY MANAGEMENT AGEN-16
CY 17
SEC. 21. NATIONAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT. 18
(a) O THER OFFICERS.—Section 103(a)(1) of the 19
Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 113(a)(1)) is 20 amended— 21
(1) by striking subparagraph (D); and 22
(2) by redesignating subparagraphs (E) 23
through (K) as subparagraphs (D) through (J), re-24
spectively. 25
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(b) R EPEALS.—Sections 503, 504, and 506 of the 1
Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 316), and the 2 items relating to such sections in section 1(b) of such Act, 3 are repealed. 4
(c) REGIONAL OFFICES.—Section 507 of the Home-5
land Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 317) is amended— 6
(1) in subsection (b)(2)(A) by striking ‘‘and 7
homeland security’’; and 8
(2) in subsection (f)(3) by striking ‘‘other than 9
the Department’’. 10
(d) N ATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL.—Section 508 of 11
the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 318) is 12
amended— 13
(1) in subsection (a)— 14
(A) by striking ‘‘Not later than 60 days 15
after the date of enactment of the Post-Katrina 16
Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006, 17
the Secretary shall establish’’ and inserting 18
‘‘There is established’’; and 19
(B) by striking ‘‘protection,’’; 20
(2) in subsection (b)(2) by striking ‘‘adminis-21
tered by the Department’’; and 22
(3) in subsection (c)(1)(D) by striking ‘‘protec-23
tion,’’; 24
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(e) N ATIONAL INTEGRATION CENTER.—Section 1
509(c)(1) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 2 319(c)(1)) is amended— 3
(1) in subparagraph (A) by striking ‘‘Secretary, 4
acting through the Administrator,’’ and inserting 5
‘‘Administrator’’; and 6
(2) in subparagraph (B)(i) by striking ‘‘, the 7
Homeland Security Council, and the Secretary under 8
section 503(c)(4)’’. 9
(f) E VACUATION PLANS AND EXERCISES.—Section 10
512 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 11
321a) is amended— 12
(1) in subsection (a) by inserting ‘‘, in coordi-13
nation with the Administrator,’’ after ‘‘may’’; and 14
(2) in subsection (c)(2) by striking ‘‘Adminis-15
trator’’ and inserting ‘‘Secretary’’. 16
(g) DEPARTMENT AND AGENCY OFFICIALS.— 17
(1) I N GENERAL .—Section 514 of the Home-18
land Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 321c) is 19
amended by striking ‘‘(a) D EPUTY’’ and all that fol-20 lows through ‘‘The Administrator of the’’ and insert-21 ing ‘‘The Administrator of the’’. 22
(2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT .—The item relating 23
to section 514 in the table of contents in section 24
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1(b) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 is 1
amended to read as follows: 2
‘‘514. United States Fire Administration.’’.
(h) N ATIONAL OPERATIONS CENTER.—Section 515 3
of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 321d) 4
is amended— 5
(1) in subsection (b) by striking ‘‘Department’’ 6
and inserting ‘‘Agency’’; and 7
(2) in subsection (c) by striking ‘‘Secretary’’ 8
each place it appears and inserting ‘‘Administrator’’. 9 (i) NUCLEAR INCIDENT RESPONSE.—Section 517 of 10
the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 321f)— 11
(1) by striking ‘‘Department’’ each place it ap-12
pears and inserting ‘‘Agency’’; and 13
(2) in subsection (a)— 14
(A) by striking ‘‘direction of the Sec-15
retary’’ and inserting ‘‘direction of the Adminis-16
trator’’; and 17
(B) by striking ‘‘control of the Secretary’’ 18
and inserting ‘‘control of the Administrator’’. 19
(j) C ONDUCT OF CERTAIN PUBLIC HEALTH-RE-20
LATED ACTIVITIES.—Section 518 of the Homeland Secu-21
rity Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 321g) is amended— 22
(1) in subsection (a) by striking ‘‘collaboration 23
with the Secretary’’ and inserting ‘‘collaboration 24
with the Administrator’’; and 25
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(2) in subsection (b) by striking ‘‘with the Sec-1
retary’’ and inserting ‘‘with the Administrator’’. 2
(k) USE OF NATIONAL PRIVATE SECTOR NETWORKS 3
IN EMERGENCY RESPONSE.—Section 519 of the Home-4
land Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 321h) is amended 5
by striking ‘‘Secretary’’ and inserting ‘‘Administrator’’. 6 (l) PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE ACT.— 7
(1) P ROCUREMENT OF SECURITY COUNTER -8
MEASURES FOR STRATEGIC NATIONAL STOCKPILE .— 9
Section 319F–2 of the Public Health Service Act 10
(42 U.S.C. 247d–6b) is amended— 11
(A) in subsection (a)(1) by striking ‘‘and 12
in coordination with the Secretary of Homeland 13
Security (referred to in this section as the 14
‘Homeland Security Secretary’)’’ and inserting 15
‘‘and in coordination with the Administrator of 16
the Federal Emergency Management Agency 17
(referred to in this section as the ‘Adminis-18
trator’)’’; and 19
(B) in subsection (c)— 20
(i) by striking ‘‘Homeland Security 21
Secretary’’ each place it appears and in-22
serting ‘‘Administrator’’; and 23
(ii) in paragraph (2)(C)— 24
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(I) by striking ‘‘Secretary of 1
Homeland Security’’ and inserting 2
‘‘Administrator’’; and 3
(II) by inserting ‘‘, the Com-4
mittee on Transportation and Infra-5
structure,’’ after ‘‘Energy and Com-6
merce’’. 7
(2) I MPROVING STATE AND LOCAL PUBLIC 8
HEALTH SECURITY .—Section 319C–1(f) of the Pub-9
lic Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d–3a(f)) is 10
amended— 11
(A) in the heading by striking ‘‘H OME-12
LAND SECURITY’’ and inserting ‘‘F EDERAL 13
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY’’; and 14
(B) by striking ‘‘Secretary of Homeland 15
Security’’ and inserting ‘‘Administrator of the 16
Federal Emergency Management Agency’’. 17
(3) P ARTNERSHIPS FOR STATE AND REGIONAL 18
HOSPITAL PREPAREDNESS TO IMPROVE SURGE CA -19
PACITY.—Section 319C–2(d)(2)(B) of the Public 20
Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d–3b(d)(2)(B)) is 21
amended by inserting ‘‘and the Administrator of the 22
Federal Emergency Management Agency’’ after 23
‘‘Homeland Security’’. 24
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(4) F ACILITIES AND CAPACITIES OF THE CEN -1
TERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION .— 2
Section 319D(c)(2)(B) of the Public Health Service 3
Act (42 U.S.C. 247d–4(c)(2)(B)) is amended by in-4
serting ‘‘the Administrator of the Federal Emer-5
gency Management Agency,’’ after ‘‘Homeland Secu-6
rity,’’. 7
(5) E MERGENCY SYSTEM FOR ADVANCE REG -8
ISTRATION OF VOLUNTEER HEALTH PROFES -9
SIONAL.—Section 319I(f) of the Public Health Serv-10
ice Act (42 U.S.C. 247d–7b(f)) is amended— 11
(A) by striking ‘‘Secretary of Homeland 12
Security’’ and inserting ‘‘Administrator of the 13
Federal Emergency Management Agency’’; and 14
(B) by striking ‘‘Department of Homeland 15
Security’’ and inserting ‘‘Federal Emergency 16
Management Agency’’. 17
(m) G UIDANCE AND RECOMMENDATIONS.—Section 18
523 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 19
321l) is amended— 20
(1) in subsection (a) by striking ‘‘the Adminis-21
trator and the Director of the Cybersecurity and In-22
frastructure Security Agency, in consultation with 23
the private sector’’ and inserting ‘‘the Adminis-24
trator, in consultation with the Director of the Cy-25
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bersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and 1
the private sector’’; and 2
(2) in subsection (b)(2) by striking ‘‘Secretary’’ 3
and inserting ‘‘Administrator’’. 4
(n) V OLUNTARY PRIVATE SECTOR PREPAREDNESS 5
ACCREDITATION AND CERTIFICATION PROGRAM.—Sec-6
tion 524 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 7 321m) is amended— 8
(1) in subsection (a) by striking paragraphs (1) 9
through (3) and inserting the following: ‘‘The Ad-10
ministrator shall establish and implement the vol-11
untary private sector preparedness accreditation and 12 certification program in accordance with this sec-13
tion.’’; and 14
(2) in subsection (b) by striking ‘‘designated of-15
ficer’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘Adminis-16 trator’’. 17
(o) A CCEPTANCE OF GIFTS.—Section 525 of the 18
Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 321n) is 19
amended— 20
(1) by striking ‘‘Secretary’’ each place it ap-21
pears and inserting ‘‘Administrator’’; 22
(2) in paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (b) 23
by striking ‘‘Department’’ and inserting ‘‘Agency’’; 24 and 25
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(3) in subsection (c)(1) by inserting ‘‘the Com-1
mittee on Transportation and Infrastructure and’’ 2
after ‘‘submit to’’. 3
(p) NATIONAL PLANNING AND EDUCATION.—Section 4
527 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 5
321p) is amended by striking ‘‘Secretary’’ and inserting 6 ‘‘Administrator, in consultation with the Secretary,’’. 7 (q) COORDINATION OF DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND 8
SECURITY EFFORTS RELATED TO FOOD, A GRICULTURE, 9
AND VETERINARY DEFENSE AGAINST TERRORISM.—Sec-10
tion 528(c) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 11
U.S.C. 321q(c)) is amended— 12
(1) by striking ‘‘Agriculture or’’ and inserting 13
‘‘Agriculture,’’; and 14
(2) by inserting ‘‘,or the Administrator’’ before 15
the period at the end. 16
(r) C ONTINUITY OF THE ECONOMY PLAN.—Section 17
9603 of division A of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry 18 National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 19 (6 U.S.C. 622) is amended— 20
(1) in subsection (b)(1)— 21
(A) by redesignating subparagraphs (H) 22
and (I) as subparagraphs (I) and (J); and 23
(B) by inserting after subparagraph (G) 24
the following: 25
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‘‘(H) the Administrator of the Federal 1
Emergency Management Agency;’’; and 2
(2) in subsection (c)(1)— 3
(A) by redesignating subparagraphs (S) 4
and (T) as subparagraphs (T) and (U); and 5
(B) by inserting after subparagraph (R) 6
the following: 7
‘‘(S) the Committee on Transportation and 8
Infrastructure of the House of Representa-9
tives;’’. 10
(s) J OINT TASK FORCES.—Section 708(b)(2)(B) of 11
the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 12
348(b)(2)(B)) is amended— 13
(1) in clause (i)— 14
(A) by striking ‘‘including section 15
504(a)(3)(A),’’; and 16
(B) in subclause (II) by striking ‘‘para-17
graphs (3) and (4)(A) of section 503(c) and 18
section 509(c) of this Act,’’ and inserting ‘‘the 19
FEMA Act of 2025’’; and 20
(2) in clause (ii) by striking ‘‘, including’’ and 21
all that follows through ‘‘section 506’’. 22
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TITLE III—RELATED MATTERS 1
SEC. 31. CHANGES TO ADMINISTRATIVE DOCUMENTS. 2
Not later than 120 days after the date of enactment 3
of this Act, the President shall amend Homeland Security 4 Presidential Directive–5, Homeland Security Presidential 5 Directive–8, Presidential Policy Directive–8, and any 6 other similar administrative document to reflect the 7
changes made by this division and the amendments made 8 by this division. 9
SEC. 32. RECOMMENDED LEGISLATION. 10
(a) IN GENERAL.—After consultation with Congress, 11
the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management 12 Agency shall prepare recommended legislation containing 13 additional technical and conforming amendments to reflect 14 the changes made by this division. 15
(b) S UBMISSION TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 90 16
days after the last day of the transition period referred 17 to in section 15(e), the Administrator shall submit to Con-18 gress a report containing the recommended legislation. 19 DIVISION B—FEMA REFORMS 20
TITLE I—PUBLIC ASSISTANCE 21
REFORMS 22
SEC. 101. REBUILDING PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE. 23
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title IV of the Robert T. Stafford 24
Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Aug 02, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00044 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4669.IH H4669ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 45 •HR 4669 IH
5170 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 408 1 the following: 2
‘‘SEC. 409. EXPEDITED REPAIR, RESTORATION, AND RE-3
PLACEMENT OF DAMAGED FACILITIES. 4
‘‘(a) G RANTS FOR REPAIR, R ESTORATION, R ECON-5
STRUCTION, OR REPLACEMENT OF A PUBLIC FACILITY.— 6
‘‘(1) I N GENERAL .—The President may make 7
grants— 8
‘‘(A) to a State or local government for the 9
repair, restoration, reconstruction, or replace-10
ment of a public facility damaged or destroyed 11
by a major disaster; and 12
‘‘(B) subject to paragraph (2), to a person 13
that owns or operates a private nonprofit facil-14
ity damaged or destroyed by a major disaster 15
for the repair, restoration, reconstruction, or re-16
placement of the facility. 17
‘‘(2) CONDITIONS FOR ASSISTANCE TO PRIVATE 18
NONPROFIT FACILITIES .— 19
‘‘(A) I N GENERAL .—The President may 20
make grants to a private nonprofit facility 21
under paragraph (1)(B) only if— 22
‘‘(i) the facility provides critical serv-23
ices (as defined by the President) in the 24
event of a major disaster; or 25
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‘‘(ii) the owner or operator of the fa-1
cility— 2
‘‘(I) has applied for a disaster 3
loan under section 7(b) of the Small 4
Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)); and 5
‘‘(II)(aa) has been determined to 6
be ineligible for such a loan; or 7
‘‘(bb) has obtained such a loan in 8
the maximum amount for which the 9
Small Business Administration deter-10
mines the facility is eligible. 11
‘‘(B) R ELIGIOUS FACILITIES .—A church, 12
synagogue, mosque, temple, or other house of 13
worship, educational facility, or any other pri-14
vate nonprofit facility shall be eligible for 15
grants under paragraph (1)(B), without regard 16
to the religious character of the facility or the 17
primary religious use of the facility. No house 18
of worship, educational facility, or any other 19
private nonprofit facility may be excluded from 20
receiving grants under paragraph (1)(B) be-21
cause leadership or membership in the organi-22
zation operating the house of worship is limited 23
to persons who share a religious faith or prac-24
tice. 25
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‘‘(C) D EFINITION OF CRITICAL SERV -1
ICES.—In this paragraph, the term ‘critical 2
services’ includes power, water (including water 3
provided by an irrigation organization or facil-4
ity), sewer, wastewater treatment, communica-5
tions (including broadcast and telecommuni-6
cations), education, food and emergency supply 7
distribution, and emergency medical care. 8
‘‘(3) N OTIFICATION TO CONGRESS .—The Presi-9
dent shall notify the following committees not later 10 than 30 days after making any contribution under 11
this section in an amount greater than $20,000,000: 12
‘‘(A) The Committee on Homeland Secu-13
rity and Governmental Affairs of the Senate. 14
‘‘(B) The Committee on Transportation 15
and Infrastructure of the House of Representa-16
tives. 17
‘‘(C) The Committee on Appropriations of 18
the Senate. 19
‘‘(D) The Committee on Appropriations of 20
the House of Representatives. 21
‘‘(b) GRANT REQUIREMENTS.— 22
‘‘(1) U SE OF GRANT FUNDS .—Grant funds 23
made to a State, local government, or a person that 24
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owns or operates a private nonprofit facility under 1
this section may be used— 2
‘‘(A) to repair, restore, reconstruct, or re-3
place the public or private nonprofit facility 4
damaged or destroyed by a major disaster to 5
applicable building codes as of the time of re-6
pair, restoration, reconstruction, or replace-7
ment, including incorporating mitigation meas-8
ures consistent with disaster risks for the geo-9
graphical area; 10
‘‘(B) to repair, restore, incorporate mitiga-11
tion measures, or expand other selected public 12
facilities; 13
‘‘(C) to construct new facilities; 14
‘‘(D) and combined to construct a consoli-15
dated facility or facilities of a State, local gov-16
ernment, or owner or operator of a private non-17
profit facility; or 18
‘‘(E) to fund hazard mitigation measures 19
that the State or local government determines 20
necessary to meet a need for governmental serv-21
ices and functions in the area affected by the 22
major disaster. 23
‘‘(2) COST ESTIMATION .— 24
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‘‘(A) A MOUNT OF GRANTS .—The amount 1
of a grant made available pursuant to sub-2
section (a) shall be determined, without regard 3
to preexisting condition, based on the estimated 4
cost to repair, restore, reconstruct, or replace 5
the public or private nonprofit facility damaged 6
or destroyed by a major disaster to applicable 7
building codes as of the time of repair, restora-8
tion, reconstruction, or replacement. Such cost 9
estimate shall— 10
‘‘(i) be developed by an appropriately 11
licensed professional; 12
‘‘(ii) include the cost of incorporating 13
mitigation measures consistent with dis-14
aster risks for the geographical area; 15
‘‘(iii) include associated expenses in-16
cluding labor costs, management costs, 17
materials, and any other costs to repair, 18
restore, reconstruct, or replace the im-19
pacted facility; and 20
‘‘(iv) include the cost of developing 21
such estimate. 22
‘‘(B) P RESUMPTION OF ACCURACY .—The 23
cost estimate carried out under subparagraph 24
(A) shall be presumed to be accurate and rea-25
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sonable unless there is evidence of criminal 1
fraud. 2
‘‘(3) S UBMISSION.—Upon submission by the 3
applicant of the cost estimate carried out under 4
paragraph (2), any review by the Administrator shall 5
be completed not later than 90 days after the receipt 6 of such estimate. In evaluating whether such cost es-7
timation is accurate and reasonable, the Adminis-8
trator may not consider preexisting condition and 9
the evaluation shall be conducted by an appro-10
priately licensed professional with familiarity with 11 the relevant geographical location, including market 12 considerations and availability of labor and materials 13 for the applicable project. Unless there is evidence of 14 criminal fraud, such estimate shall be deemed to be 15
approved not later than 90 days after the submis-16
sion of such estimate. 17
‘‘(4) A VAILABILITY OF FUNDS .—Not later than 18
30 days after the approval of a cost estimate under 19
this subsection, the Administrator shall make the 20
grant funds available to the applicant. 21
‘‘(5) O NE-TIME ADJUSTMENT .—Not later than 22
2 years after such approval, the State, local govern-23 ment, or person that owns or operates a private non-24
profit facility may submit a revised cost estimate to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Aug 02, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00050 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4669.IH H4669ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 51 •HR 4669 IH
account for changes in labor, material, or other costs 1 associated with fluctuations in the market. Upon re-2
ceipt of a revised cost estimate, the Administrator 3
shall review such revision in the same manner and 4
with the same time limitations as apply to the initial 5 cost estimate. 6
‘‘(6) FINALITY OF APPROVALS .—Upon approval 7
of the grant or one-time adjustment, notwith-8
standing any other provision of law, including sec-9
tion 3716(e) of title 31, United States Code, unless 10 there is evidence of criminal fraud, no legal or ad-11
ministrative action with respect to such approval or 12 adjustment, as applicable, to recover any payment 13
under this section shall be initiated in any forum. 14
‘‘(7) S PECIAL RULE FOR LARGE , COMPLEX 15
PROJECTS.— 16
‘‘(A) I N GENERAL .—A State, local govern-17
ment, or owner or operator of a private non-18
profit facility may, with the approval of the Ad-19
ministrator, designate a large, complex infra-20
structure project as a phased project. 21
‘‘(B) S UBMISSION OF COST ESTIMATES .— 22
With respect to projects designated under sub-23
paragraph (A), the respective applicant may 24
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submit cost estimates for each phase designated 1
for such project. 2
‘‘(C) A PPROVALS.—The submissions for 3
each phase under subparagraph (B) shall be ap-4
proved in the same manner and with the same 5
limitations as outlined in paragraphs (3) 6
through (5). 7
‘‘(8) D EADLINE.—All cost estimates submitted 8
under this section shall be submitted not later than 9
5 years after the date of the respective major dis-10
aster declaration under this title, unless the 5-year 11 period is extended by the President. 12
‘‘(9) PROGRESS REPORTS .— 13
‘‘(A) R EPORTS.—A State, local govern-14
ment, or owner or operator of a private non-15
profit facility that receives funding under this 16
section shall, for each major disaster declared 17
for which funding was provided under this sec-18
tion, submit an annual progress report to the 19
Administrator that includes— 20
‘‘(i) a list with descriptions of projects 21
funded; 22
‘‘(ii) a list and number of projects 23
permitted and commenced; 24
‘‘(iii) a list of completed projects; and 25
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‘‘(iv) a list of remaining projects and 1
the status of such projects. 2
‘‘(B) P UBLIC AVAILABILITY .—Upon re-3
ceipt of a report under this paragraph, the Ad-4
ministrator shall make such report publicly 5
available on the website of the Federal Emer-6
gency Management Agency. 7
‘‘(10) I NSPECTOR GENERAL REVIEW .—Not 8
later than 2 years after the date of enactment of 9
this section and annually thereafter, the inspector 10
general of the Federal Emergency Management 11
Agency, established in section 14 of the FEMA Act 12
of 2025, shall conduct a review and submit to the 13
committees described in subsection (a)(3) a report 14
containing— 15
‘‘(A) a sampling of cost estimates approved 16
in the prior year and assess their reasonable-17
ness taking into account labor, material, and 18
market conditions in the relevant locality at the 19
time of the estimate; 20
‘‘(B) information on whether the Adminis-21
trator has placed any overly burdensome re-22
quirements on the applicant in the submission 23
process, including whether or not the Adminis-24
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trator has failed to accept submissions based on 1
nonsubstantive or technical reasons; and 2
‘‘(C) any evidence of criminal fraud and 3
whether there have been any referrals for fur-4
ther investigation or prosecution. 5
‘‘(11) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 6
‘‘(A) A PPLICABLE BUILDING CODES .—The 7
term ‘applicable building codes’ means the lat-8
est 2 published editions of relevant consensus- 9
based codes, specifications, and standards, in-10
cluding amendments made by State, local, In-11
dian tribal, or territorial governments during 12
the adoption process that incorporate the latest 13
hazard-resistant designs and establish criteria 14
for design, construction, and maintenance for 15
the relevant project. 16
‘‘(B) A PPROPRIATELY LICENSED PROFES -17
SIONAL.—The term ‘appropriately licensed pro-18
fessional’ means an individual who is an engi-19
neer, architect, builder, cost estimator, 20
tradesperson, or similar professional (or com-21
binations thereof, as needed) that is licensed, 22
certified, or authorized to work in the relevant 23
State to perform the type of work related to 24
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producing a cost estimate for the relevant 1
project described under this subsection. 2
‘‘(c) FUNDING.— 3
‘‘(1) M INIMUM FEDERAL SHARE .—Except as 4
provided in paragraph (2), the Federal share of as-5
sistance under this section shall be not less than 75 6 percent of the estimated cost of repair, restoration, 7 reconstruction, or replacement carried out under this 8 section. 9
‘‘(2) R EDUCED FEDERAL SHARE .—The Presi-10
dent may reduce the Federal share of assistance 11
under this section to not less than 65 percent 12
through a sliding scale following an event associated 13 with a major disaster in which a State or Indian 14
tribal government has failed to implement appro-15
priate mitigation measures to address the hazard 16
that caused the damage. Such mitigation measures 17
shall include— 18
‘‘(A) establishing and maintaining State- 19
funded mitigation programs dedicated to invest-20
ment in State and local mitigation projects for 21
public and private nonprofit facilities other than 22
projects carried out with Federal funds; 23
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‘‘(B) maintaining specified insurance on 1
the facilities subject to projects described under 2
subparagraph (A); 3
‘‘(C) employing qualified State and local 4
emergency management and personnel; and 5
‘‘(D) using non-Federal funding sources to 6
complete projects in the preapproved project 7
mitigation plan approved under section 322(f). 8
‘‘(3) INCREASED FEDERAL SHARE .— 9
‘‘(A) I NCENTIVE MEASURES .—The Presi-10
dent may provide incentives to a State or Tribal 11
government to invest in measures that increase 12
readiness for, and resilience from, a major dis-13
aster by recognizing such investments through 14
a sliding scale that increases the minimum Fed-15
eral share to 85 percent. Such measures shall 16
include— 17
‘‘(i) establishing and maintaining a 18
dedicated disaster account; 19
‘‘(ii) establishing and maintaining 20
State risk management programs with 21
dedicated funding for third-party insurance 22
policies, captive insurance, and actuarially 23
sound self-insurance risk pools that insure 24
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public facilities against future disaster 1
risk; 2
‘‘(iii) establishing and maintaining 3
other disaster programs managed and 4
funded by the State, including disaster as-5
sistance to individuals; 6
‘‘(iv) facilitating participation in the 7
community rating system; 8
‘‘(v) granting tax incentives for 9
projects that reduce risk; 10
‘‘(vi) facilitating the adoption and en-11
forcement of 1 of the 2 latest editions of 12
relevant consensus-based codes, specifica-13
tions, and standards, including amend-14
ments made by State, local, Indian tribal, 15
or territorial governments during the adop-16
tion process that incorporate the latest 17
hazard-resistant designs and establish cri-18
teria for the design, construction, and 19
maintenance of residential structures and 20
facilities that may be eligible for assistance 21
under this Act for purposes of protecting 22
the health, safety, and general welfare of 23
the buildings’ users against disasters; 24
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‘‘(vii) establishing robust floodplain 1
management standards; 2
‘‘(viii) updating State risk assess-3
ments with future projections; 4
‘‘(ix) integrating hazard mitigation 5
planning into resource management plans; 6
and 7
‘‘(x) incorporating multi-beneficial 8
natural systems and nature-based solutions 9
in disaster resilience efforts. 10
‘‘(B) S AVINGS CLAUSE .—Nothing in this 11
paragraph prevents the President from increas-12
ing the Federal cost share above 85 percent. 13
‘‘(4) C ONSIDERATIONS.—In making cost-share 14
determinations under this subsection, the President 15
shall consider— 16
‘‘(A) whether a county, or county equiva-17
lents, impacted by a disaster has done signifi-18
cantly more to implement the resilience meas-19
ures listed in subparagraphs (A) through (D) of 20
paragraph (2) and clauses (i) through (x) of 21
paragraph (3)(A); and 22
‘‘(B) the total population and capacity of 23
each State to implement such measures. 24
‘‘(5) COMBINED SOURCES OF FUNDING .— 25
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‘‘(A) I N GENERAL .—Grant funding re-1
ceived under this section may be used in com-2
bination with other Federal funding and private 3
sector funding. 4
‘‘(B) C ONFLICTING STANDARDS .—In any 5
case in which a building code or mitigation 6
standard is in conflict across Federal agencies 7
of a combined funding project described in sub-8
paragraph (A), any codes or standards promul-9
gated by the President, through the Adminis-10
trator, pursuant to this Act shall be applied.’’. 11
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 12
(1) S UNSETS.—Section 406 of the Robert T. 13
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 14
Act (42 U.S.C. 5172) is amended by adding at the 15
end the following: 16
‘‘(f) OPTIONS.—A State, local government, or owner 17
or operator of a private nonprofit facility eligible for as-18 sistance under this section for a project for which an appli-19 cation has been submitted before the date of enactment 20 of this subsection may opt to receive a grant pursuant to 21 section 409 in lieu of contributions available under this 22 section. 23
‘‘(g) SUNSET.— 24
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‘‘(1) LIMITATION ON APPLICATIONS .—No appli-1
cation may be approved under this section if such 2
application is submitted on or after the date that is 3 180 days after the date of enactment of this sub-4
section. 5
‘‘(2) S UNSET OF CERTAIN AUTHORITIES .—The 6
authorities under subsections (a) through (c) and 7
subsections (e) through (f) of this section shall ter-8 minate on December 31, 2032.’’. 9
(2) P UBLIC ASSISTANCE PROGRAM ALTER -10
NATIVE PROCEDURES .—Section 428 of the Robert 11
T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist-12
ance Act (42 U.S.C. 5189f) is amended— 13
(A) in subsection (b) by striking ‘‘406,’’; 14
(B) in subsection (e)— 15
(i) by striking ‘‘The alternative proce-16
dures’’ and all that follows through ‘‘and 17
502(a)(5)—’’ and inserting ‘‘For debris re-18
moval under sections 403(a)(3)(A), 407, 19
and 502(a)(5), the President shall adopt 20
alternative procedures for—’’; 21
(ii) by redesignating subparagraphs 22
(A) through (F) as paragraphs (1) through 23
(6), respectively, and adjusting the mar-24
gins accordingly; and 25
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(iii) in paragraph (6), as so redesig-1
nated, by redesignating clauses (i) through 2
(iii) as subparagraphs (A) through (C), re-3
spectively, and adjusting the margins ac-4
cordingly; and 5
(C) by striking subsection (h). 6
(3) R EPAIR, RESTORATION, AND REPLACEMENT 7
OF DAMAGED FACILITIES .— 8
(A) P REDISASTER HAZARD MITIGATION .— 9
Section 203(i) of the Robert T. Stafford Dis-10
aster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 11
U.S.C. 5133(i)) is amended by inserting ‘‘409,’’ 12
after ‘‘408,’’ each place it appears. 13
(B) I NSURANCE.—Section 311 of the Rob-14
ert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 15
Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5154) is amended— 16
(i) in subsection (a)(1) by inserting 17
‘‘or 409’’ after ‘‘section 406’’; 18
(ii) in subsection (b) by inserting ‘‘or 19
409’’ after ‘‘section 406’’; and 20
(iii) in subsection (c) by striking ‘‘sec-21
tion 406 or 422’’ and inserting ‘‘section 22
406, 409, or 422’’ each place it appears. 23
(C) M ANAGEMENT COSTS .—Section 24
324(b)(2)(B) of the Robert T. Stafford Dis-25
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aster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 1
U.S.C. 5165b(b)(2)(B)) is amended by insert-2
ing ‘‘409,’’ after ‘‘407,’’. 3
(D) S PECIFIED INSURANCE .—Section 4
406(d) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re-5
lief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 6
5172(d)) is amended— 7
(i) in paragraph (1) by striking 8
‘‘available under this section’’ and insert-9
ing ‘‘available under this section or section 10
409’’; and 11
(ii) in paragraph (2) by striking 12
‘‘under this section’’ and inserting ‘‘under 13
this section or section 409’’. 14
(E) S IMPLIFIED PROCEDURE .—Section 15
422(a) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re-16
lief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 17
5189(a)) is amended— 18
(i) in paragraph (1) by inserting ‘‘or 19
409’’ after ‘‘section 406’’; and 20
(ii) in the matter following paragraph 21
(3) by striking ‘‘407, or 502’’ and insert-22
ing ‘‘407, 409, or 502’’. 23
(F) A GENCY ACCOUNTABILITY .—Section 24
430 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 25
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and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 1
5189h) is amended— 2
(i) in subsection (a) by inserting ‘‘or 3
409’’ after ‘‘section 406’’; and 4
(ii) in subsection (e)(1) by inserting 5
‘‘409,’’ after ‘‘407,’’. 6
(c) E FFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 7
this section shall take effect on the date that is 180 days 8 after the date of enactment of this Act. 9
(d) REGULATIONS.— 10
(1) A PPLICATION.—Any regulations or policies 11
in effect on the date of enactment of this Act related 12 to Public Assistance or related assistance that con-13
flict or are inconsistent with this section, including 14 subsections (i), (k), and (l) of section 206.201 of 15
title 44, Code of Federal Regulations, and section 16
206.202 of such title shall not apply to section 409 17 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-18
gency Assistance Act, as added by this section. 19
(2) N OTIFICATION.—Not later than 60 days 20
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Adminis-21 trator shall notify the Committee on Transportation 22
and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives 23
and the Committee on Homeland Security and Gov-24
ernmental Affairs of the Senate of any regulations 25
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in effect on the date of enactment of this Act that 1
the Administrator intends to apply to such section 2
409. Such notification shall include a justification 3
and specify the ambiguity the regulation is intended 4
to clarify. 5
(3) P OLICIES.—Not later than 60 days after 6
the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator 7
shall provide the Committee on Transportation and 8
Infrastructure of the House of Representatives and 9
the Committee on Homeland Security and Govern-10
mental Affairs of the Senate any written policies and 11 procedures in effect on the date of enactment of this 12 Act that the Administration intends to apply to 13
carry out this section. 14
SEC. 102. TASK FORCE TO ADDRESS BACKLOG OF OPEN DE-15
CLARED DISASTERS. 16
(a) E STABLISHMENT.—The Administrator of the 17
Federal Emergency Management Agency shall establish a 18 declared disasters task force (in this section referred to 19 as the ‘‘Task Force’’) to develop processes and mecha-20 nisms necessary for the Administrator to eliminate the 21 current backlog of open declared disasters. 22
(b) COMPOSITION.— 23
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(1) I N GENERAL .—The Task Force established 1
under subsection (a) shall include the following 2
members: 3
(A) The Administrator, who shall serve as 4
the chair of the Task Force. 5
(B) The Associate Administrator within 6
the Office of Response and Recovery. 7
(C) The Regional Administrator for Region 8

4. 9
(D) The Regional Administrator for Re-10
gion 6. 11
(E) The Regional Administrator for Re-12
gion 9. 13
(F) The Division Director for Public As-14
sistance within the Office of Response and Re-15
covery. 16
(G) Any other subject matter expert who is 17
employed by the Agency, as the Administrator 18
determines appropriate. 19
(2) D ETAILEES.—Members of the Task Force 20
may detail employees who are employed by the 21
Agency to assist the Administrator in fulfilling the 22 duties of the Task Force. 23
(c) DUTIES.—The Task Force established under sub-24
section (a) shall— 25
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(1) establish a temporary office within the 1
Agency to address open declared disasters; 2
(2) identify the barriers the Agency has experi-3
enced in closing out the backlog; 4
(3) examine any challenges in reducing the 5
number of open declared disasters that are caused 6
by carrying out the program under section 205 of 7
the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-8
gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5135); 9
(4) make recommendations on how to expedite 10
the appeals of assistance denial process under sec-11
tion 423 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 12
and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5189a); 13
(5) identify any barriers preventing the closeout 14
of the excessive backlog; and 15
(6) coordinate efforts with any processes imple-16
mented by Agency to address the number of open 17
declared disasters, including the Backlog Adminis-18
trative Closeout Process as outlined in the Public 19
Assistance Backlog Strategy Implementation Guid-20
ance adopted June 2024. 21
(d) COMPLETION OF TASK FORCE ACTIVITIES.— 22
(1) S UBMISSION OF RESULTS .—Not later than 23
1 year after the establishment of the Task Force 24
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the Administrator the results of the activities carried 1 out under subsection (c). 2
(2) S UNSET.—The Task Force established 3
under this section shall be terminated upon submis-4
sion of the results pursuant to paragraph (1). 5
(e) BRIEFINGS.— 6
(1) I NITIAL BRIEFING .—Not later than 180 7
days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Ad-8
ministrator shall brief the appropriate congressional 9 committees on the status of the Agency’s progress in 10 reducing the backlog and any other activities of the 11 Task Force. 12
(2) S EMIANNUAL BRIEFINGS .—The Adminis-13
trator shall provide semiannual briefings to the ap-14
propriate congressional committees until the Agency 15
closes out 800 declared disasters in its backlog. 16
(3) Y EARLY.—Not later than 1 year after the 17
date of enactment of this Act, and annually there-18
after so long as any excessive open declared disas-19
ters remain, the Administrator shall provide to the 20
appropriate congressional committees a briefing on 21
the Agency’s closeout of its excessive backlog. Such 22 briefing may be conducted concurrently with a semi-23
annual briefing under paragraph (2). 24
(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 25
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(1) A PPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -1
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-2
mittees’’ means— 3
(A) the Committee on Transportation and 4
Infrastructure of the House of Representatives; 5
(B) the Committee on Homeland Security 6
and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; and 7
(C) the Committees on Appropriations of 8
the House of Representatives and the Senate. 9
(2) B ACKLOG.—The term ‘‘backlog’’ means, 10
with respect to a declared disaster— 11
(A) the period of performance for the de-12
clared disaster has concluded; and 13
(B) products and services carried out by 14
the Agency remain to be delivered. 15
(3) D ECLARED DISASTERS .—The term ‘‘de-16
clared disasters’’ means— 17
(A) any major disaster declared under sec-18
tion 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re-19
lief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 20
5170), including any grant program relating to 21
such a major disaster; 22
(B) any emergency declared under section 23
501 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 24
and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 25
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5191), including any grant program relating to 1
such an emergency; and 2
(C) any assistance provided for fire man-3
agement under section 420 of the Robert T. 4
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist-5
ance Act (42 U.S.C. 5187), including any grant 6
program relating to such fire management. 7
(4) EXCESSIVE BACKLOG .—The term ‘‘excessive 8
backlog’’ means any declared disaster that— 9
(A) is an open declared disaster; and 10
(B) the declaration of which occurred not 11
earlier than 10 years ago. 12
(g) CLOSEOUT REQUIREMENTS.— 13
(1) I N GENERAL .—The Administrator shall di-14
rect each Regional Administrator to close out a de-15
clared disaster in the backlog or the excessive back-16 log, and disperse the remaining fund balances, as 17
soon as is practicable after the date on which 90 18
percent of the costs expended for all approved 19
projects or awards relating to such declared disas-20
ters are validated. 21
(2) A GREEMENTS.—A closeout described under 22
paragraph (1) shall include reaching an agreement 23
for projects or awards that are in active litigation, 24 as the Administrator considers appropriate. 25
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(3) COST ESTIMATES .—The Administrator shall 1
close out a declared disaster described in paragraph 2
(1), notwithstanding section 3716(e) of title 31, 3
United States Code, based on cost estimates. 4
(h) GAO R EVIEW.—Not later than 2 years after the 5
date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 6 of the United States shall conduct a review and submit 7 a report to Congress evaluating— 8
(1) the effectiveness of the activities of the 9
Task Force described in subsection (c); and 10
(2) the progress of the Administrator in reduc-11
ing the excessive backlog. 12
SEC. 103. DISASTER DECLARATION DAMAGE THRESHOLDS. 13
(a) I N GENERAL.—In making recommendations to 14
the President regarding the eligibility of a State impacted 15 by a major disaster declared under section 401 of the Rob-16 ert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 17 Act (42 U.S.C. 5170), the Administrator of the Federal 18 Emergency Management Agency shall use as a factor for 19 consideration whether the impacted counties, or subdivi-20 sion therein, in such State meet the definition of an eco-21 nomically distressed community under section 301.3(a) of 22 title 13, Code of Federal Regulations, or a rural area 23 under section 343(a) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural 24 Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1991(a)). 25
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(b) A DDITIONAL AUTHORIZATION.—In all cases 1
where assistance under section 409 of the Robert T. Staf-2 ford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, as 3 added by this Act, is authorized for a county, or a subdivi-4 sion therein, that meets the definition of an economically 5 distressed community under section 301.3(a) of title 13, 6 Code of Federal Regulations, or a rural area under section 7 343(a) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development 8 Act (7 U.S.C. 1991(a)), the President shall provide assist-9 ance under section 408 of such Act. 10
(c) REVISIONS TO GUIDANCE, POLICIES, AND REGU-11
LATIONS.—The Administrator shall take such actions as 12 are necessary to revise any policies, guidance, or regula-13 tions of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to 14
implement subsections (a) and (b). 15
(d) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—Nothing in this section shall 16
be construed to constrain the authority of the President 17 to make a determination of eligibility for assistance under 18 section 409 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 19 Emergency Assistance Act, as added by this Act. 20
SEC. 104. FEDERAL PERMITTING IMPROVEMENT. 21
Section 316 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 22 and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5159) is 23
amended to read as follows: 24
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‘‘SEC. 316. FEDERAL PERMITTING IMPROVEMENT. 1
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 2
‘‘(1) P ROTECTION OF ENVIRONMENT .—An ac-3
tion which is taken or assistance which is provided 4
pursuant to section 402, 403, 406, 407, 409, or 502 5
shall not be deemed a major Federal action signifi-6
cantly affecting the quality of the human environ-7
ment within the meaning of the National Environ-8
mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) 9
if the action has the effect of repairing, restoring, 10 reconstructing, or replacing a facility that is dam-11
aged by a declared emergency or major disaster pur-12
suant to section 401 or 501 to applicable building 13
codes at the time of repair, restoration, reconstruc-14 tion, or replacement, including incorporating mitiga-15 tion measures consistent with disaster risks for the 16 geographic area, provided that facility improvements 17 and mitigation activities occur in the same location 18 of the original facility. 19
‘‘(2) S TATUTORY CONSTRUCTION .—Nothing in 20
this section shall alter or affect the applicability of 21 the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 22
U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) to other Federal actions taken 23
under this Act or under any other provisions of law. 24 ‘‘(b) EXEMPTIONS AND EXPEDITED PROCEDURES.— 25
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‘‘(1) S TORMWATER DISCHARGE PERMITS .—A 1
general permit for stormwater discharges from con-2
struction activities, if available, issued by the Ad-3
ministrator of the Environmental Protection Agency 4
or the director of a State program under section 5
402(p) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act 6
(33 U.S.C. 1242(p)), as applicable, shall apply to re-7 pair, restoration, reconstruction, or replacement 8
under subsection (a), on submission of a notice of 9
intent to be subject to the permit. 10
‘‘(2) E MERGENCY PROCEDURES .—The emer-11
gency procedures for issuing permits in accordance 12
with section 325.2(e)(4) of title 33, Code of Federal 13 Regulations, shall apply to repair, restoration, recon-14 struction, or replacement under subsection (a), and 15
such repair, restoration, reconstruction, or replace-16 ment shall be considered an emergency under such 17
section. 18
‘‘(3) N ATIONAL HISTORIC PRESERVATION ACT 19
EXEMPTION.—Repair, restoration, reconstruction, or 20
replacement under subsection (a) shall be eligible for 21 a waiver from the requirements of the National His-22
toric Preservation Act of 1966 pursuant to part 78 23
of title 36, Code of Federal Regulations. 24
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‘‘(4) ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT EXEMPTION .— 1
An exemption from the requirements of section 7(a) 2
of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 3
1536(a)) shall apply to repair, restoration, recon-4
struction, or replacement under subsection (a) and, 5
if the President makes the determination required 6
under section 7(p) of such Act, the determinations 7
required under subsections (g) and (h) of such sec-8
tion shall be deemed to be made. 9
‘‘(5) E XPEDITED CONSULTATION UNDER EN -10
DANGERED SPECIES ACT .—Expedited consultation 11
pursuant to section 402.05 of title 50, Code of Fed-12
eral Regulations, shall apply to repair, restoration, 13 reconstruction, or replacement under subsection (a). 14 ‘‘(6) O THER EXEMPTIONS .—Any repair, res-15
toration, reconstruction, or replacement that is ex-16
empt under paragraph (5) shall also be exempt from 17
requirements under— 18
‘‘(A) the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (16 19
U.S.C. 703 et seq.); 20
‘‘(B) the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (16 21
U.S.C. 1271 et seq.); and 22
‘‘(C) the Fish and Wildlife Coordination 23
Act (16 U.S.C. 661 et seq.). 24
‘‘(c) STATE-MANAGED REVIEW PROCESS.— 25
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‘‘(1) I N GENERAL .—Subject to subsections (a), 1
(b), and (d), with the written agreement of the Ad-2
ministrator and a State, which may be in the form 3
of a memorandum of understanding, the Adminis-4
trator may assign, and the State may assume, the 5
responsibilities of the Administrator with respect to 6 1 or more disaster recovery projects within the State 7 under the National Environmental Policy Act of 8
1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and the National 9
Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (54 U.S.C. 10
300101 et seq.), so long as— 11
‘‘(A) the State shall assume responsibilities 12
under this section subject to the same proce-13
dural and substantive requirements that would 14
apply if such responsibilities were carried out by 15
the Administrator, including the exemptions 16
and expedited procedures under subsection (b); 17
‘‘(B) any responsibility of the Adminis-18
trator not explicitly assumed by the State under 19
such agreement shall remain the responsibility 20
of the Administrator; 21
‘‘(C) nothing in such agreement preempts 22
or interferes with any power, jurisdiction, re-23
sponsibility, or authority of an agency, other 24
than the Administrator, under applicable law 25
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(including regulations), with respect to a 1
project; 2
‘‘(D) the Administrator shall not require a 3
State, as a condition of participation in the pro-4
gram, to forego project delivery methods that 5
are otherwise permissible for projects; and 6
‘‘(E) a State assuming the responsibilities 7
of the Administrator under this section for a 8
specific project may use funds for attorney’s 9
fees directly attributable to eligible activities as-10 sociated with the project for an increase in 11
management costs. 12
‘‘(2) A SSUMPTION OF RESPONSIBILITY .—If a 13
State assumes responsibility under paragraph (1)— 14
‘‘(A) the Administrator may assign to such 15
State, and such State may assume, all or part 16
of the responsibilities of the Administrator for 17
environmental review, consultation, or other ac-18
tion required under the National Environmental 19
Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) 20
and the National Historic Preservation Act of 21
1966 (54 U.S.C. 300101 et seq.), pertaining to 22
the review or approval of a specific project; and 23
‘‘(B) at the request of such State, the Ad-24
ministrator may also assign to such State, and 25
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such State may assume, the responsibilities of 1
the Administrator with respect to 1 or more 2
disaster recovery projects within the State 3
under the National Environmental Policy Act of 4
1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and the National 5
Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (54 U.S.C. 6
300101 et seq.). 7
‘‘(3) RULEMAKING AUTHORITY .—Not later than 8
180 days after the date of enactment of the FEMA 9
Act of 2025, the Administrator shall promulgate 10
regulations that establish requirements relating to 11
information required to be contained in any request 12
of a State to enter into a written agreement under 13
paragraph (1), including, at a minimum— 14
‘‘(A) a description of the projects or class-15
es of projects for which the State anticipates 16
exercising the authority under this subsection; 17
‘‘(B) verification of the financial and per-18
sonnel resources necessary to carry out such 19
authority; 20
‘‘(C) a demonstration of compliance with 21
any applicable public notice law of the State, in-22
cluding copies of comments received from a so-23
licitation carried out pursuant to any such law; 24
and 25
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‘‘(D) a demonstration of compliance with 1
applicable Federal environmental and historic 2
preservation law. 3
‘‘(4) W RITTEN AGREEMENT .—A written agree-4
ment under this section shall— 5
‘‘(A) be executed by the Governor of the 6
respective State; 7
‘‘(B) provide that the State— 8
‘‘(i) agrees to presume all or part of 9
the responsibilities of the Administrator 10
described in paragraph (1); 11
‘‘(ii) expressly consents, on behalf of 12
the State, to accept the jurisdiction of the 13
Federal courts for the compliance, dis-14
charge, and enforcement of any responsi-15
bility of the Administrator assumed by the 16
State; and 17
‘‘(iii) certifies that State laws (includ-18
ing regulations) are in effect that— 19
‘‘(I) authorize the State to take 20
the actions necessary to carry out the 21
responsibilities being assumed under 22
such agreement; and 23
‘‘(II) are comparable to section 24
552 of title 5, United States Code, in-25
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cluding providing that any decision re-1
garding the public availability of a 2
document under such State laws is re-3
viewable by a court of competent ju-4
risdiction; and 5
‘‘(III) agree to maintain the fi-6
nancial resources necessary to carry 7
out the responsibilities being assumed; 8
‘‘(C) require the State to provide to the 9
Administrator any information the Adminis-10
trator reasonably considers necessary to ensure 11
that the State is adequately carrying out the re-12
sponsibilities assigned to the State under such 13
agreement; 14
‘‘(D) have a term of not more than 5 15
years; and 16
‘‘(E) be renewable. 17
‘‘(5) JURISDICTION.— 18
‘‘(A) I N GENERAL .—The United States 19
district courts shall have exclusive jurisdiction 20
over any civil action against a State for failure 21
to carry out any responsibility of the State 22
under this section. 23
‘‘(B) L EGAL STANDARDS AND REQUIRE -24
MENTS.—A civil action under paragraph (1) 25
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shall be governed by the legal standards and re-1
quirements that would apply in such a civil ac-2
tion against the Administrator had the Admin-3
istrator taken the actions in question. 4
‘‘(C) I NTERVENTION.—The Administrator 5
shall have the right to intervene in any action 6
described in paragraph (1). 7
‘‘(6) LIABILITY.—A State that assumes respon-8
sibility under paragraph (2) shall be solely respon-9
sible and solely liable for carrying out, in lieu of and 10 without further approval of the Administrator, the 11
responsibilities under such paragraph, until the par-12 ticipation of the State is terminated under para-13
graph (8). 14
‘‘(7) L IMITATION ON AGREEMENTS .—Nothing 15
in this section permits a State to assume any rule-16
making authority of the Administrator under any 17
Federal law. 18
‘‘(8) TERMINATION.— 19
‘‘(A) T ERMINATION BY ADMINISTRATOR .— 20
The Administrator may only terminate the par-21
ticipation of any State under this subsection 22
if— 23
‘‘(i) the Administrator determines 24
that the State is not adequately carrying 25
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out the responsibilities assigned to the 1
State in a written agreement under this 2
subsection; 3
‘‘(ii) the Administrator provides to the 4
State— 5
‘‘(I) a notification of a deter-6
mination of noncompliance; 7
‘‘(II) a period of not less than 8
120 days to take such corrective ac-9
tion as the Administrator determines 10
to be necessary to comply with the ap-11
plicable agreement; and 12
‘‘(III) on request of the Gov-13
ernor, a detailed description of each 14
responsibility in need of corrective ac-15
tion regarding an inadequacy identi-16
fied under this subparagraph; and 17
‘‘(iii) the State, after the notification 18
and period provided under clause (ii), fails 19
to take satisfactory corrective action, as 20
determined by the Administrator. 21
‘‘(B) T ERMINATION BY STATE .—A State 22
may terminate the participation of the State in 23
the program at any time by providing to the 24
Administrator a notice by not later than the 25
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date that is 90 days before the date of termi-1
nation, and subject to such terms and condi-2
tions as the Administrator may provide. 3
‘‘(9) A UDITS.—To ensure compliance by a 4
State with any agreement of the State under this 5
subsection (including compliance by the State with 6
all Federal laws for which responsibility is assumed 7
under paragraph (2)), for each State participating in 8 an agreement under this subsection, the inspector 9
general of the Federal Emergency Management 10
Agency established in section 14 of the FEMA Act 11
of 2025, shall— 12
‘‘(A) meet with the State not later than 13
180 days after signing an agreement to review 14
how the agreement is being implement and plan 15
the first annual audit, including consulting with 16
the State on the selection of the audit team 17
members; 18
‘‘(B) conduct an annual audit for each 19
year the State is participating in an agreement 20
under this subsection; 21
‘‘(C) in the case of an agreement with a 22
duration of more than 5 years, conduct a com-23
prehensive audit covering the first 5 years of 24
such agreement; 25
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‘‘(D) complete each audit within 180 days, 1
including time for public comment and re-2
sponses; 3
‘‘(E) make all audits available to the public 4
for comment; and 5
‘‘(F) respond to public comments not later 6
than 60 days after the last day of the comment 7
period. 8
‘‘(10) M ONITORING.—After a State has been 9
participating in an agreement under this subsection 10
for 4 years, the Administrator shall continue to 11
monitor the compliance of such State with the agree-12
ment, including whether the State is providing 13
enough funding to meet the obligations of such 14
agreement. 15
‘‘(11) R EPORT TO CONGRESS .—The Adminis-16
trator shall submit to Congress an annual report 17
that describes the administration of this subsection. 18 ‘‘(12) R ELATIONSHIP TO LOCALLY ADMINIS -19
TERED PROJECTS .—A State assuming authority 20
under a written agreement under this subsection 21
may, as appropriate and at the request of a local 22
government— 23
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‘‘(A) exercise such authority on behalf of 1
the local government for a locally administered 2
project; or 3
‘‘(B) provide guidance and training on con-4
solidating and minimizing the documentation 5
and environmental analyses necessary for spon-6
sors of a locally administered project to comply 7
with the National Environmental Policy Act of 8
1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and any com-9
parable requirements under State law. 10
‘‘(13) AGENCY DEEMED TO BE FEDERAL AGEN -11
CY.—A State agency assuming responsibility under 12
an agreement under this subsection shall be deemed 13
to be an agency for the purposes of section 2412 of 14
title 28, United States Code. 15
‘‘(d) D EFINITION OF APPLICABLE BUILDING 16
CODES.—In this section, the term ‘applicable building 17 codes’ has the meaning given the term in section 18
409(b)(11). 19
‘‘(e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-20
tion shall alter or affect the applicability of the National 21 Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et 22
seq.) to other Federal actions taken under this Act or 23 under any other provisions of law.’’. 24
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SEC. 105. UNIFIED FEDERAL REVIEW. 1
Title III of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 2
and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170 et seq.) 3 is amended by striking section 429 and inserting the fol-4 lowing: 5
‘‘SEC. 429. COORDINATION OF REQUIRED FEDERAL RE-6
VIEWS. 7
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In order to expedite disaster re-8
covery, the Administrator shall establish a unified inter-9 agency review process to ensure compliance with environ-10 mental and historical requirements under Federal law, in-11 cluding the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 12 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and the National Historic Pres-13 ervation Act of 1966 (54 U.S.C. 300101 et seq.), relating 14 to projects carried out through assistance provided under 15 this Act, consistent with applicable law. 16
‘‘(b) E STABLISHMENT.—Not later than 1 year after 17
the date of enactment of the FEMA Act of 2025, and in 18 consultation with the Council on Environmental Quality 19 and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the 20 Administrator shall— 21
‘‘(1) formulate and implement administrative, 22
procedural, and policy mechanisms to enable the 23
Federal Emergency Management Agency to act as 24
the lead agency ensuring completion of the environ-25
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mental and historical review process for projects in 1
a timely, coordinated, and responsible manner; 2
‘‘(2) carry out the obligations of the Federal 3
Emergency Management Agency with respect to a 4
project under any other applicable law concurrently, 5
and in conjunction with, other environmental and 6
historical reviews and authorizations being con-7
ducted by other cooperating and participating agen-8
cies, with the Federal Emergency Management 9
Agency as the lead agency; and 10
‘‘(3) in the case in which an environmental im-11
pact statement is required for a project, prepare one 12 document under section 107(b) of the National En-13
vironmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 14
4336a(b)) for such project unless the lead agency 15
provides justification in the coordinated project plan 16 that multiple environmental documents are more ef-17
ficient for project review and authorization. 18
‘‘(c) CONSIDERATIONS.— 19
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL .—As early as practicable dur-20
ing an environmental and historical review, but not 21
later than the commencement of scoping for a 22
project requiring the preparation of an environ-23
mental impact statement under the National Envi-24
ronmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et 25
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seq.), the lead agency shall engage the cooperating 1
agencies to determine the range of reasonable alter-2
natives to be considered for a project. 3
‘‘(2) COOPERATION.—The lead agency and each 4
cooperating and participating agency shall work co-5
operatively to identify and resolve issues that could 6 delay completion of an environmental and historical 7
review or authorization required for the project 8
under applicable law or result in the denial of any 9
approval under applicable law, including— 10
‘‘(A) the need for mitigation actions justi-11
fied by the risk of natural hazards that are con-12
sistent with the geographic area in which the 13
major disaster occurred; and 14
‘‘(B) compliance challenges that may arise 15
as a result of the ongoing recovery from a 16
major disaster. 17
‘‘(3) R ANGE OF ALTERNATIVES .—The lead 18
agency shall determine the range of reasonable alter-19 natives for consideration in any document that the 20
lead agency is responsible for preparing in the envi-21 ronmental and historical review for the project. 22
‘‘(4) M ETHODOLOGIES.—The lead agency shall 23
determine, in collaboration with each cooperating 24
and participating agency at appropriate times during 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Aug 02, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00087 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4669.IH H4669ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 88 •HR 4669 IH
the review, the methodologies to be used and the 1
level of detail required in the analysis of each alter-2 native determined under paragraph (3) for a project. 3
‘‘(5) RESPONSIBILITIES.— 4
‘‘(A) L EAD AGENCY .—The lead agency (as 5
such term is defined in section 111 of the Na-6
tional Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 7
U.S.C. 4336e)) shall make information avail-8
able to each cooperating and participating agen-9
cy and State as early as practicable in the envi-10
ronmental and historical review regarding the 11
environmental, historic, and socioeconomic re-12
sources located within the project area and the 13
general locations of the alternatives determined 14
under paragraph (3) under consideration. 15
‘‘(B) C OOPERATING AND PARTICIPATING 16
AGENCIES.—As early as practicable during an 17
environmental and historical review, cooperating 18
and participating agencies (as such terms are 19
defined in section 111 of the National Environ-20
mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4336e)) 21
shall identify any issues of concern regarding 22
any potential environmental or historical im-23
pacts of the project, including any issues that 24
could substantially delay or prevent an agency 25
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from completing any environmental or historical 1
review or authorization required for the project, 2
and communicate any issues to the State. 3
‘‘(6) PUBLIC COMMENT .—The lead agency shall 4
establish a comment period of not less than 45 days 5
and not more than 60 days after the date on which 6
a notice announcing availability of the environmental 7 impact statement is published in the Federal Reg-8
ister to solicit comments from an agency or the pub-9
lic on a draft environmental impact statement, un-10
less— 11
‘‘(A) the lead agency, the State, and any 12
cooperating agency agree to a longer deadline; 13
or 14
‘‘(B) the lead agency, in consultation with 15
each cooperating agency, extends the deadline 16
for good cause. 17
‘‘(7) RECORD OF DECISION .—Not later than 90 18
days after the date on which a final environmental 19
impact statement is issued, Federal agencies shall, 20
to the maximum extent practicable, issue a record of 21 decision for such environmental impact statement. 22
‘‘(8) C ATEGORIES OF PROJECTS .—The authori-23
ties granted under this section may be exercised for 24 an individual project or a category of projects. 25
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‘‘(d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-1
tion shall be construed to affect the applicability of section 2 316 to projects eligible under such section.’’. 3
SEC. 106. BLOCK GRANTS FOR SMALL DISASTERS. 4
The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-5
gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.) is amended 6 by adding at the end the following: 7
‘‘TITLE VIII—BLOCK GRANTS 8
FOR SMALL DISASTERS 9
‘‘SEC. 801. BLOCK GRANTS FOR SMALL DISASTERS. 10
‘‘(a) I N GENERAL.—The Governor of a State or the 11
governing body of an Indian tribal government for the 12 area in which a covered small disaster occurs may request 13 a lump sum payment of the estimated damages calculated 14 under subsection (b) for such disaster in lieu of any assist-15 ance under the Public Assistance Program for such dis-16 aster. 17
‘‘(b) C ALCULATION.—Notwithstanding the require-18
ments of section 206.47(b) of title 44, Code of Federal 19 Regulations, a payment under subsection (a) shall be 20 equal to the amount that is 80 percent of the total esti-21 mated cost of the Federal share under the Public Assist-22 ance Program for a covered small disaster in the area of 23 jurisdiction of the State or Indian tribal government re-24 questing such payment. 25
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‘‘(c) LIMITATIONS.— 1
‘‘(1) I N GENERAL .—A State or Indian tribal 2
government receiving a payment under this section 3
may not receive assistance under the Public Assist-4
ance Program with respect to the covered small dis-5
aster for which a payment was accepted under this 6
section. 7
‘‘(2) FINAL PAYMENT .— 8
‘‘(A) I N GENERAL .—A payment under this 9
section may not be increased or decreased based 10
on actual costs calculated for a covered small 11
disaster. 12
‘‘(B) E XCEPTION.—Notwithstanding sub-13
paragraph (A), the Administrator may adjust a 14
payment under this section in the event of un-15
foreseen circumstances at no fault of the appli-16
cant. 17
‘‘(3) S ELECTION OF OPTION .—A State or In-18
dian tribal government may designate to the Federal 19
Emergency Management Agency on an annual basis 20
the interest of such State or Indian tribal govern-21
ment in participating in the small disaster authority. 22 ‘‘(4) I NDICATION.—A State or Indian tribal 23
government shall indicate at the time of the submis-24
sion of a request for a major disaster declaration 25
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that such State or Indian tribal government is re-1
questing assistance for such incident under this sec-2
tion. 3
‘‘(5) T IMING REQUIREMENT .—The Adminis-4
trator and the State or Indian tribal government 5
shall— 6
‘‘(A) reach an agreement on the amount 7
under subsection (b) not later than 90 days 8
after the incident; or 9
‘‘(B) administer the incident under the 10
procedures and authorities for the Public As-11
sistance Program. 12
‘‘(6) ADMINISTRATIVE PLAN .—To be eligible for 13
assistance under this section, a State or Indian trib-14 al government shall have an administrative plan ap-15
proved by the Administrator in place at the time of 16
the obligation of funds provided under this section. 17 ‘‘(d) A PPROVAL OF FUNDS.—The Administrator 18
shall approve funding for eligible disasters not later than 19 90 days after a receipt of a complete application, including 20 all required cost estimates and supporting documentation, 21 from the applicant. In evaluating whether such cost esti-22 mate is accurate and reasonable, the Administrator may 23 not consider preexisting condition. 24
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‘‘(e) A VAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Not later than 30 1
days after the approval of an application under this sec-2 tion, the Administrator shall make the grant funds avail-3 able to the applicant. 4
‘‘(f) U SE OF FUNDS.—A State or Indian tribal gov-5
ernment receiving a payment under this section may use 6 such payment for recovery for the covered small disaster 7 in any manner determined appropriate by the respective 8 Governor or governing body of such State or Indian tribal 9 government if such funds— 10
‘‘(1) address impacts and needs resulting from 11
the declared disaster incident; 12
‘‘(2) are provided to State, Indian tribal govern-13
ment, territorial and local government agencies, and 14 private nonprofit entities eligible for Public Assist-15 ance Program funding; and 16
‘‘(3) are used in a manner that complies with 17
applicable environmental, historic preservation, and 18 civil rights laws (including the National Environ-19
mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) 20
and the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 21
(54 U.S.C. 300101 et seq.)) and any applicable re-22
siliency standards under section 203. 23
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‘‘(g) COMPLIANCE WITH OTHER LAWS AND REGULA-1
TIONS.—A State or Indian tribal government shall be re-2 sponsible for ensuring compliance under subsection (f)(3). 3 ‘‘(h) REPORT TO FEMA.—A State or governing body 4
of an Indian tribal government shall submit to the Federal 5 Emergency Management Agency an annual report of ex-6
penses for a covered small disaster in the area of jurisdic-7 tion of the respective State or Indian tribal government. 8 ‘‘(i) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-9
tion shall be construed to— 10
‘‘(1) affect the eligibility of a State or Indian 11
tribal government for assistance under section 404; 12
or 13
‘‘(2) affect any program in title IV or V that 14
is not a Public Assistance Program. 15
‘‘(j) INSPECTOR GENERAL REVIEW.—Not later than 16
2 years after the date of enactment of the FEMA Act of 17 2025, and annually thereafter, the inspector general of the 18 Federal Emergency Management Agency established in 19
section 14 of such Act shall conduct a review and submit 20 to the Committee on Homeland Security and Govern-21
mental Affairs of the Senate, the Committee on Transpor-22 tation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives, 23 the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate, and the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Aug 02, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00094 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4669.IH H4669ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 95 •HR 4669 IH
Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representa-1 tives a report containing— 2
‘‘(1) information on the number of States and 3
Indian tribal governments that— 4
‘‘(A) have designated to the Federal Emer-5
gency Management Agency interest in partici-6
pating in the small disaster authority under 7
subsection (c)(3); and 8
‘‘(B) have requested assistance under this 9
section; 10
‘‘(2) a sampling of the reports submitted to the 11
Federal Emergency Management Agency under sub-12
section (h) and an assessment, based on such re-13
ports, on whether funds provided under this section 14
for recovery from covered small disasters have been 15
used to address impacts and needs resulting from 16
such disasters; and 17
‘‘(3) any evidence of criminal fraud and wheth-18
er there have been any referrals for further inves-19
tigation or prosecution. 20
‘‘(k) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 21
‘‘(1) C OVERED SMALL DISASTER .—The term 22
‘covered small disaster’ means a major disaster de-23
clared under section 401 or an emergency declared 24
under section 501 with estimated damage eligible 25
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under the Public Assistance Program of less than or 1
equal to 125 percent of the State’s per capita indi-2
cator. 3
‘‘(2) PUBLIC ASSISTANCE PROGRAM .—The term 4
‘Public Assistance Program’ means the programs 5
under sections 403, 406, 407, 409, and 502.’’. 6
SEC. 107. COMMON SENSE DEBRIS REMOVAL. 7
(a) I N GENERAL.—Section 407 of the Robert T. 8
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 9 (42 U.S.C. 5173) is amended— 10
(1) in subsection (a) by striking ‘‘, whenever he 11
determines it to be in the public interest,’’; and 12
(2) by adding at the end the following: 13
‘‘(f) P ROHIBITION ON ADDITIONAL REQUIRE-14
MENTS.—Except as required under subsection (b), the 15
President may not impose any additional requirements for 16 authorizing the removal of debris and wreckage on publicly 17 and privately owned lands and waters, or for making 18
grants for the purpose of such removal, under this sec-19 tion.’’. 20
(b) G UIDANCE.—The Administrator of the Federal 21
Emergency Management Agency shall revise any guidance 22 or regulations as necessary to reflect the amendments 23 made by this section. 24
(c) BEST PRACTICES.— 25
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(1) S ENSE OF CONGRESS .—It is the sense of 1
Congress that certain types of payment structures 2
for debris removal service contracts create challenges 3 for effective oversight, and disincentivize effective 4 clean-up, and increases costs. 5
(2) E FFECTIVE CONTRACTS .—Not later than 1 6
year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Ad-7
ministrator shall— 8
(A) complete a review of contracting for 9
debris removal services; and 10
(B) develop best practices for such con-11
tracts that ensure effective debris removal, 12
speed, and appropriate accountability of costs 13
and oversight of performance. 14
SEC. 108. DISASTER MANAGEMENT COSTS MODERNIZA-15
TION. 16
(a) I N GENERAL.—Section 324 of the Robert T. 17
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 18 (42 U.S.C. 5165b) is amended— 19
(1) in subsection (b)(2)— 20
(A) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) 21
and (B) as clauses (i) and (ii), respectively, and 22
adjusting the margins accordingly; and 23
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(B) in the matter preceding clause (i), as 1
so redesignated, by striking ‘‘provide the fol-2
lowing percentage rates’’ and inserting ‘‘provide 3
‘‘(A) excess funds for management costs as 4
described in subsection (c); and 5
‘‘(B) the following percentage rates’’; 6
(2) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub-7
section (d); and 8
(3) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol-9
lowing: 10
‘‘(c) U SE OF EXCESS FUNDS FOR MANAGEMENT 11
COSTS.— 12
‘‘(1) D EFINITION OF EXCESS FUNDS FOR MAN -13
AGEMENT COSTS .—In this subsection, the term ‘ex-14
cess funds for management costs’ means the dif-15
ference between— 16
‘‘(A) the amount of the applicable specific 17
management costs authorized under subsection 18
(b)(1) and subsection (b)(2)(B); and 19
‘‘(B) as of the date on which the grant 20
award is closed, the amount of funding for 21
management costs activities expended by the 22
grantee or subgrantee receiving the financial as-23
sistance for costs described in subparagraph 24
(A). 25
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‘‘(2) A VAILABILITY OF EXCESS FUNDS FOR 1
MANAGEMENT COSTS .—The President may make 2
available to a grantee or subgrantee receiving finan-3
cial assistance under section 403, 404, 406, 407, 4
409, or 502 any excess funds for management costs. 5
‘‘(3) U SE OF FUNDS .—Excess funds for man-6
agement costs made available to a grantee or sub-7
grantee under paragraph (2) may be used for— 8
‘‘(A) activities associated with building ca-9
pacity to prepare for, recover from, or mitigate 10
the impacts of a major disaster or emergency 11
declared under section 401 or 501, respectively; 12
and 13
‘‘(B) management costs associated with 14
any— 15
‘‘(i) major disaster; 16
‘‘(ii) emergency; 17
‘‘(iii) disaster preparedness measure; 18
or 19
‘‘(iv) mitigation activity or measure 20
authorized under section 203, 204, 205, or 21
404. 22
‘‘(4) AVAILABILITY.—Excess funds for manage-23
ment costs made available to a grantee or sub-24
grantee under paragraph (2) shall remain available 25
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to the grantee or subgrantee until the date that is 1
5 years after the date on which the excess funds for 2
management costs are made available under para-3
graph (2).’’. 4
(b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendments made by sub-5
section (a) shall apply with respect to any grant award 6 in relation to a major disaster or emergency declared 7 under section 401 or 501, respectively, of the Robert T. 8 Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 9 (42 U.S.C. 5170, 5191)— 10
(1) the declaration of which is made on or after 11
the date of enactment of this Act; and 12
(2) that is funded with amounts appropriated 13
on or after the date of enactment of this Act. 14
(c) N O ADDITIONAL FUNDS.—No additional funds 15
are authorized to be appropriated to carry out the amend-16 ments made by subsection (a). 17
SEC. 109. STREAMLINING AND CONSOLIDATING INFORMA-18
TION COLLECTION AND PRELIMINARY DAM-19
AGE ASSESSMENTS. 20
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1223 of the Disaster Re-21
covery Reform Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–254) is 22
amended to read as follows: 23
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‘‘SEC. 1223. STUDY TO STREAMLINE AND CONSOLIDATE IN-1
FORMATION COLLECTION AND PRELIMINARY 2
DAMAGE ASSESSMENTS. 3
‘‘(a) I NFORMATION COLLECTION.—Not later than 2 4
years after the date of enactment of the FEMA Act of 5
2025, the Administrator, in coordination with the Admin-6 istrator of the Small Business Administration, the Sec-7 retary of Housing and Urban Development, the Disaster 8 Assistance Working Group of the Council of the Inspectors 9 General on Integrity and Efficiency, and other appropriate 10 agencies, shall— 11
‘‘(1) conduct a study and develop a plan, con-12
sistent with law, under which the collection of infor-13 mation from disaster assistance applicants and 14
grantees will be modified, streamlined, expedited, ef-15 ficient, flexible, consolidated, and simplified to be 16 less burdensome, duplicative, and time-consuming 17
for applicants and grantees; and 18
‘‘(2) develop a plan for the regular collection 19
and reporting of information on Federal disaster as-20
sistance awarded, including the establishment and 21
maintenance of a website for presenting the informa-22
tion to the public. 23
‘‘(b) P RELIMINARY DAMAGE ASSESSMENTS.—Not 24
later than 2 years after the date of enactment of the 25 FEMA Act of 2025, the Administrator, in consultation 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Aug 02, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00101 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4669.IH H4669ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 102
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with the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity 1 and Efficiency, shall convene a working group on a regular 2 basis with the Secretary of Labor, the Director of the Of-3 fice of Management and Budget, the Secretary of Health 4 and Human Services, the Administrator of the Small 5
Business Administration, the Secretary of Transportation, 6 the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Devel-7 opment, and other appropriate agencies as the Adminis-8 trator considers necessary, to— 9
‘‘(1) identify and describe the potential areas of 10
duplication or fragmentation in preliminary damage 11
assessments after disaster declarations; 12
‘‘(2) determine the applicability of having one 13
Federal agency make the assessments for all agen-14
cies; and 15
‘‘(3) identify potential emerging technologies, 16
such as unmanned aircraft systems, consistent with 17
the requirements established in the FEMA Account-18
ability, Modernization and Transparency Act of 19
2017 (42 U.S.C. 5121 note), to expedite the admin-20
istration of preliminary damage assessments. 21
‘‘(c) C OMPREHENSIVE REPORT.—The Administrator 22
shall submit 1 comprehensive report that comprises the 23 plans developed under subsections (a)(1) and (a)(2) and 24 a report of the findings of the working group convened 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Aug 02, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00102 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4669.IH H4669ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 103
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under subsection (b), which may include recommenda-1
tions, to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastruc-2 ture of the House of Representatives and the Committee 3 on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 4
Senate. 5
‘‘(d) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The comprehensive re-6
port required under subsection (c) shall be made available 7 to the public and posted on the website of the Federal 8 Emergency Management Agency— 9
‘‘(1) in precompressed, easily downloadable 10
versions that are made available in all appropriate 11
formats; and 12
‘‘(2) in machine-readable format, if applicable. 13
‘‘(e) S OURCES OF INFORMATION.—In preparing the 14
comprehensive report under subsection (c), the Adminis-15 trator may use any publication, database, or web-based 16 resource, and any information compiled by any govern-17 ment agency, nongovernmental organization, or other enti-18 ty that is made available. 19
‘‘(f) BRIEFING.—Not later than 180 days after sub-20
mission of the comprehensive report, the Administrator 21 and a member of the Council of the Inspectors General 22 on Integrity and Efficiency shall brief, upon request, the 23 Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the 24 House of Representatives and the Committee on Home-25
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land Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate on 1 the findings and any recommendations made in the com-2
prehensive report. 3
‘‘(g) I MPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 180 days 4
after the submission of the comprehensive report under 5 subsection (c), the Administrator shall implement any rec-6 ommendations contained in such report.’’. 7
(b) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—The item relating to 8
section 1223 in the table of contents of the FAA Reau-9 thorization Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–254) is amended 10 to read as follows: 11
‘‘Sec. 1223. Study to streamline and consolidate information collection and pre- liminary damage assessments.’’.

SEC. 110. REASONABLE INCIDENT PERIODS. 12
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the 13
date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the 14 Federal Emergency Management Agency shall convene an 15 advisory panel consisting of emergency management per-16 sonnel to assist the Agency in reviewing the process and 17 procedures related to the determination of incident periods 18 for all hazards for emergencies or major disasters declared 19 under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-20 gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.). 21
(b) MEMBERSHIP.— 22
(1) IN GENERAL .—The advisory panel convened 23
under subsection (a) shall consist of at least 2 rep-24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Aug 02, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00104 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4669.IH H4669ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 105
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resentatives from national emergency management 1
organizations, at least 2 relevant county officials, at 2 least 1 representative from the National Weather 3
Service, and at least 5 representatives from each of 4
the 10 regions of the Federal Emergency Manage-5
ment Agency selected from emergency management 6
personnel employed by State, local, territorial, or 7
Tribal authorities within each region. 8
(2) INCLUSION ON PANEL .—To the furthest ex-9
tent practicable, representation on the advisory 10
panel shall include emergency management per-11
sonnel from rural, urban, underrepresented, Tribal, 12
and insular jurisdictions and representatives of State 13 or local governments with responsibility for the fi-14
nancial or budgetary impact of disasters. 15
(c) CONSIDERATIONS.—In reviewing the process and 16
procedures related to the determination of incident periods 17 under subsection (a), the advisory panel convened under 18 such subsection shall consider the effectiveness of incident 19 periods, including— 20
(1) incident periods for slow onset disasters; 21
(2) incident periods for correlated noncontig-22
uous disasters; 23
(3) incident periods for compound disasters; 24
and 25
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(4) incident periods for cascading disasters. 1
(d) I NTERIM REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after 2
the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall 3 submit to Congress, and make publicly available, a report 4 regarding the findings of the review under this section 5 that includes any recommendations of the advisory panel 6 convened under subsection (a), including additional legis-7 lation that may be necessary to address such findings. 8 (e) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the 9
date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall sub-10 mit to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastruc-11 ture of the House of Representatives and the Committee 12 on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 13 Senate a report discussing— 14
(1) a summary of the findings of the advisory 15
panel convened under subsection (a); 16
(2) the implementation of recommendations 17
from such advisory panel; and 18
(3) any additional legislative recommendations 19
necessary to improve the effectiveness of incident pe-20 riods. 21
(f) R ULEMAKING.—Immediately following a 30-day 22
congressional review period of the report described in sub-23 section (e), the Administrator shall begin a rulemaking to 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Aug 02, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00106 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4669.IH H4669ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 107
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issue such regulations as are necessary to implement the 1 recommendations of the advisory panel. 2
SEC. 111. FIRE MANAGEMENT ASSISTANCE PROGRAM POL-3
ICY. 4
Section 420(a) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re-5
lief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5187(a)) 6 is amended— 7
(1) by striking the period at the end and insert-8
ing ‘‘; and’’; 9
(2) by striking ‘‘local government for the miti-10
gation’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘local govern-11 ment for— 12
‘‘(1) the mitigation’’; and 13
(3) by adding at the end the following: 14
‘‘(2) assessments and emergency stabilization to 15
protect public safety irrespective of the incident pe-16 riod for a declared fire.’’. 17
SEC. 112. INDIAN TRIBAL GOVERNMENT ELIGIBILITY. 18
(a) I N GENERAL.—Section 420 of the Robert T. 19
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 20 (42 U.S.C. 5187) is amended— 21
(1) in subsection (a), by inserting ‘‘, Indian 22
tribal government,’’ before ‘‘or local government’’; 23 (2) by redesignating subsections (b) through (e) 24
as subsections (c) through (f), respectively; 25
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(3) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol-1
lowing: 2
‘‘(b) P ROCEDURE FOR REQUEST.—The Governor of 3
a State or the Chief Executive of an Indian tribal govern-4 ment affected by a fire described in subsection (a) may 5 directly submit a request to authorize assistance under 6 this section.’’; and 7
(4) by adding at the end the following: 8
‘‘(g) S AVINGS PROVISION.—Nothing in this section 9
shall prohibit an Indian tribal government from receiving 10 assistance under this section pursuant to an authorization 11 made at the request of a State under subsection (b) if 12 assistance is not authorized under this section for the 13 same incident based on a request by the Indian tribal gov-14 ernment under subsection (b).’’. 15
(b) REGULATIONS.— 16
(1) U PDATE.—Not later than 1 year after the 17
date of enactment of this Act, the President shall 18
issue regulations updating part 204 of title 44, Code 19 of Federal Regulations, to carry out the amend-20
ments made by subsection (a). 21
(2) C ONTENTS.—In issuing the regulations re-22
quired under paragraph (1), the President shall— 23
(A) authorize the Federal Emergency Man-24
agement Agency to directly receive a request for 25
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a fire management assistance declaration from 1
an Indian Tribal Government and directly pro-2
vide related grants and resources to Indian 3
Tribal Governments; 4
(B) clarify that Indian Tribal Governments 5
for which the President does not grant a re-6
quest described in subparagraph (A) remain eli-7
gible to receive assistance under section 420 of 8
the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 9
Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5187) 10
through assistance granted under a fire man-11
agement assistance declaration made at the re-12
quest of a State; 13
(C) consider the unique conditions that af-14
fect the general welfare of Indian Tribal gov-15
ernments; and 16
(D) enter into government-to-government 17
consultation with Indian Tribal Governments 18
regarding the regulations. 19
(3) F IRE MANAGEMENT ASSISTANCE DECLARA -20
TION DEFINED .—In this subsection, the term ‘‘fire 21
management assistance declaration’’ means a dec-22
laration approved under section 204.21(a) of title 23
44, Code of Federal Regulations. 24
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SEC. 113. STRENGTHENING CLOSEOUTS FOR CRITICAL 1
SERVICES. 2
Section 705 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 3 and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5205) is 4
amended— 5
(1) by inserting ‘‘or owner or operator of a pri-6
vate nonprofit facility’’ after ‘‘State or local govern-7 ment’’ each place it appears; 8
(2) by inserting ‘‘or owner or operator of a pri-9
vate nonprofit facility’’ after ‘‘Federal, State, or 10 local government’’ each place it appears; and 11
(3) by inserting ‘‘or owners or operators of pri-12
vate nonprofit facilities’’ after ‘‘State, local, or In-13 dian tribal governments’’. 14
SEC. 114. SHELTERING OF EMERGENCY RESPONSE PER-15
SONNEL. 16
Section 403 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 17 and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170b) is 18
amended by adding at the end the following: 19
‘‘(e) S HELTERING OF EMERGENCY RESPONSE PER-20
SONNEL.— 21
‘‘(1) I N GENERAL .—For any major disaster for 22
which the President has authorized emergency pro-23
tective measures for an area within the jurisdiction 24 of a State, Indian tribal, or local government, the 25
Administrator may reimburse the State, Indian trib-26
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al, or local government for costs relating to shel-1
tering emergency response personnel, including indi-2
viduals that are a part of the same predisaster 3
household as such personnel, in exclusive-use con-4
gregate or noncongregate settings if the Governor of 5
the State or chief executive of the Indian tribal or 6
local government determines that the damage or dis-7
ruption to such area is of such a magnitude as to 8
disrupt the provision of emergency protective meas-9
ures within such area. 10
‘‘(2) LIMITATION OF ASSISTANCE .— 11
‘‘(A) I N GENERAL .—The Administrator 12
may only reimburse a State, Indian tribal, or 13
local government for the costs of sheltering 14
emergency response personnel under paragraph 15
(1) for such a period of time as the Adminis-16
trator determines reasonable based in the indi-17
vidual characteristics of and impacts to the af-18
fected area, including the extent of damage, the 19
availability of alternative housing options, the 20
availability of utilities, and disruptions to trans-21
portation infrastructure. 22
‘‘(B) MAXIMUM DURATION OF REIMBURSE -23
MENT.—The period of reimbursement under 24
subparagraph (A) may not exceed the 6-month 25
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period beginning on the date on which the inci-1
dent period ends. 2
‘‘(3) D EFINITION OF EMERGENCY RESPONSE 3
PERSONNEL.—In this subsection, the term ‘emer-4
gency response personnel’ means— 5
‘‘(A) employees or contracted employees 6
providing law enforcement, fire suppression, 7
rescue, emergency medical, emergency manage-8
ment, or emergency communications services; 9
and 10
‘‘(B) elected officials, except Members of 11
Congress, responsible for the overseeing or di-12
recting emergency response operations or recov-13
ery activities.’’. 14
SEC. 115. EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE MEASURES TO FIGHT 15
FLOODING DAMAGE. 16
Section 403 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 17 and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170b) is fur-18 ther amended by adding at the end the following: 19
‘‘(f) F URTHER EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE MEAS-20
URES.— 21
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL .—In cases in which an owner 22
or operator of a stormwater pumping station en-23
gages in flood fighting activities during emergency 24
protective measures or emergency work authorized 25
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by this section, the President shall reimburse such 1
owner or operator in accordance with applicable 2
equipment rates regardless of whether or not such 3
pumping stations contain temporary or permanently 4
mounted or affixed equipment. 5
‘‘(2) F LOOD FIGHTING ACTIVITIES DEFINED .— 6
In this subsection, the term ‘flood fighting activities’ 7 includes dewatering behind a levee by breaching or 8
pumping.’’. 9
SEC. 116. FAIRNESS AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN APPEALS. 10
Section 423 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 11 and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5189a) is 12
amended by adding at the end the following: 13
‘‘(e) A TTORNEY’S FEES.—In cases in which the 14
Board decides in favor of the applicant or otherwise con-15 cludes there is an error on the part of the Administrator 16 in denial of assistance, the Administrator shall reimburse 17 the applicant for attorney’s fees.’’. 18
SEC. 117. EXPEDITED FUNDING FOR EMERGENCY WORK. 19
Section 403 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 20 and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170b) is 21
amending by adding at the end the following: 22
‘‘(e) D ISBURSEMENT.—Reimbursements provided 23
under this section shall be disbursed to the applicant not 24 later than 120 days after the applicant submits a request 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Aug 02, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00113 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4669.IH H4669ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 114
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for reimbursement if the President determines at least 90 1 percent of estimated costs are eligible for such reimburse-2 ment.’’. 3
SEC. 118. CONSISTENCY IN PROCUREMENT PRACTICES. 4
For the purposes of applying the procurement stand-5
ards under part 200 of title 2, Code of Federal Regula-6 tions to assistance provided under the Robert T. Stafford 7 Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 8 5121 et seq.), local governments shall be treated as a 9 State or Tribal government under section 200.317 of title 10 2, Code of Federal Regulations. 11
TITLE II—INDIVIDUAL 12
ASSISTANCE REFORMS 13
SEC. 201. INFORMATION SHARING FOR FEDERAL AGEN-14
CIES. 15
(a) E STABLISHMENT OF UNIFIED DISASTER APPLI-16
CATION SYSTEM.— 17
(1) I N GENERAL .—The Administrator of the 18
Federal Emergency Management Agency shall estab-19
lish and maintain a web-based interagency electronic 20 information sharing system, to be known as the 21
‘‘unified disaster application system’’, to— 22
(A) facilitate the administration of the uni-23
versal application for direct Federal disaster as-24
sistance established under section 202; 25
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(B) carry out the purposes of disaster as-1
sistance programs swiftly, efficiently, and in ac-2
cordance with applicable laws, regulations, and 3
the privacy and data protections provided under 4
this section; and 5
(C) support the detection, prevention, and 6
investigation of waste, fraud, abuse, or discrimi-7
nation in the administration of disaster assist-8
ance programs. 9
(2) A UTHORITIES OF ADMINISTRATOR .—In es-10
tablishing and maintaining the unified disaster ap-11
plication system under this subsection, the Adminis-12
trator may collect and maintain disaster assistance 13
information received from a disaster assistance 14
agency, a block grant recipient, or an applicant for 15 a disaster assistance program and share such infor-16
mation with any other disaster assistance agency or 17
block grant recipient using such system. 18
(3) R EQUIREMENTS.—The Administrator shall 19
ensure that the unified disaster application system 20
established and maintained under this subsection— 21
(A) allows an applicant to receive status 22
updates on an application for disaster assist-23
ance programs submitted though such system; 24
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(B) allows for applicants to update disaster 1
assistance information throughout the recovery 2
journeys of such applicants in accordance with 3
established application timeframes; 4
(C) allows for the distribution to applicants 5
of information about additional recovery re-6
sources that may be available in a disaster 7
stricken area; 8
(D) provides an applicant with information 9
and documentation relating to an application 10
for a disaster assistance program submitted by 11
such applicant; and 12
(E) contains any other capabilities deter-13
mined necessary by the head of a disaster as-14
sistance agency. 15
(b) DATA SECURITY.—The Administrator may facili-16
tate the collection of disaster assistance information into 17 the unified disaster application system established under 18 subsection (a) only after the following requirements have 19 been met: 20
(1) The Administrator certifies that the unified 21
disaster application system substantially complies 22
with the data security standards and best practices 23
established pursuant to subchapter II of chapter 35 24
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of title 44, United States Code, and any other appli-1
cable Federal information security policy. 2
(2) The Administrator publishes a privacy im-3
pact assessment for the unified disaster application 4
system, in accordance with section 208(b)(1)(B) of 5
the E-Government Act of 2002 (44 U.S.C. 3501 6
note). 7
(3) The Administrator, after consulting with 8
disaster assistance agencies, publishes standard 9
rules of behavior for disaster assistance agencies, 10
block grant recipients, and personnel granted access 11 to disaster assistance information to protect such in-12 formation from improper disclosure. 13
(c) C OLLECTION AND SHARING OF ADDITIONAL 14
RECORDS AND INFORMATION.— 15
(1) I N GENERAL .—The Administrator may au-16
thorize the additional collection, maintenance, shar-17 ing, and use of disaster assistance information by 18
publishing a notice on the unified disaster applica-19
tion system established under subsection (a) that in-20 cludes a detailed description of— 21
(A) the specific amendments to the collec-22
tion, maintenance, and sharing of disaster as-23
sistance information authorized; 24
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(B) why each such amendment to how dis-1
aster assistance information is collected, main-2
tained, or shared is necessary to carry out the 3
purposes of a disaster assistance program and 4
consistent with the fair information practice 5
principles; and 6
(C) the disaster assistance agencies and 7
block grant recipients that will be granted ac-8
cess to the additional information to carry out 9
the purposes of any disaster assistance pro-10
gram. 11
(2) N OTICE AND PUBLICATION REQUIRE -12
MENTS.—The publication of a notice under para-13
graph (1) of a revision to the unified disaster appli-14 cation system of records prior to any new collection, 15 or uses, of Privacy Act categories of records, to 16
carry out the purposes of a disaster assistance pro-17
gram with regard to a disaster declared by the 18
President under section 401 or 501 of the Robert T. 19
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 20
Act (42 U.S.C. 5170; 5191), shall be deemed to sat-21
isfy the notice and publication requirements of sec-22
tion 552a(e)(4) of title 5, United States Code, for 23
the entire period of performance for any assistance 24
provided under a disaster assistance program. 25
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(3) W AIVER OF INFORMATION COLLECTION RE -1
QUIREMENTS.— 2
(A) IN GENERAL .—Upon the declaration of 3
a major disaster or emergency pursuant to sec-4
tions 401 or 501 of the Robert T. Stafford Dis-5
aster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 6
U.S.C. 5170; 5191) by the President, the Ad-7
ministrator may waive the requirements of sub-8
chapter I of chapter 35 of title 44, United 9
States Code, with respect to voluntary collection 10
of information for the entire period of perform-11
ance for any assistance provided under a dis-12
aster assistance program. 13
(B) T RANSPARENCY.—Upon exercising the 14
waiver authority under subparagraph (A), the 15
Administrator shall— 16
(i) promptly post on a website of the 17
Federal Emergency Management Agency a 18
brief justification for such waiver, the an-19
ticipated period of time such waiver will be 20
in effect, and the disaster assistance offices 21
within the Federal Emergency Manage-22
ment Agency to which such waiver shall 23
apply; and 24
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(ii) update the information relating to 1
such waiver, as applicable. 2
(4) GAO REVIEW OF WAIVER OF INFORMATION 3
COLLECTION REQUIREMENTS .— 4
(A) I N GENERAL .—Not later than 1 year 5
after the date of enactment of this Act, the 6
Comptroller General of the United States shall 7
issue a report describing the benefits and poten-8
tial risks associated with authorizing the waiver 9
of the information collection requirements de-10
scribed in paragraph (3). 11
(B) C ONTENTS.—The report required 12
under subparagraph (A) shall include an assess-13
ment of the extent to which a waiver described 14
in paragraph (3) would— 15
(i) affect the paperwork burden for in-16
dividuals, small businesses, State, local, 17
and Tribal governments, and other per-18
sons; 19
(ii) affect the consistent application of 20
Federal laws relating to— 21
(I) privacy and confidentiality; 22
(II) security of information; and 23
(III) access to information; and 24
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(iii) encourage or deter a State or 1
other entity from participating in the vol-2
untary collection of information for the du-3
ration of a major disaster or emergency. 4
(d) USE BY OTHER FEDERAL AGENCIES.— 5
(1) IN GENERAL .—The Administrator may per-6
mit a Federal agency other than a disaster assist-7
ance agency listed in subparagraphs (A) through 8
(D) of subsection (f)(3) to use the unified disaster 9
application system established under subsection (a) 10
for the purpose of facilitating disaster-related assist-11 ance if such agency enters into an agreement con-12
taining the terms described in paragraph (2). 13
(2) A GENCY AGREEMENT .—An agreement en-14
tered into under paragraph (1) shall contain the fol-15 lowing terms: 16
(A) The Federal agency shall— 17
(i) collect, share, maintain, and use 18
disaster assistance information in compli-19
ance with this section and any policies of 20
the Federal Emergency Management 21
Agency and any information protection and 22
use policies of such Federal agency; and 23
(ii) train any personnel granted access 24
to disaster assistance information on the 25
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rules of behavior established by the Admin-1
istrator under subsection (b)(3). 2
(B) In the event of any unauthorized dis-3
closure of disaster assistance information, the 4
Federal agency shall— 5
(i) notify the Administrator within 24 6
hours of discovering any such unauthorized 7
disclosure; 8
(ii) cooperate fully with the Adminis-9
trator in the investigation and remediation 10
of any such disclosure; 11
(iii) cooperate fully in the prosecution 12
of a person responsible for such disclosure; 13
and 14
(iv) assume the responsibility for any 15
compensation, civil liability, or other reme-16
diation measures, whether awarded by a 17
judgment of a court or agreed as a com-18
promise of any potential claims by or on 19
behalf of an applicant, including by obtain-20
ing credit monitoring and remediation 21
services, for an improper disclosure that 22
is— 23
(I) caused, directly or indirectly, 24
by the acts or omissions of officers, 25
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employees, and contractors of the 1
agency; or 2
(II) from any electronic system 3
of records that is created or main-4
tained by the agency pursuant to sec-5
tion 552a(e) of title 5, United States 6
Code. 7
(3) P UBLICATION OF AGENCY AGREEMENT .— 8
The Administrator shall publish an agency agree-9
ment entered into under this subsection on the same 10
website as the unified disaster application system es-11 tablished under subsection (a). 12
(e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—The sharing and use 13
of disaster assistance information that is subject to the 14 requirements of section 552a of title 5, United States 15 Code, by disaster assistance agencies and block grant re-16 cipients— 17
(1) shall not be— 18
(A) construed as a matching program for 19
purposes of section 552a(a)(8) of such title; or 20
(B) subject to the remaining computer 21
matching provisions of section 552a of such 22
title; and 23
(2) shall be in addition to any other law pro-24
viding for the sharing or use of such information. 25
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(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 1
(1) A PPLICANT.—The term ‘‘applicant’’ 2
means— 3
(A) a person who applies for disaster as-4
sistance from a disaster assistance program; 5
and 6
(B) a person on whose behalf a person de-7
scribed in subparagraph (A) has applied for dis-8
aster assistance. 9
(2) B LOCK GRANT RECIPIENT .—The term 10
‘‘block grant recipient’’ means a State, local govern-11 ment, or Tribal government that receives assistance 12
through the disaster assistance program described in 13 paragraph (5)(B)(i). 14
(3) D ISASTER ASSISTANCE AGENCY .—The term 15
‘‘disaster assistance agency’’ means— 16
(A) the Federal Emergency Management 17
Agency; 18
(B) the Department of Housing and 19
Urban Development; 20
(C) the Small Business Administration; 21
(D) the Department of Agriculture; and 22
(E) any other Federal agency that the Ad-23
ministrator permits to use the unified disaster 24
application system under subsection (d). 25
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(4) DISASTER ASSISTANCE INFORMATION .—The 1
term ‘‘disaster assistance information’’ includes any 2 personal, demographic, biographical, geographical, 3
financial information, or other information that a 4
disaster assistance agency or block grant recipient is 5 authorized to collect, maintain, share, or use to proc-6 ess an application for disaster assistance or other-7
wise carry out a disaster assistance program. 8
(5) D ISASTER ASSISTANCE PROGRAM .—The 9
term ‘‘disaster assistance program’’ means— 10
(A) any program that provides assistance 11
to individuals and households under title IV or 12
title V of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 13
and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170 14
et seq.); or 15
(B) any other assistance program carried 16
out by a disaster assistance agency that pro-17
vides assistance to an individual, household, or 18
organization related to a major disaster or 19
emergency declared under section 401 or 501 of 20
such Act, including— 21
(i) assistance for activities related to 22
disaster relief, long-term recovery, restora-23
tion of infrastructure and housing, eco-24
nomic revitalization, and mitigation that 25
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are authorized under title I of the Housing 1
and Community Development Act of 1974 2
(42 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.); 3
(ii) any loan that is authorized under 4
section 7(b) of the Small Business Act (15 5
U.S.C. 636(b)); and 6
(iii) the distribution of food benefit al-7
lotments as authorized under section 412 8
of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 9
and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 10
5179) and section 5(h) of the Food Stamp 11
Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 2014(h)). 12
SEC. 202. UNIVERSAL APPLICATION FOR INDIVIDUAL AS-13
SISTANCE. 14
(a) U NIVERSAL APPLICATION.—The Administrator 15
of the Federal Emergency Management Agency shall de-16
velop and establish a universal application for direct Fed-17 eral disaster assistance for individuals in areas impacted 18 by emergencies or disasters. 19
(b) CONSULTATION AND SUPPORT.— 20
(1) C ONSULTATION.—In carrying out this sec-21
tion, the Administrator shall consult with the fol-22
lowing: 23
(A) The Director of the Office of Manage-24
ment and Budget. 25
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(B) The Administrator of the Small Busi-1
ness Administration. 2
(C) The Secretary of Housing and Urban 3
Development. 4
(D) The Secretary of Agriculture. 5
(2) S UPPORT.—The entities described in para-6
graph (1) shall provide prompt support to the Ad-7
ministrator of the Federal Emergency Management 8
Agency. 9
(c) SURVEY.—The application established under sub-10
section (a) shall include a voluntary survey to collect the 11 demographic data of an applicant. 12
SEC. 203. CLARIFYING DUPLICATION OF BENEFITS. 13
(a) AUTHORITY.—Paragraph (4) of section 312(b) of 14
the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency As-15 sistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5155(b)(4)), as in effect on the 16 day after the date of enactment of the FAA Reauthoriza-17 tion Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–254)— 18
(1) is restored and revived; and 19
(2) is amended by adding at the end the fol-20
lowing: 21
‘‘(D) P ROHIBITION ON INCOME THRESH -22
OLD.—In carrying out this paragraph, no in-23
come threshold may be applied to limit the eli-24
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gibility of a recipient from qualifying for a 1
waiver under this paragraph. 2
‘‘(E) A PPLICABILITY.—This paragraph 3
shall apply to any major disaster or emergency 4
declared by the President under section 401 or 5
501, respectively, on or after January 1, 6
2016.’’. 7
(b) S TATUTORY CONSTRUCTION.—Section 312(b)(4) 8
of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 9 Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5155(b)(4)), as restored and 10 revived by subsection (a), shall not be construed to apply 11 to section 406, 408, or 409 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 5172, 12 5174). 13
(c) F URTHER AMENDMENT.—Section 312(a) of the 14
Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist-15 ance Act (42 U.S.C. 5155(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘or 16 any other source’’. 17
SEC. 204. CRISIS COUNSELING AND ADDICTION IN DISAS-18
TERS. 19
(a) C RISIS COUNSELING ASSISTANCE AND TRAIN-20
ING.—Section 416 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re-21 lief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5183) is 22 amended— 23
(1) in subsection (a)— 24
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(A) by inserting ‘‘, substance use, or alco-1
hol use’’ after ‘‘private mental health’’; and 2
(B) by inserting ‘‘, substance use, and al-3
cohol use’’ after ‘‘relieve mental health’’; and 4
(2) in subsection (b) by inserting ‘‘, substance 5
use, or alcohol use’’ before ‘‘organization providing’’. 6 (b) R EPORT ON CHANGES TO APPLICATION.—Not 7
later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this 8 Act, the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Manage-9 ment Agency, in consultation with the Assistant Secretary 10 for Mental Health and Substance Use, the Director for 11 the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, and State al-12 cohol and drug agencies, shall review, adjust, and report 13 to Congress any changes made to the application for as-14 sistance under section 416 of the Robert T. Stafford Dis-15 aster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 16 5183) and to any other relevant guidance documents to 17 reflect the amendments made by this section. 18
(c) GAO R EPORT TO CONGRESS.—The Comptroller 19
General of the United States shall conduct a review of the 20 assistance provided under the crisis counseling assistance 21 and training program established pursuant to section 416 22 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 23 Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5183) and submit to Congress 24 a report describing— 25
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(1) the duration of assistance provided to indi-1
viduals under such program; and 2
(2) the compliance of the Administrator of the 3
Federal Emergency Management Agency with the 4
requirement that such assistance may only be used 5
for mental health, substance use, and alcohol use 6
problems caused or aggravated by a major disaster 7
or its aftermath. 8
(d) MANAGEMENT COSTS.—Section 324(b)(2) of the 9
Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist-10 ance Act (42 U.S.C. 5165b(b)(2)) is further amended by 11 adding at the end the following: 12
‘‘(C) I NDIVIDUAL ASSISTANCE .—A grantee 13
under section 408(f) may be reimbursed not 14
more than 12 percent of the total award 15
amount under each such section. 16
‘‘(D) C RISIS COUNSELING ASSISTANCE , 17
TRAINING, AND CASE MANAGEMENT SERV -18
ICES.—A grantee and subgrantee, cumulatively, 19
may be reimbursed not more than 15 percent of 20
the total amount of the grant award under ei-21
ther section 416 or 426.’’. 22
(e) A DMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—Section 408(f)(1) of 23
the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency As-24 sistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5174), is amended— 25
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(1) by striking ‘‘(A) G RANT TO STATE .—’’ and 1
all that follows through ‘‘subsection (g),’’ and insert-2 ing ‘‘Subject to subsection (g)’’; and 3
(2) by striking subparagraph (B). 4
SEC. 205. REPAIR AND REBUILDING. 5
(a) I N GENERAL.—Section 408(b)(1) of the Robert 6
T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 7 (42 U.S.C. 5174(b)(1)) is amended— 8
(1) by striking ‘‘rendered uninhabitable’’ and 9
inserting ‘‘damaged by a major disaster’’; and 10
(2) by striking ‘‘uninhabitable, as a result of 11
damage caused by a major disaster’’ and inserting 12
‘‘damaged by a major disaster’’. 13
(b) H AZARD MITIGATION.—Section 408 of the Rob-14
ert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 15 Act (42 U.S.C. 5174) is amended— 16
(1) in subsection (c) by adding at the end the 17
following: 18
‘‘(5) HAZARD MITIGATION .— 19
‘‘(A) I N GENERAL .—The President may 20
provide financial assistance to individuals and 21
households whose primary residence, utilities, or 22
residential infrastructure are damaged by a 23
major disaster, for cost-effective hazard mitiga-24
tion measures that reduce threats to life and 25
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property, or future damage to such residence, 1
utilities, or infrastructure in future disasters. 2
‘‘(B) R ELATIONSHIP TO OTHER ASSIST -3
ANCE.—A recipient of assistance provided 4
under this paragraph shall not be required to 5
show that the assistance can be met through 6
other means, except insurance proceeds.’’; and 7
(2) in subsection (h)— 8
(A) in paragraph (1) by inserting ‘‘, finan-9
cial assistance for hazard mitigation under sub-10
section (c)(5)(A),’’ after ‘‘subsection 11
(c)(1)(A)(i)’’; 12
(B) in paragraph (3) by striking ‘‘para-13
graphs (1) and (2)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraphs 14
(1), (2), and (3)’’; and 15
(C) by adding at the end the following: 16
‘‘(5) H AZARD MITIGATION .—The maximum fi-17
nancial assistance any individual or household may 18
receive under subsection (c)(5) shall be equivalent to 19 the amount set forth in paragraph (1) with respect 20
to a single major disaster.’’. 21
SEC. 206. FEMA EMERGENCY HOME REPAIR PROGRAM. 22
(a) I N GENERAL.—Section 403(a) of the Robert T. 23
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 24 (42 U.S.C. 5170b(a)) is amended— 25
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(1) in paragraph (3)— 1
(A) in subparagraph (I) by striking ‘‘and’’ 2
at the end; 3
(B) in subparagraph (J) by striking the 4
period and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 5
(C) by adding at the end the following: 6
‘‘(K) minor repairs up to habitability of 7
owner-occupied homes damaged by the disaster 8
in order for survivors to safely shelter in place, 9
subject to the availability of appropriations.’’; 10
and 11
(2) by adding at the end the following: 12
‘‘(5) S HELTERING AND HOUSING OPTIONS .— 13
Not later than 15 days after a declaration of a 14
major disaster, the Federal coordinating officer shall 15 identify all sheltering and housing options available 16 under this section or section 408 to a State Gov-17
ernor, or the designated State coordinating officer. 18 ‘‘(6) D EFINITION OF MINOR REPAIRS UP TO 19
HABITABILITY.—In this subsection, the term ‘minor 20
repairs up to habitability’ means the minimum 21
standards for permanent housing described in sec-22
tion 576.403(c) of title 24, Code of Federal Regula-23
tions (or successor regulations).’’. 24
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(b) R ULEMAKING.—Not later than 2 years after the 1
date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the 2 Federal Emergency Management Agency shall issue final 3 regulations to implement the amendments made by this 4
section. 5
SEC. 207. DIRECT ASSISTANCE. 6
(a) I N GENERAL.—Section 408(c) of the Robert T. 7
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 8 (42 U.S.C. 5174(c)) is further amended by striking para-9 graph (2) and inserting the following: 10
‘‘(2) REPAIRS.— 11
‘‘(A) F INANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR RE -12
PAIRS.—The President may provide financial 13
assistance for the repair of owner-occupied pri-14
vate residences, utilities, and residential infra-15
structure (such as a private access route) dam-16
aged by a major disaster, or with respect to in-17
dividuals with disabilities, rendered inaccessible 18
by a major disaster. 19
‘‘(B) DIRECT ASSISTANCE FOR REPAIRS .— 20
‘‘(i) I N GENERAL .—The President 21
may provide direct assistance to individuals 22
and households who are unable to make 23
use of financial assistance under subpara-24
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graph (A) and when there is a lack of 1
available resources, for— 2
‘‘(I) the repair of owner-occupied 3
private residences, utilities, and resi-4
dential infrastructure (such as a pri-5
vate access route) damaged by a 6
major disaster, or with respect to indi-7
viduals with disabilities, rendered in-8
accessible by a disaster; and 9
‘‘(II) eligible hazard mitigation 10
measures that reduce the likelihood 11
and future damage to such residences, 12
utilities, and infrastructure. 13
‘‘(ii) E LIGIBILITY.—A recipient of as-14
sistance under this subparagraph shall not 15
be eligible for assistance under paragraph 16
(1), unless otherwise determined by the 17
Administrator. 18
‘‘(C) R ELATIONSHIP TO OTHER ASSIST -19
ANCE.—A recipient of assistance provided 20
under this paragraph shall not be required to 21
show that the assistance can be met through 22
other means, except insurance proceeds.’’. 23
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(b) S TATE ROLE.—Section 408(f) of the Robert T. 1
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 2 (42 U.S.C. 5174(f)) is further amended— 3
(1) by striking ‘‘subsections (c)(1)(B), (c)(4), 4
and (e)’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘para-5
graphs (1)(B), (2)(B), and (4) of subsection (c) and 6
subsection (e)’’; and 7
(2) in paragraph (3)(A) by striking ‘‘subsection 8
(c)(1)(B), (c)(4), or (e)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph 9 (1)(B), (2)(B), or (4) of subsection (c) or subsection 10 (e)’’. 11
SEC. 208. ACCURATE INFORMATION TO DISASTER VICTIMS. 12
The Administrator of the Federal Emergency Man-13
agement Agency shall issue such regulations as are nec-14 essary to ensure that an applicant for assistance under 15 section 408 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 16 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5174) that has indi-17 cated ownership of an insurance policy for a home or facil-18 ity damaged by a major disaster declared under section 19 401 of such Act that is owned by such applicant does not 20 receive a notice that indicates a denial of assistance before 21 a final determination has been made regarding the ap-22 proval or denial of a claim under such policy. 23
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SEC. 209. IMPROVED NOTICES FOR FEMA ASSISTANCE. 1
(a) P ERIOD OF ASSISTANCE.—Clauses (iii) and (iv) 2
of section 408(c)(1)(B) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 3 Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 4
5174(c)(1)(B)) are amended by striking ‘‘18-month pe-5
riod’’ and inserting ‘‘24-month period’’. 6
(b) A PPEALS.—The Administrator of the Federal 7
Emergency Management Agency shall revise section 8
206.115 of title 44, Code of Federal Regulations, to re-9 quire the Federal Emergency Management Agency to pro-10 vide to any applicant who appeals a determination of eligi-11 bility of assistance— 12
(1) any documentation used to make such de-13
termination, including any inspection documents 14
that exist; 15
(2) a description of— 16
(A) the reasons for such determination; 17
and 18
(B) recommended steps that could be 19
taken to remedy a determination of ineligibility, 20
including, as applicable, a list of additional doc-21
umentation that the applicant may provide; and 22
(3) any inspection documents that exist not 23
later than 10 days after the completion of the in-24
spection. 25
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(c) A PPLICABILITY.—This section and the amend-1
ment made by this section shall apply to funds appro-2
priated on or after the date of enactment of this Act. 3 SEC. 210. COMMON SENSE DISPLACEMENT ASSISTANCE 4
FOR DISASTER VICTIMS. 5
Section 408 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 6 and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5174) is 7
amended by adding at the end the following: 8
‘‘(k) DUPLICATION OF BENEFITS.— 9
‘‘(1) I N GENERAL .—In determining eligibility 10
for displacement assistance under this section, the 11
President may not consider insurance a duplication 12
of benefits for the purpose of applying section 312 13
of this Act. 14
‘‘(2) D ISPLACEMENT ASSISTANCE DEFINED .— 15
In this section, the term ‘displacement assistance’ 16
means assistance provided under this section for 17
food, water, first aid, personal hygiene items, baby 18 formula, breast-feeding supplies, fuel for transpor-19
tation, emergency supplies and to stay in a hotel or 20 motel, stay with family and friends, or for any other 21 available housing options.’’. 22
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SEC. 211. STATE-MANAGED HOUSING AUTHORITY. 1
(a) I N GENERAL.—Section 408 of the Robert T. 2
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 3 (42 U.S.C. 5174) is amended— 4
(1) in subsection (f)(3)— 5
(A) in subparagraph (A)— 6
(i) by striking ‘‘A State’’ and insert-7
ing the following: 8
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL .—A State’’; and 9
(ii) by adding at the end the fol-10
lowing: 11
‘‘(ii) T RANSPARENCY.—The President 12
shall make public the criteria used to 13
evaluate applications under clause (i) and 14
determine if a State or Indian tribal gov-15
ernment meets the criteria described in 16
subparagraph (B) to administer grants de-17
scribed in paragraph (1)(A).’’; 18
(B) in subparagraph (C)(ii)— 19
(i) in subclause (I) by striking ‘‘; 20
and’’ and inserting a semicolon; 21
(ii) in subclause (II) by striking the 22
period at the end and inserting a semi-23
colon; and 24
(iii) by adding at the end the fol-25
lowing: 26
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‘‘(III) outline the approach of the 1
State to help disaster survivors create 2
a permanent housing plan; and 3
‘‘(IV) outline the approach of the 4
State to provide individual disaster 5
survivors some choice of communities 6
and properties, as practicable.’’; 7
(C) by striking subparagraph (F); 8
(D) by redesignating subparagraphs (G), 9
(H), (I), and (J) as subparagraphs (F), (G), 10
(H), and (I), respectively; and 11
(E) in subparagraph (I), as so redesig-12
nated— 13
(i) in clause (ii) by striking ‘‘Not later 14
than 2 years after the date of enactment 15
of this paragraph, the’’ and inserting 16
‘‘The’’; and 17
(ii) in clause (iii) by striking ‘‘2 18
years’’ and inserting ‘‘10 years’’; and 19
(2) in subsection (g)— 20
(A) in paragraph (1) by striking ‘‘para-21
graph (2)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraphs (2) and 22
(3)’’; and 23
(B) by adding at the end the following: 24
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‘‘(3) DISASTER ASSISTANCE .—In the case of as-1
sistance provided under subsections (c)(1)(B), 2
(c)(2)(B), and (c)(4), the Federal share shall be not 3 less than 75 percent.’’. 4
(b) GAO A SSESSMENT.—Upon the expiration of the 5
authority to carry out section 408(f) of the Robert T. 6 Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 7 (42 U.S.C. 5174(f)) as a pilot program, the Comptroller 8 General of the United States shall issue a report on the 9 effectiveness, successes, and challenges of any pilot pro-10 gram carried out pursuant to such section and make rec-11 ommendations on how to improve the provision of assist-12 ance under such section. 13
SEC. 212. IMPROVED RENTAL ASSISTANCE. 14
Section 408(c)(1)(A)(ii) of the Robert T. Stafford 15
Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 16 5174(c)(1)(A)(ii)) is amended by inserting ‘‘, including 17 local postdisaster rent increases,’’ after ‘‘accommodation 18 provided’’. 19
SEC. 213. ONLINE GUIDES FOR POSTDISASTER ASSIST-20
ANCE. 21
(a) U SE OF SERVICES OF OTHER AGENCIES.—Sec-22
tion 201(a) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 23 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5131(a)) is amend-24 ed— 25
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(1) in paragraph (7) by striking the period at 1
the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 2
(2) by adding at the end the following: 3
‘‘(8) postdisaster assistance.’’. 4
(b) G RANTS FOR ONLINE GUIDES FOR ASSIST-5
ANCE.—Section 201 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 6
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5131) 7
is amended by adding at the end the following: 8
‘‘(e) F UNDING FOR ONLINE GUIDES FOR ASSIST-9
ANCE.— 10
‘‘(1) I N GENERAL .—The Administrator of the 11
Federal Emergency Management Agency may pro-12
vide funding to a State agency established under 13
subsection (c) to establish, update, or operate a 14
website to provide information relating to 15
postdisaster recovery funding and resources to a 16
community or an individual impacted by a major 17
disaster or emergency. 18
‘‘(2) M ANAGEMENT.—A website created under 19
this subsection shall be— 20
‘‘(A) managed by the State agency; and 21
‘‘(B) suitable for the residents of the State 22
of the State agency. 23
‘‘(3) C ONTENT.—The Administrator may pro-24
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to establish a website that contains only 1 or more 1
of the following: 2
‘‘(A) A list of Federal, State, and local 3
sources of postdisaster recovery funding or as-4
sistance that may be available to a community 5
after a major disaster or emergency. 6
‘‘(B) A list of Federal, State, and local 7
sources of postdisaster recovery funding or as-8
sistance that may be available to an individual 9
impacted by a major disaster or emergency. 10
‘‘(C) A technical guide that lists and ex-11
plains the costs and benefits of alternatives 12
available to a community to mitigate the im-13
pacts of a major disaster or emergency and pre-14
pare for sequential hazards such as flooding 15
after a wildfire. 16
‘‘(4) C OOPERATION.—A State agency that re-17
ceives funding under this subsection shall cooperate 18 with the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of 19 Agriculture, the Secretary of Housing and Urban 20
Development, the Administrator of the Small Busi-21
ness Administration, and the Administrator of the 22
Federal Emergency Management Agency in devel-23
oping a website under this subsection. 24
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‘‘(5) U PDATES.—A State agency that receives 1
funding to establish a website under this subsection 2
shall update the website not less than once every 6 3
months.’’. 4
SEC. 214. CLARIFYING SHELTERING ASSISTANCE ELIGI-5
BILITY. 6
(a) S ECTION 403.—Section 403 of the Robert T. 7
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 8 (42 U.S.C. 5170b) is amended by adding at the end the 9 following: 10
‘‘(e) C LARIFICATION OF SHELTERING ASSISTANCE 11
ELIGIBILITY.—The Administrator shall not consider the 12 absence of a fixed, physical address as a disqualifying fac-13 tor for individuals or households applying for non-con-14 gregate sheltering assistance under this section, as long 15 as the individual or household applying for such assistance 16 can demonstrate, through alternative means as determined 17 by the Administrator, that such individual or household 18 was residing within the disaster-affected area at the time 19 of the disaster for which assistance is being applied for 20 through means, including shelter records or an affidavit.’’. 21 (b) S ECTION 408.—Section 408(c)(1) of the Robert 22
T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 23 (42 U.S.C. 5174) is amended by adding at the end the 24 following: 25
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‘‘(C) C LARIFICATION OF SHELTERING AS -1
SISTANCE ELIGIBILITY .—The Administrator 2
shall not consider the absence of a fixed, phys-3
ical address as a disqualifying factor for indi-4
viduals or households applying for assistance 5
under this section, as long as the individual or 6
household applying for such assistance can 7
demonstrate, through alternative means as de-8
termined by the Administrator, that such indi-9
vidual or household was residing within the dis-10
aster-affected area at the time of the disaster 11
for which assistance is being applied for 12
through means, including shelter records or an 13
affidavit.’’. 14
SEC. 215. ACCESS TO LIFESAVING NON-CONGREGATE SHEL-15
TERING. 16
The Administrator of the Federal Emergency Man-17
agement Agency shall ensure individuals and households 18 that qualify for non-congregate sheltering assistance 19 under section 403 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re-20 lief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170b) are 21 not required to provide a credit card or security deposit 22 to access such sheltering assistance. 23
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SEC. 216. ASSISTANCE FOR TOTAL LOSS. 1
Section 408(c)(3) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 2
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 3
5174(c)(3)) is amended— 4
(1) by redesignating subparagraph (B) as sub-5
paragraph (C); and 6
(2) by inserting after subparagraph (A) the fol-7
lowing: 8
‘‘(B) TOTAL LOSS .— 9
‘‘(i) I N GENERAL .—In the case of a 10
total loss of an owner occupied residence, 11
subject to section 312, and notwith-12
standing subsection (h) of such section, if 13
the cost of direct assistance under para-14
graph (1)(B) exceeds the cost of replace-15
ment of such residence, the President may 16
offer financial assistance for replacement 17
of such residence. 18
‘‘(ii) R EPORT TO CONGRESS .—In any 19
case in which the President is authorized 20
under clause (i) to provide financial assist-21
ance for replacement but does not offer 22
such assistance, the President shall provide 23
to Congress a report explaining the ration-24
ale for the decision not to provide such as-25
sistance.’’. 26
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TITLE III—MITIGATION 1
REFORMS 2
SEC. 301. PREAPPROVED PROJECT MITIGATION PLANS. 3
Section 322 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 4 and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5165) is 5
amended by adding at the end the following: 6
‘‘(f) PREAPPROVED PROJECT MITIGATION PLANS.— 7
‘‘(1) I N GENERAL .—To be eligible to carry out 8
projects pursuant to the requirements of this sub-9
section, a State or Indian tribal government shall, in 10 consultation with appropriately licensed professionals 11 (as such term is defined in section 409(b)(5)), de-12
velop and submit to the President a preapproved 13
project mitigation plan. 14
‘‘(2) SUBMISSION REQUIREMENT .—If a State or 15
Indian tribal government does not submit a plan 16
under paragraph (1) not later than 3 years after the 17 date of enactment of the FEMA Act of 2025, the 18
State or Indian tribal government shall not be eligi-19 ble for an increased Federal share under subsection 20
(c)(3) of section 409 for any assistance provided 21
under such section. 22
‘‘(3) C ONTENTS.—A preapproved mitigation 23
plan described in paragraph (1) shall include— 24
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‘‘(A) a list of projects designed to mitigate 1
damage caused by natural disasters that may 2
occur in such State or the jurisdiction of the 3
Indian tribal government, as applicable; 4
‘‘(B) with respect to a State— 5
‘‘(i) not fewer than 1 project for each 6
county or county equivalent in the State; 7
or 8
‘‘(ii) a written description explaining 9
why a county or county equivalent does not 10
have a proposed project under the plan; 11
‘‘(C) a detailed description of each project 12
and the benefits of such project; and 13
‘‘(D) an estimated cost for each project. 14
‘‘(4) ELIGIBLE PROJECTS .—A project is eligible 15
to be included in a preapproved project mitigation 16
plan described in paragraph (1) if such project is eli-17 gible for assistance under section 203, 205, or 404. 18 ‘‘(5) PEER REVIEW OF GRANT APPLICATIONS .— 19
‘‘(A) E STABLISHMENT.—The President 20
shall establish a peer review process for a non-21
partisan panel of at least 30 individuals with 22
expertise related to emergency management, 23
natural hazard mitigation for a wide variety of 24
hazards, including flooding, tornadoes, wildfire, 25
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and earthquakes, or insurance underwriting to 1
conduct peer reviews of— 2
‘‘(i) the projects contained in plans 3
submitted under this subsection; and 4
‘‘(ii) previously denied projects resub-5
mitted for approval and inclusion in a 6
preapproved project mitigation plan. 7
‘‘(B) P EER REVIEW PANEL REQUIRE -8
MENTS.— 9
‘‘(i) T ERM OF SERVICE .—The term of 10
service for a member of the panel shall be 11
1 year. 12
‘‘(ii) L IMITATION ON SERVICE .—An 13
individual may not serve consecutive terms 14
on the panel. 15
‘‘(iii) S OLICITATION.—Qualified indi-16
viduals shall elect to serve on the panel fol-17
lowing a solicitation by the President for 18
prospective panel members. 19
‘‘(C) DUTIES.—In establishing the peer re-20
view process under subparagraph (A), the 21
President shall require that the peer review 22
panel— 23
‘‘(i) determine whether each project 24
listed in a plan submitted by a State or In-25
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dian tribal government under paragraph 1
(1) is cost-effective and designed to reduce 2
injuries, loss of life, and damage and de-3
struction of property, including damage to 4
critical services and facilities under the ju-5
risdiction of the State and or Indian tribal 6
government; and 7
‘‘(ii) recommend to the President ap-8
proval or denial of each such project not 9
later than 3 months after the submission 10
of such plan. 11
‘‘(D) A PPLICABILITY OF CHAPTER 10 OF 12
TITLE 5 , UNITED STATES CODE .—Chapter 10 of 13
title 5, United States Code, shall not apply to 14
activities carried out under this paragraph. 15
‘‘(6) DETERMINATION OF PLAN APPROVAL .— 16
‘‘(A) I NITIAL DETERMINATION .—Not later 17
than 1 month after receiving the recommenda-18
tions under subparagraph (B)(ii), the President 19
shall— 20
‘‘(i) approve or deny each project in 21
the plan submitted by a State or Indian 22
tribal government; 23
‘‘(ii) for any plan that contains a 24
project that is approved, approve 25
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preapproved project mitigation plan as 1
containing only the projects approved 2
under clause (i); and 3
‘‘(iii) for any plan that contains a 4
project that is denied, notify the applicable 5
State or Indian tribal government, includ-6
ing information on the reasons for such a 7
denial and any information necessary for 8
the State or Indian tribal government to 9
update such project for resubmission. 10
‘‘(B) C ONSIDERATIONS FOR APPROVAL .— 11
In approving a project under this subparagraph 12
(A)(i), the President shall consider the fol-13
lowing: 14
‘‘(i) The findings and recommenda-15
tions of the peer reviews carried out under 16
paragraph (3). 17
‘‘(ii) The degree to which the projects 18
contained in the plan reduce deaths, inju-19
ries, and property damage by reducing the 20
risks associated with natural disasters. 21
‘‘(iii) The extent of the need of the 22
entity to carry out the projects contained 23
in the plan and the potential of such 24
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projects to mitigate hazards to the United 1
States. 2
‘‘(C) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE .—The Presi-3
dent may provide technical assistance to a State 4
or Indian tribal government with respect to 5
which a project was denied under subparagraph 6
(A)(i) to assist such State or Indian tribal gov-7
ernment to resubmit the project for approval 8
under this subsection. 9
‘‘(D) D EFAULT APPROVAL .—If the Presi-10
dent does not make a determination or provide 11
notification under this paragraph, as applicable, 12
with respect to a plan submitted under para-13
graph (1) not later than 1 month after the 14
peer-review panel submits recommendations 15
under paragraph (3)(B)(ii), such plan shall— 16
‘‘(i) be deemed to be approved under 17
this subsection; and 18
‘‘(ii) consist of only the projects rec-19
ommended for approval by the peer review 20
panel under paragraph (3)(B)(ii). 21
‘‘(E) R ESUBMITTAL OF DENIED 22
PROJECT.—In any case in which a project in a 23
preapproved project mitigation plan is not ap-24
proved, the State or Indian tribal government 25
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may redevelop and resubmit such project for 1
approval at any time. 2
‘‘(7) E FFECT OF PLAN APPROVAL .—A project 3
contained in a plan approved under this subsection 4
shall be considered approved under section 203, 205, 5
or 404, as applicable, and shall not be subject to any 6 additional approval requirements, procedures, or re-7
views under any such section. The President shall 8
accept revised cost estimates for projects listed in 9
the preapproved project mitigation plan so long as 10
the revised cost is necessary to complete the project 11 as described in such plan, as determined by the 12
President. 13
‘‘(8) ADDITIONS OF PROJECTS TO THE PLAN .— 14
A State or Indian tribal government that has a plan 15
approved under this subsection may submit an up-16
dated plan 2 years after the date on which such plan 17 is approved, and every 2 years thereafter, that con-18
tains additional proposed projects. The President 19
shall ensure that each additional project contained 20
in such updated plan be subject to the approval 21
project, including the peer-review process, under this 22 subsection. 23
‘‘(9) SAVINGS CLAUSE .—Nothing in this section 24
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or an Indian tribal government to prioritize or ad-1
vance projects included in a mitigation approved by 2
the President.’’. 3
SEC. 302. REDUCING DISASTER COSTS AND PROTECTING 4
LIVES. 5
(a) I N GENERAL.—Section 203 of the Robert T. 6
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 7 (42 U.S.C. 5133) is amended— 8
(1) in subsection (c) by striking ‘‘or local gov-9
ernment’’ each place it appears; 10
(2) by striking subsection (d) and inserting the 11
following: 12
‘‘(d) LOCAL GOVERNMENT DISTRIBUTION.— 13
‘‘(1) S UBALLOCATIONS.—Each State that re-14
ceives assistance under this section shall distribute 15 not less than 50 percent of the funds allocated under 16 subsection (f) to local governments carrying out 17
mitigation projects under this section. 18
‘‘(2) D ISTRIBUTION AND REPORTING .—Not 19
later than 60 days after receiving assistance under 20
this section, the State shall distribute the suballoca-21 tions pursuant to paragraph (1) or, in cases in 22
which the assistance would be used for a project that 23 is not contained in a preapproved project mitigation 24 plan under section 322(f), the State shall provide 25
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the President with details on the mitigation meas-1
ures for which such funds will be used by the local 2
government.’’; 3
(3) in subsection (e)(1)(B)— 4
(A) in clause (iii) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 5
end; 6
(B) in clause (iv) by striking the period at 7
the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 8
(C) by adding at the end the following: 9
‘‘(v) to develop preapproved project 10
mitigation plans pursuant to section 11
322(f).’’; 12
(4) in subsection (f)— 13
(A) in paragraph (1) by striking ‘‘on a 14
competitive basis for mitigation activities that 15
are cost-effective and in accordance with the 16
criteria in subsection (g)’’ and inserting ‘‘to 17
States and Indian tribal governments through 18
the allocation under paragraphs (2) and (4) for 19
mitigation activities that are cost-effective and 20
in accordance with subsection (g)’’; 21
(B) by striking paragraph (2) and insert-22
ing the following: 23
‘‘(2) A LLOCATION.—In providing financial as-24
sistance under this section, the President shall allo-25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Aug 02, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00155 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4669.IH H4669ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 156
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cate available funds for a fiscal year among eligible 1 States by formula as follows: 2
‘‘(A) 40 percent of available funds shall be 3
distributed equally among each eligible State. 4
‘‘(B) 20 percent of available funds shall be 5
distributed among each eligible State based on 6
a sliding scale that provides the highest share 7
of such funds to States that have the most vul-8
nerability to natural hazards in the critical in-9
frastructure of such States. 10
‘‘(C) 20 percent of available funds shall be 11
distributed among each eligible State based on 12
a sliding scale that provides a higher share to 13
States that have a higher population and a 14
lower median income, using data from the most 15
recent decennial census. 16
‘‘(D) 20 percent of available funds shall be 17
distributed among each eligible State based on 18
a sliding scale that provides the highest share 19
to States with the highest amount of approved 20
projects located in communities that meet the 21
definition of an economically distressed commu-22
nity under section 301.3(a) of title 13, Code of 23
Federal Regulations, or a rural area under sec-24
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tion 343(a) of the Consolidated Farm and 1
Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1991(a)).’’; 2
(C) in paragraph (3)(B) by striking ‘‘on a 3
competitive basis’’; and 4
(D) by adding at the end the following: 5
‘‘(4) T RIBES.—Under this section, the Presi-6
dent shall ensure that the amount of financial assist-7 ance made available to Indian tribal governments for 8
a fiscal year is not less than $75,000,000.’’; 9
(5) in subsection (g)— 10
(A) by striking ‘‘In determining whether to 11
provide technical and financial assistance to a 12
State or local government under this section,’’ 13
and inserting ‘‘In determining eligibility for 14
technical and financial assistance under this 15
section,’’; and 16
(B) by striking ‘‘, and take into account— 17
’’ and all that follows through the period at the 18
end and inserting a period; 19
(6) in subsection (h)(1), by striking ‘‘mitigation 20
activities approved by the President’’ and inserting 21 ‘‘a mitigation activity funded under this section’’; 22 (7) in subsection (i)— 23
(A) in paragraph (1) by inserting ‘‘409,’’ 24
after ‘‘408,’’; and 25
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(B) in paragraph (3) by inserting ‘‘409,’’ 1
after ‘‘408,’’; and 2
(8) by adding at the end the following: 3
‘‘(n) P ROJECT ADMINISTRATION.—A State or local 4
government under this section may provide funding for 5 projects— 6
‘‘(1) executed through a partnership established 7
between 2 or more eligible entities to carry out a 8
project or similar projects; 9
‘‘(2) undertaken by a private nonprofit facility; 10
‘‘(3) undertaken as part of a public-private 11
partnership; or 12
‘‘(4) executed through a combination of other 13
Federal mitigation programs, including the Federal 14
mitigation program under section 404.’’. 15
(b) IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 90 days after 16
the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall 17 issue policy and guidance to implement the amendments 18 made by this section. Any existing regulations, policies, 19 or guidance that are no longer applicable as a result of 20 the amendments contained in this section or that conflict 21 with the letter or intent of such amendments are deemed 22 rescinded. 23
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SEC. 303. RESILIENT BUILDINGS AND COMMUNITIES. 1
(a) P REDISASTER HAZARD MITIGATION.—Section 2
203 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-3 gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5133) is further amended 4 by inserting after subsection (l) the following: 5
‘‘(m) L ATEST PUBLISHED EDITIONS DEFINED.— 6
For purposes of subsections (e)(1)(B)(iv) and (g)(10), the 7 term ‘latest published editions’ means, with respect to rel-8 evant consensus-based codes, specifications, and stand-9 ards, the 2 most recently published editions.’’. 10
(b) H AZARD MITIGATION REVOLVING LOAN FUND 11
PROGRAM.—Section 205(f)(5) of the Robert T. Stafford 12 Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 13 5135(f)(5)) is amended— 14
(1) in the paragraph heading, by striking ‘‘E S-15
TABLISHING’’ and insert ‘‘I MPLEMENTING’’; 16
(2) by striking ‘‘establish’’ and insert ‘‘imple-17
ment’’; 18
(3) by inserting ‘‘2’’ after ‘‘latest’’; and 19
(4) by inserting ‘‘, including any amendments 20
made by State, local, Tribal, or territorial govern-21
ments to such codes, specifications, and standards,’’ 22 after ‘‘standards’’. 23
(c) RESIDENTIAL RETROFIT AND RESILIENCE PILOT 24
PROGRAM.— 25
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(1) E STABLISHMENT.—The Administrator of 1
the Federal Emergency Management Agency shall 2
carry out a residential resilience pilot program 3
through the program established under section 203 4
of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-5
gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5133) to make 6
available assistance to States and local governments 7
for the purpose of providing grants to individuals for 8 residential resilience retrofits. 9
(2) A MOUNT OF FUNDS .—The Administrator 10
may use not more than 10 percent across allocations 11
of the assistance made available to applicants on an 12 annual basis under section 203 of the Robert T. 13
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 14
Act (42 U.S.C. 5133) to provide assistance under 15
this subsection. 16
(3) T IMELINE.—The Administrator shall estab-17
lish the pilot program under this subsection not later 18 than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act 19
and the program shall terminate on September 30, 20
2028. 21
(4) P RIORITY.—In carrying out the pilot pro-22
gram under this subsection, the Administrator shall 23
ensure that a State or local government receiving as-24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Aug 02, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00160 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4669.IH H4669ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 161
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sistance under the program provides grants to indi-1
viduals that demonstrate financial need. 2
(5) R EPORT.—Not later than 4 years after the 3
date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator 4
shall submit to the Committee on Transportation 5
and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives 6
and the Committee on Homeland Security and Gov-7
ernmental Affairs of the Senate a report that in-8
cludes— 9
(A) a summary of the grant awards and 10
projects carried out under this subsection; 11
(B) a detailed compilation of results 12
achieved by the grant awards and projects car-13
ried out under this subsection, including the 14
number of homes receiving retrofits, the types 15
and average costs of retrofits, demographic in-16
formation for participants in the program, and 17
estimate avoidance in disaster impacts and Fed-18
eral disaster payments as a result of the grant 19
investments; and 20
(C) any identified implementation chal-21
lenges and recommendations for improvements 22
to the pilot program. 23
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(6) APPLICABILITY.—This subsection shall only 1
apply to amounts appropriated on or after the date 2
of enactment of this Act. 3
(7) R ESIDENTIAL RESILIENT RETROFITS DE -4
FINED.— 5
(A) I N GENERAL .—In this subsection, the 6
term ‘‘residential resilient retrofits’’ means a 7
project that— 8
(i) is designed to increase the resil-9
ience of an existing home or residence 10
using mitigation measures which the Ad-11
ministrator determines reduce damage and 12
impacts from natural disaster hazards and 13
risks that are most likely to occur in the 14
area where the home is located; and 15
(ii) to the extent applicable, are con-16
sistent with the 2 most recently published 17
editions of relevant consensus-based codes, 18
specifications, and standards, including 19
any amendments made by State, local, 20
tribal, or territorial governments to such 21
codes, specifications, and standards that 22
incorporate the latest hazard-resistant de-23
signs and establish criteria for the design, 24
construction, and maintenance of residen-25
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tial structures and facilities that may be 1
eligible for assistance under the Robert T. 2
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 3
Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.) 4
for the purpose of protecting the health, 5
safety, and general welfare of the build-6
ings’ users against disasters. 7
(B) I NCLUSION.—In this subsection, the 8
term ‘‘residential resilient retrofits’’ includes— 9
(i) elevations of homes and elevations 10
of utilities within and around structures to 11
mitigate damages; 12
(ii) floodproofing measures; 13
(iii) the construction of tornado-safe 14
rooms; 15
(iv) seismic retrofits; 16
(v) wildfire retrofit and mitigation 17
measures; 18
(vi) wind retrofits, including roof re-19
placements, hurricane straps, and tie- 20
downs; and 21
(vii) any other measures that meet the 22
requirements of paragraph (1), as deter-23
mined by the Administrator. 24
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SEC. 304. STRENGTHENING HAZARD RISK REDUCTION. 1
(a) IMPROVED HAZARD MITIGATION DELIVERY.— 2
(1) I N GENERAL .—Section 404(c)(2) of the 3
Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 4
Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170c(c)(2)) is amend-5
ed— 6
(A) by striking ‘‘The President’’ and all 7
that follows through ‘‘as a pilot program.’’; and 8
(B) by striking ‘‘The criteria shall’’ insert-9
ing ‘‘The President shall establish criteria for 10
the approval of applications submitted under 11
paragraph (1) that’’. 12
(2) P ROJECT CONSOLIDATION .—Section 404 of 13
the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-14
gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170c) is amended 15
by adding at the end the following: 16
‘‘(h) MITIGATION PROJECT CONSOLIDATIONS.— 17
‘‘(1) E LIGIBLE ACTIVITIES .—Notwithstanding 18
section 312 and any regulations implementing such 19
section, assistance provided under this section for a 20 mitigation project may be used in combination 21
with— 22
‘‘(A) assistance provided under section 23
203; and 24
‘‘(B) any other Federal assistance provided 25
for such project. 26
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‘‘(2) F EDERAL AND NON -FEDERAL SHARE .— 1
For purposes of the Federal share requirements of 2
a mitigation project under this section— 3
‘‘(A) any Federal assistance provided 4
under section 203 for such project shall be ap-5
plied toward the Federal share required under 6
this section; and 7
‘‘(B) any non-Federal funds for such miti-8
gation project that are specified to meet the 9
Federal share requirements of section 203 may 10
be used to meet the non-Federal share require-11
ments under this section. 12
‘‘(3) T OTAL FEDERAL SHARE .—Federal assist-13
ance provided for a mitigation project under this 14
section and section 203 may not exceed the total 15
Federal share for such project. 16
‘‘(4) R ULE OF CONSTRUCTION .—Nothing in 17
this section shall— 18
‘‘(A) affect the cost-share requirement of a 19
hazard mitigation measure under this section; 20
‘‘(B) affect the eligibility criteria for a haz-21
ard mitigation measure under this section or 22
section 203; or 23
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‘‘(C) affect the cost share requirements of 1
a federally authorized hazard mitigation 2
project.’’. 3
(b) P REPAYMENT RELIEF FOR HAZARD MITIGA-4
TION.—Section 404(e) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 5 Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 6
5170c(e)) is amended to read as follows: 7
‘‘(e) ADVANCE ASSISTANCE.— 8
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL .—The President may provide 9
the total Federal share of the estimated cost of haz-10 ard mitigation measures to a State grantee eligible 11
for a grant under this section before eligible costs 12 are incurred. 13
‘‘(2) H OME RETROFITS .—The Administrator 14
shall offer to advance assistance to applicants from 15 such Federal share for purposes of home retrofits to 16 improve resilience, including home elevations, total-17 ing the total amount of the estimated Federal share 18
of such project before eligible costs are incurred.’’. 19 (c) APPLICABILITY.—The amendments made by this 20
section shall apply to a major disaster or emergency de-21 clared under such Act before the date of enactment of this 22 Act for which the period for processing requests for assist-23 ance has not ended as of the date of enactment of this 24 Act. 25
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SEC. 305. UTILITY RESILIENCY. 1
(a) I N GENERAL.—Section 403 of the Robert T. 2
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 3 (42 U.S.C. 5170b) is amended by adding at the end the 4 following: 5
‘‘(e) ELECTRIC UTILITIES.— 6
‘‘(1) H AZARD MITIGATION ACTIVITIES .—An 7
electric utility may carry out cost-effective hazard 8
mitigation activities jointly or otherwise in combina-9 tion with activities for the restoration of power car-10 ried out with assistance provided under this section. 11 ‘‘(2) E LIGIBILITY FOR ADDITIONAL ASSIST -12
ANCE.—In any case in which an electric utility facil-13 ity receives assistance under this section for the 14
emergency restoration of power, the receipt of such 15
assistance shall not render such facility ineligible for 16 any hazard mitigation assistance under section 406 17
for which such facility is otherwise eligible.’’. 18
(b) A PPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by sub-19
section (a) shall only apply to amounts appropriated on 20 or after the date of enactment of this Act. 21
SEC. 306. ADDITIONAL AMENDMENTS TO HAZARD MITIGA-22
TION REVOLVING LOAN FUND. 23
Section 205 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 24 and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5135) is 25
amended— 26
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(1) in subsection (c)(2)(A) by inserting ‘‘hazard 1
mitigation, resilience, and’’ before ‘‘emergency man-2
agement’’; and 3
(2) in subsection (f)(1)(C) by striking ‘‘2’’ and 4
inserting ‘‘4’’. 5
SEC. 307. STREAMLINED HAZARD MITIGATION APPLICA-6
TION PROCESS. 7
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 8
of this Act, the Administrator of the Federal Emergency 9 Management Agency shall establish a consolidated grant 10 application form for hazard mitigation funds provided 11 under sections 203, 205, and 404 of the Robert T. Staf-12 ford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 13 U.S.C. 5133; 5135; 5170c), to— 14
(1) facilitate the administration of hazard miti-15
gation funds established under such sections; 16
(2) facilitate the administration of hazard miti-17
gation funds established under the National Flood 18
Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4001 et seq.) and 19
section 322(f) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 20
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (as added by 21
this Act); 22
(3) ensure the provision of hazard mitigation 23
assistance in accordance with applicable laws and 24
regulations; 25
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(4) reduce the administrative burden of the ap-1
plication and review process; and 2
(5) expedite the execution of grant agreements 3
and the disbursement of funds. 4
SEC. 308. STUDY AND REPORT ON MITIGATION BENEFITS. 5
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the Federal 6
Emergency Management Agency shall conduct a study to 7
evaluate the effectiveness, long-term cost savings, and 8 strategic impact of nationwide hazard mitigation activities 9 funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. 10
(b) O BJECTIVES.—In conducting the study required 11
under subsection (a), the Administrator shall assess how 12 the mitigation programs of the Federal Emergency Man-13 agement Agency— 14
(1) reduce Federal and non-Federal expendi-15
tures for disaster response and recovery; 16
(2) enhance community preparedness for nat-17
ural hazards; 18
(3) improve the availability and affordability of 19
hazard-related insurance; 20
(4) support continuity of operations for critical 21
services and infrastructure; and 22
(5) generate long-term cost savings and meas-23
urable returns on investment. 24
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(c) METHODOLOGY.—The study under subsection (a) 1
shall include— 2
(1) quantitative and qualitative analysis of 3
avoided losses; 4
(2) evaluations of the effect of hazard mitiga-5
tion on community-level risk ratings, actuarial as-6
sessments, and insurance penetration; 7
(3) case studies from diverse geographic regions 8
and hazard types; and 9
(4) examinations of the role of mitigation activi-10
ties in reducing Federal disaster response and recov-11 ery costs. 12
(d) D ATA SOURCES.—In carrying out the study 13
under subsection (a), the Administrator shall use data 14 from— 15
(1) Federal, State, local, and Tribal agencies; 16
(2) independent third-party assessments and 17
academic studies; and 18
(3) internal program evaluations and disaster 19
recovery records. 20
(e) CONSULTATION.—In conducting the study under 21
subsection (a), the Administrator may consult with— 22
(1) the Comptroller General of the United 23
States; 24
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(2) the Director of the National Institute of 1
Standards and Technology; 2
(3) State, local, Tribal, and territorial govern-3
ments; and 4
(4) relevant academic and research institutions. 5
(f) REPORT TO CONGRESS.— 6
(1) I N GENERAL .—Not later than 18 months 7
after the date of enactment of this Act and annually 8
thereafter, the Administrator shall submit to the 9
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 10
and the Committee on Appropriations of the House 11
of Representatives and the Committee on Homeland 12
Security and Governmental Affairs and the Com-13
mittee on Appropriations of the Senate a report de-14
tailing— 15
(A) the findings of the study; 16
(B) recommendations for improving pro-17
gram design, targeting, and oversight; and 18
(C) recommendations for legislative and 19
administrative actions. 20
(2) A VAILABILITY.—The Administrator shall 21
make each report submitted under paragraph (1) 22
publicly available on the website of the Federal 23
Emergency Management Agency not later than 60 24
days after the submission of such report. 25
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(g) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY AND ONGOING REVIEW.— 1
(1) P UBLIC ACCESS .—Not later than 2 years 2
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Adminis-3
trator shall make the results of the initial study re-4 quired under subsection (a) publicly available in a 5
searchable, user-friendly format on the website of 6
the Federal Emergency Management Agency. 7
(2) C ONTENTS.—The published data under 8
paragraph (1) shall include— 9
(A) summarized findings and datasets, ex-10
cluding any information that would compromise 11
national security or privacy; 12
(B) visualizations and geographic 13
mappings of mitigation outcomes; and 14
(C) clear explanations of methodology, 15
data sources, and limitations. 16
(h) A NNUAL UPDATES.—The Administrator shall 17
conduct the study described in subsection (a) on an annual 18 basis, incorporating the most recent available data, up-19 dates to methodology, and stakeholder feedback. 20
TITLE IV—TRANSPARENCY AND 21
ACCOUNTABILITY 22
SEC. 401. GAO REVIEW OF FEMA TRANSITION. 23
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the 24
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after, the Comptroller General of the United States 1
shall— 2
(1) conduct a review of the transition of the 3
Federal Emergency Management Agency under title 4
I; and 5
(2) provide a briefing on the results of the re-6
view conducted under paragraph (1) to the Com-7
mittee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the 8
Committee on Homeland Security of the House of 9
Representatives and the Committee on Homeland 10
Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate. 11
(b) S COPE.—In conducting the reviews required 12
under subsection (a), the Comptroller General shall assess 13 the following: 14
(1) The continued processing of grants for con-15
structing, reconstructing, repairing, restoring, or re-16 placing eligible facilities. 17
(2) The establishment of the Federal Emer-18
gency Management Agency as a cabinet-level inde-19
pendent establishment in the executive branch to 20
evaluate whether the transition complied with Fed-21
eral laws relating to labor, procurement, information 22 management, and related statutes. 23
(3) The status of the contractual obligations of 24
the Agency. 25
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(4) Interdepartmental coordination, establish-1
ment of new memorandums of understanding, and 2
assistance from the Department of Homeland Secu-3
rity to ensure that the Department fulfills all statu-4 tory requirements to ensure optimal agency perform-5
ance during the transition. 6
(5) Costs associated with the transition of per-7
sonnel, equipment, furnishings, and related contents 8
over the course of the transition. 9
(6) Personnel retention related to the transi-10
tion. 11
(7) Physical and technological infrastructure 12
needs and which of the needs have been met, to en-13
sure that the Agency has been provided with the 14
necessary resources to carry out the mission of the 15
Agency, following the transition of the Agency. 16
(8) Programmatic operations during the transi-17
tion of the Agency. 18
(9) Communication operations to monitor con-19
tinued connectivity with stakeholders, including 20
State emergency managers, private nonprofit organi-21
zations, and other related parties, during the transi-22 tion. 23
(10) Engineer personnel levels at the Agency. 24
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(11) Contracts entered into with licensed engi-1
neering professionals in States that are in geo-2
graphic areas in which a major disaster has recently 3
been declared under section 401 of the Robert T. 4
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 5
Act (42 U.S.C. 5170). 6
(12) Best practices and lessons learned during 7
the transition, in coordination with the Adminis-8
trator of the Federal Emergency Management Agen-9
cy and any other key personnel of the Agency. 10
(c) SUNSET.—This section shall cease to be effective 11 on the date that is 36 months after the date of enactment 12 of this Act, or an earlier date agreed upon by the Comp-13 troller General and the committees of Congress specified 14 in subsection (a). 15
SEC. 402. TRANSPARENCY AND ONLINE ACCOUNTABILITY. 16
(a) SUBPAGE FOR TRANSPARENCY OF DISASTER AS-17
SISTANCE.— 18
(1) E STABLISHMENT OF REPOSITORY FOR RE -19
PORTING REQUIREMENTS .—The Director of the Of-20
fice of Management and Budget, in consultation 21
with the Secretary of the Treasury and the head of 22
each covered Federal agency, shall establish a 23
subpage within the website established under section 24 2 of the Federal Funding Accountability and Trans-25
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parency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note) to pub-1
lish the information required to be made available to 2 the public under this subsection. 3
(2) SUBMISSION OF INFORMATION BY FEDERAL 4
AGENCIES.—Not later than 30 days after the end of 5
a calendar quarter, each covered Federal agency 6
that made disaster assistance available to an eligible 7 recipient during such quarter shall, in coordination 8
with the Director of the Office of Management and 9
Budget, make available to the public on the subpage 10
established under paragraph (1) the information de-11
scribed in paragraph (3), and ensure that any data 12
assets of the agency are machine-readable. 13
(3) INFORMATION REQUIRED .—The information 14
described in this paragraph is, with respect to dis-15
aster assistance provided by the covered Federal 16
agency— 17
(A) the total amount of disaster assistance 18
provided by the agency during such quarter; 19
(B) the amount of disaster assistance pro-20
vided by the agency that was expended or obli-21
gated to projects or activities; and 22
(C) a detailed list of all projects or activi-23
ties for which disaster assistance dispersed by 24
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the agency was expended, obligated, or used, in-1
cluding— 2
(i) the name of the project or activity; 3
(ii) a description of the project or ac-4
tivity; 5
(iii) an evaluation of the completion 6
status of the project or activity; 7
(iv) any award identification number 8
assigned to the project; 9
(v) the Catalog for Disaster Assist-10
ance number assigned by the Federal 11
Emergency Management Agency; 12
(vi) the location of the project, includ-13
ing ZIP Codes; and 14
(vii) any reporting requirement infor-15
mation being collected by a covered Fed-16
eral agency with respect to that agency’s 17
disaster assistance. 18
(4) G UIDANCE.—Each covered Federal agency, 19
in coordination with the Director of the Office of 20
Management and Budget and the Secretary of the 21
Treasury, shall issue such guidance as is necessary 22
to meet the requirements of this section. 23
(5) A GREEMENT WITH PRIVATE ENTITY .—The 24
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may enter into an agreement with a private entity, 1
including a nonprofit organization, to develop the 2
subpage required under this subsection. 3
(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 4
(1) C OVERED FEDERAL AGENCY .—The term 5
‘‘covered Federal agency’’ means— 6
(A) any agency providing assistance under 7
the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 8
Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et 9
seq.); 10
(B) the Small Business Administration; 11
and 12
(C) the Department of Housing and Urban 13
Development. 14
(2) D ISASTER ASSISTANCE .—The term ‘‘dis-15
aster assistance’’ means any funds that are made 16
available by the Federal Government in response to 17
a specified natural disaster, including— 18
(A) any assistance provided by the Admin-19
istrator of the Small Business Administration 20
as a result of a disaster declared under section 21
7(b) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 22
636(b)); 23
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(B) any assistance provided by the Sec-1
retary of Housing and Urban Development 2
for— 3
(i) activities authorized under title I 4
of the Housing and Community Develop-5
ment Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.) 6
related to disaster relief, long-term recov-7
ery, restoration of infrastructure and hous-8
ing, and economic revitalization in the 9
most impacted and distressed areas result-10
ing from a major disaster declared pursu-11
ant to the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re-12
lief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 13
U.S.C. 5121 et seq.); and 14
(ii) flood insurance coverage provided 15
under the National Flood Insurance Pro-16
gram pursuant to the National Flood In-17
surance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4001 et 18
seq.); and 19
(C) any assistance provided under the Rob-20
ert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 21
Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.). 22
(3) E LIGIBLE RECIPIENT .—The term ‘‘eligible 23
recipient’’— 24
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(A) means any entity that receives disaster 1
assistance directly from the Federal Govern-2
ment (including disaster assistance received 3
through grant, loan, or contract) other than an 4
individual; and 5
(B) includes a State that receives disaster 6
assistance. 7
(4) S PECIFIED NATURAL DISASTER .—The term 8
‘‘specified natural disaster’’ means— 9
(A) a fire on public or private forest land 10
or grassland described in section 420 of the 11
Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-12
gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5187); 13
(B) a major disaster declared by the Presi-14
dent under section 401 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 15
5170); 16
(C) an emergency declared by the Presi-17
dent under section 501 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 18
5191); and 19
(D) any other natural disaster for which a 20
disaster declaration is made by the Federal 21
Government. 22
SEC. 403. PROHIBITION ON POLITICAL DISCRIMINATION. 23
Section 308(a) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re-24 lief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5151(a)) 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Aug 02, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00180 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4669.IH H4669ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 181
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is amended by striking ‘‘or economic status’’ and inserting 1 ‘‘economic status, or political affiliation’’. 2
SEC. 404. REVIEW OF BURDENSOME REGULATIONS AND 3
POLICIES. 4
Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment 5
of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 6 shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Security and 7 Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee 8
on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of 9
Representatives a report that— 10
(1) identifies any regulations, policies, and pro-11
cedures promulgated pursuant to the Robert T. 12
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 13
Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.) that— 14
(A) are obsolete; 15
(B) conflict with other regulations, policies, 16
and procedures; 17
(C) conflict with current law; 18
(D) set more stringent requirements than 19
required by law; and 20
(E) create unnecessary burdens and costs 21
on disaster assistance; and 22
(2) contains recommendations on which regula-23
tions, policies, and procedures should be amended or 24 rescinded. 25
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SEC. 405. REPORT ON ASSISTANCE TO INDIVIDUALS. 1
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 2
date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the 3 Federal Emergency Management Agency shall submit to 4
the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of 5 the House of Representatives and the Committee on 6
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Sen-7 ate a report with respect to fiscal year 2016 through the 8 most recent fiscal year ending before the date of enact-9 ment of this Act, and an annual report for any fiscal year 10 beginning on or after the date of enactment of this Act, 11 describing— 12
(1) the average amount of individual assistance 13
and individual and household assistance provided 14
under section 408 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 15 Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 16
5121 et seq.) to, and the rate of denial of individual 17 assistance and individual and household assistance 18
provided under such section for— 19
(A) all individuals; 20
(B) households; 21
(C) individuals and households with a re-22
ported annual income under 75 percent of the 23
national median household income; 24
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(D) individuals with a reported annual in-1
come over 125 percent of the national median 2
household income; and 3
(E) individuals with a reported annual in-4
come between 75 percent and 125 percent of 5
the national median household income; and 6
(2) an explanation for any factors causing an 7
increase in the rate of denial of the assistance de-8
scribed in paragraph (1), if applicable. 9
(b) I NFORMATION REQUIRED.—In the report sub-10
mitted under subsection (a), the Administrator shall de-11 scribe the number of homeowners and the number of rent-12 ers for each category of individuals and households de-13 scribed in subparagraphs (C) through (E) of subsection 14 (a)(1). 15
SEC. 406. INDIVIDUAL ASSISTANCE DASHBOARD. 16
Title IV of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 17 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170 et seq.) is 18 amended by adding at the end the following: 19
‘‘SEC. 431. INDIVIDUAL ASSISTANCE DASHBOARD. 20
‘‘(a) I N GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after a 21
declaration by the President that a major disaster exists 22 under section 401, the Administrator of the Federal 23
Emergency Management Agency shall publish on a 24
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website of the Agency an interactive web tool displaying 1 the following information with respect to such disaster: 2 ‘‘(1) The number of applications for assistance 3
under section 408, including a description of the 4
number of applications for assistance related to 5
housing under such section and the number of appli-6
cations for assistance to address other needs under 7
section 408(e). 8
‘‘(2) The number of applications for such as-9
sistance that are approved. 10
‘‘(3) The number of applications for such as-11
sistance that are denied. 12
‘‘(4) A ranked list of the reasons for the denial 13
of such applications, including the number of appli-14
cations for each reason for denial. 15
‘‘(5) If available, the dollar amount of assist-16
ance provided pursuant to section 408 to applicants 17
who are— 18
‘‘(A) property owners with a household an-19
nual income— 20
‘‘(i) above the national median house-21
hold income; and 22
‘‘(ii) below the national median house-23
hold income; and 24
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‘‘(B) renters with a household annual in-1
come— 2
‘‘(i) above the national median house-3
hold income; and 4
‘‘(ii) below the national median house-5
hold income. 6
‘‘(6) The estimated percentage of residential 7
property that was destroyed as a result of the major 8
disaster, if available. 9
‘‘(7) Any other information that the Adminis-10
trator determines to be relevant. 11
‘‘(b) P ERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION.— 12
The Administrator shall ensure that none of the informa-13 tion published under subsection (a) contains the personally 14 identifiable information of an applicant.’’. 15
SEC. 407. GAO REPORT ON PRELIMINARY DAMAGE ASSESS-16
MENTS. 17
(a) I N GENERAL.—The Comptroller General of the 18
United States shall conduct a study on the practices, in-19 cluding the accuracy of such practices, that the Federal 20 Emergency Management Agency uses when conducting 21
preliminary damage assessments for the purposes of pro-22 viding assistance under section 408 of the Robert T. Staf-23 ford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 24 U.S.C. 5174). 25
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(b) C ONTENTS.—The Comptroller General shall in-1
clude in the study conducted under subsection (a) the fol-2 lowing: 3
(1) A comparison of the process and procedures 4
used by the Federal Emergency Management Agen-5
cy to complete preliminary damage assessments to 6
the process and procedures used by private insur-7
ance companies following a major disaster. 8
(2) A review of training provided to individuals 9
conducting preliminary damage assessments. 10
(3) A comparison of damage estimates for 11
homes owned by individuals above the national me-12
dian income to homes owned by individuals at or 13
below the national median income. 14
SEC. 408. IMPROVED RENTAL ASSISTANCE. 15
(a) STUDY.—Not later than 1 year after the date of 16
enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Federal 17 Emergency Management Agency shall conduct a study to 18 examine the unique challenges of renters when seeking 19 Federal disaster assistance and any disparities of assist-20 ance provided to homeowners and renters pursuant to sec-21 tion 408 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 22 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5174) and develop 23 a plan that addresses any identified challenges and dis-24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Aug 02, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00186 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4669.IH H4669ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 187
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parities, including any recommendations for legislative ac-1 tion. 2
(b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Upon completion of the 3
activities carried out under subsection (a), the Adminis-4 trator shall submit to the Committee on Transportation 5 and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives and 6 the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 7
Affairs of the Senate a report containing the study and 8 recommendations required under subsection (a). 9
(c) CONSULTATION.—In completing the study and re-10
port required under subsections (a) and (b), the Adminis-11 trator shall consult with appropriate Federal entities and 12 stakeholders involved in disaster housing. 13
SEC. 409. GAO ASSESSMENT ON IDENTITY THEFT AND DIS-14
ASTER FRAUD IN DISASTER ASSISTANCE 15
PROGRAMS. 16
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 17
of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 18 shall— 19
(1) conduct an assessment of improper and po-20
tentially fraudulent Federal disaster assistance for 21 individuals made to survivors of major disasters de-22
clared in 2020 and 2021, including through identity 23
theft; and 24
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(2) submit to the Committee on Transportation 1
and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives 2
and the Committee on Homeland Security and Gov-3
ernmental Affairs of the Senate a report that de-4
scribes— 5
(A) the prevalence of improper and poten-6
tially fraudulent Federal disaster assistance for 7
individuals made to registrants who used invalid 8
information to apply for disaster assistance, in-9
cluding through identity theft; 10
(B) the number of disaster survivors whose 11
claims for Federal disaster assistance for indi-12
viduals were denied due to another individual 13
filing a fraudulent application using their per-14
sonal identifying information; 15
(C) the adequacy of existing fraud preven-16
tion protocols in place on the Federal Emer-17
gency Management Agency’s online application 18
for Federal disaster assistance for individuals; 19
and 20
(D) recommendations for improving the 21
identity verification protocols in place for Fed-22
eral disaster assistance for individuals. 23
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SEC. 410. GAO STUDY ON INSURANCE UTILIZATION FOR 1
PUBLIC ASSISTANCE-ELIGIBLE FACILITIES. 2
(a) I N GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 3
date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 4 of the United States shall complete a study on the utiliza-5 tion of insurance by facilities eligible for public assistance. 6 (b) M ATTERS TO BE STUDIED.—In conducting the 7
study under subsection (a), the Comptroller General shall 8 examine the following: 9
(1) The effect of insurance coverage of a State 10
on declarations by the President under section 401 11
of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-12
gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170) that a major 13
disaster exists in such State. 14
(2) Trends in insurance coverage for facilities 15
eligible for public assistance before and after such 16 facilities receive public assistance. 17
(3) The enforcement of insurance purchase re-18
quirements under section 206.253 of title 44, Code 19
of Federal Regulations. 20
(4) Rates of noncompliance with, or lapses in, 21
required insurance coverage by recipients of public 22
assistance. 23
(5) Rates of insurance coverage among critical 24
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pitals, emergency operations centers, and public 1
safety buildings. 2
(6) Changes in facilities eligible for public as-3
sistance obtaining insurance coverage after revisions 4 to flood hazard maps or other hazard designations. 5
(c) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Upon completion of the 6
study required under subsection (a), the Comptroller Gen-7 eral shall submit to Congress a report describing the re-8 sults of such study, including findings and any rec-9
ommendations for legislative or administrative action. 10 (d) PUBLIC ASSISTANCE DEFINED.—In this section, 11
the term ‘‘public assistance’’ means assistance provided 12 under section 403, 406, 409, or 428 of the Robert T. Staf-13 ford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act. 14
SEC. 411. STUDY ON WILDFIRE MANAGEMENT PLANS. 15
(a) R EPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 16
of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the 17 United States shall conduct a study, and submit a report 18 thereon to the Committee on Homeland Security and Gov-19 ernmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on 20 Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Rep-21 resentatives, on wildfire management plans. 22
(b) CONTENTS.—In the report submitted under sub-23
section (a), the Comptroller General shall include the fol-24 lowing: 25
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(1) A list and description of States that have a 1
completed forest management plan, wildland man-2
agement plan, or any similar plan intended to guide 3
actions the State plans to take to mitigate the risk 4
of wildfires with respect to non-Federal lands. 5
(2) A description of States that have a high 6
risk of wildfires. 7
(3) For the States described in paragraph (2)— 8
(A) a list of the States that have completed 9
a plan described in paragraph (1); and 10
(B) a description of whether such plan is 11
effective at mitigating the risk of wildfires. 12
(4) An analysis of whether each State with a 13
plan described in paragraph (1) follows such plan 14
and makes available adequate resources to meet the 15
goals of such plan. 16
(5) An analysis of whether any Federal funding 17
for hazard mitigation provided to States with a high 18 risk of wildfires is used to carry out activities related 19 to mitigating the risk of wildfires. 20
(6) For wildfires that occurred during the 5- 21
year period ending on the date of enactment of this 22
Act, in States that did not have a plan described in 23 paragraph (1), an analysis as to whether damage 24
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from such wildfires may have been reduced if such 1
States had such a plan in place. 2
(7) A comparison of the plans listed under 3
paragraph (1) and an identification of best practices 4 and areas for improvement. 5
(8) Recommendations on whether incentives are 6
needed in Federal funding for States to develop 7
plans described in paragraph (1) and follow such 8
plans. 9
SEC. 412. EFFECTIVENESS OF LOCAL, STATE, TERRITORY, 10
AND FEDERAL ALERTING SYSTEMS. 11
(a) I N GENERAL.—The Comptroller General of the 12
United States shall conduct a study on the effectiveness 13 of local, State, territory, and Federal emergency alerting 14 systems in disseminating timely and relevant information 15 during weather-related emergencies to help communities 16 develop better policies and procedures for emergency re-17 sponse and enhance public safety in the event of a weath-18 er-related emergency. 19
(b) CONTENTS.—In conducting the study under sub-20
section (a), the Comptroller General shall— 21
(1) evaluate the efficacy of various alert medi-22
ums, including platforms such as social media, to 23
disseminate emergency alerts, including travel bans 24
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and mass power outages, during extreme weather 1
events; 2
(2) assess the extent that guidance and training 3
exists for developing alert content, such as ensuring 4 alerts are clear, relevant, and provide the public with 5 actionable information; and 6
(3) determine whether improvements could be 7
made to public alerting, including outdoor siren sys-8
tems, based on input from a selected sample of 9
emergency managers, local officials, and community 10
groups. 11
(c) R EPORT.—Not later than 18 months after the 12
date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 13 shall submit to the Committee on Transportation and In-14 frastructure and the Committee on Homeland Security of 15 the House of Representatives and the Committee on 16
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Sen-17 ate a report on the study conducted under subsection (a). 18 SEC. 413. GAO REVIEW OF MANAGEMENT COSTS. 19
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 20
of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 21 shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Security and 22 Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee 23 on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of 24 Representatives a report— 25
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(1) on the actual management costs described 1
in section 324 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 2
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 3
5165b) during the period of a major disaster dec-4
laration under section 401 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 5
5170) to determine whether the amount set aside for 6
those management costs after the date of enactment 7
of this Act is appropriate; and 8
(2) that includes the management costs de-9
scribed in section 324 of the Robert T. Stafford Dis-10 aster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 11
U.S.C. 5165b) for each disaster declared under dur-12
ing the period of a major disaster declaration under 13 section 401 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 5170) during the 14
5-year period preceding the date of the report, the 15
amount set aside for those management costs, the 16
use of those management costs, the length of each 17
disaster, and the reason for the length of each dis-18
aster. 19
SEC. 414. REPORT ON COORDINATION OF DISASTER ASSIST-20
ANCE TO INDIVIDUALS. 21
(a) I N GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 22
date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the 23 Federal Emergency Management Agency, in coordination 24 with other relevant Federal agencies, shall submit to the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Aug 02, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00194 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4669.IH H4669ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 195
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congressional committees of jurisdiction a report con-1 ducted by all relevant Federal agencies to improve the 2 comprehensive delivery of disaster assistance to individ-3 uals following a major disaster or emergency declaration 4 under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-5 gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.). 6
(b) C ONTENTS.—The report required under para-7
graph (1) shall include both administrative actions taken, 8 or planned to be taken, by the agencies as well as legisla-9 tive proposals, where appropriate, of the following: 10 (1) Efforts to improve coordination between the 11
Agency and other relevant Federal agencies when 12
delivering disaster assistance to individuals. 13
(2) Clarify the sequence of delivery of disaster 14
assistance to individuals from the Agency, and other 15 relevant Federal agencies. 16
(3) Clarify the interpretation and implementa-17
tion of section 312 of the Robert T. Stafford Dis-18
aster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 19
U.S.C. 5155) when providing disaster assistance to 20
individuals, including providing a common interpre-21
tation across the Agency, and other relevant Federal 22 agencies, of the definitions and requirements under 23
such section 312. 24
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(4) Increase the effectiveness of communication 1
to applicants for assistance programs for individuals 2 after a disaster declaration, including the breadth of 3 programs available and the potential impacts of uti-4
lizing one program versus another. 5
(c) R EPORT UPDATE.—Not later than 4 years after 6
the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator, in 7 coordination with other relevant Federal agencies, shall 8 submit to the congressional committees of jurisdiction an 9 update to the report required under paragraph (1). 10
SEC. 415. GAO REVIEW OF COST SAVINGS ASSOCIATED 11
WITH REPAIR AND REBUILDING REFORMS. 12
(a) I N GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after the 13
date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 14 of the United States shall complete a study on repair and 15 rebuilding reforms carried out by the Administrator of the 16 Federal Emergency Management Agency. 17
(b) C ONTENTS.—The Comptroller General shall in-18
clude in the study conducted under subsection (a) the fol-19 lowing: 20
(1) A comprehensive review of the costs associ-21
ated with providing direct housing assistance options 22 in response to a major disaster or emergency, in-23
cluding temporary housing units, transportable tem-24
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porary housing units, hoteling programs, and rental 1
assistance. 2
(2) An assessment of— 3
(A) the relative cost and timeliness of pro-4
viding permanent repairs or reconstruction of 5
owner-occupied residences compared to the pro-6
vision of direct housing assistance options, in-7
cluding an evaluation of both short-term ex-8
penditures and long-term Federal obligations; 9
(B) the effect of permanent repairs or re-10
construction assistance on recovery outcomes 11
for survivors of major disasters, including time 12
to reestablishment, housing stability, health and 13
safety, and economic self-sufficiency, in com-14
parison to the recovery outcomes for such sur-15
vivors who received temporary sheltering; 16
(C) the effect of permanent repairs or re-17
construction on the ability of survivors of major 18
disasters to remain in or return to predisaster 19
communities, including implications for commu-20
nity cohesion and regional workforce stability; 21
(D) the benefits and potential challenges of 22
expanding the role of the Federal Emergency 23
Management Agency in direct repair or recon-24
struction, including staffing, coordination with 25
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States or Tribal governments, and interagency 1
collaboration; 2
(E) the effect of repair and rebuilding re-3
forms on long-term Federal disaster recovery li-4
abilities, including the potential for cost avoid-5
ance in future disaster assistance, housing dis-6
placement, and repeat assistance cases; and 7
(F) the adequacy of existing or proposed 8
safeguards to protect Federal funds. 9
(3) A review of the use of permanent repairs of 10
owner-occupied residences and permanent housing 11
construction by the Administrator, including best 12
practices and lessons learned. 13
(c) REPORT.—Upon completion of the study required 14
under subsection (a), the Comptroller General shall sub-15 mit to Congress a report describing the results of such 16 study, including findings and any recommendations for 17 legislative or administrative action. 18
(d) REPAIR AND REBUILDING REFORMS DEFINED.— 19
In this section, the term ‘‘repair and rebuilding reforms’’ 20 means reforms to the provision of assistance under sec-21 tions 403 and 408 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re-22 lief and Emergency Assistance Act as a result of the 23 amendments made by this Act. 24
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SEC. 416. TRANSPARENCY FOR DISASTER DECLARATIONS. 1
Section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 2 and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170) is 3
amended by adding at the end the following: 4
‘‘(d) T RANSPARENCY FOR MAJOR DISASTER DEC-5
LARATIONS.— 6
‘‘(1) I N GENERAL .—Upon issuing an approval 7
or denial of a major disaster requested by a Gov-8
ernor of a State or the Chief Executive of an af-9
fected Indian tribal government under this section, 10
the President shall provide to the Governor or Chief 11 Executive a detailed justification of such approval or 12 denial that includes— 13
‘‘(A) an explanation of the determination 14
that the damage caused by the disaster did or 15
did not exceed the capacity of the State or In-16
dian tribal government; 17
‘‘(B) a consideration of loss of life and po-18
tential continued threats to public safety; 19
‘‘(C) the total value of the damage caused 20
by the disaster as estimated by the President, 21
in consultation with the Administrator and im-22
pacted State or Indian tribal government, that 23
was used to make the disaster declaration de-24
termination; and 25
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‘‘(D) how the President, in consultation 1
with the Administrator— 2
‘‘(i) determined whether the disaster 3
impacted a rural or economically distressed 4
community or communities; and 5
‘‘(ii) considered whether there was se-6
vere local impact or were recent multiple 7
disasters in the impacted area. 8
‘‘(2) APPLICABILITY.—This subsection shall not 9
apply in any case in which the President makes a 10
declaration under this section for a major disaster 11
that is requested through expedited procedures, in-12
cluding pursuant to section 206.36(d) of title 44, 13
Code of Federal Regulations.’’. 14
SEC. 417. FAST-MOVING DISASTERS WORKING GROUP. 15
(a) I N GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 16
date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the 17 Federal Emergency Management Agency shall convene a 18
working group to review and develop best practices for 19 preparing for, mitigating against, public alerting, and re-20 sponding to fast-moving disasters. 21
(b) M EMBERSHIP.—The working group established 22
under subsection (a) shall be composed of— 23
(1) representatives from the Federal Emergency 24
Management Agency; 25
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(2) representatives from the United States 1
Coast Guard; 2
(3) representatives from the Department of De-3
fense; 4
(4) representatives from the National Weather 5
Service of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 6
Administration; 7
(5) representatives of States, Tribal govern-8
ments, and units of local government; and 9
(6) subject matter experts in emergency man-10
agement, public alerts and warnings, emergency 11
evacuations, and preparedness and response. 12
(c) B EST PRACTICES.—Not later than 1 year after 13
the convening of the working group pursuant to subsection 14 (a), the Administrator shall issue, and make publicly avail-15 able, a report on— 16
(1) best practices to guide Federal, State, Trib-17
al and local governments in preparing for, mitigating 18 against, public alerting, and responding to fast-mov-19 ing disasters; 20
(2) proposed changes to plans and policies of 21
relevant Federal agencies to better assist in pre-22
paring for, mitigating against, public alerting, and 23 responding to fast-moving disasters; and 24
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(3) any needed legislative proposals that would 1
support preparing for, mitigating against, public 2
alerting, and responding to fast-moving disasters. 3
(d) FAST-MOVING DISASTER DEFINED.—In this sec-4
tion, the term ‘‘fast-moving disaster’’ means an event that 5 develops or spreads rapidly, causing significant damage 6 and necessitating immediate response, including flash 7 flooding, wildfires, mudslides, and tornados. 8
SEC. 418. PUBLIC ASSISTANCE DASHBOARD. 9
Title IV of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 10 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170 et seq.) is fur-11 ther amended by adding at the end the following: 12
‘‘SEC. 432. PUBLIC ASSISTANCE DASHBOARD. 13
‘‘For each major disaster that is declared by the 14
President under section 401 on or after the date that is 15 180 days after the date of enactment of the FEMA Act 16 of 2025, the Administrator shall, not later than 90 days 17 after such declaration, make publicly available on the 18 website of the Agency an interactive, publicly accessible 19 dashboard that tracks the following information with re-20 spect to each such disaster: 21
‘‘(1) Information on each cost estimate sub-22
mitted under section 409, including information on 23
each applicant, date of each submission, descriptions 24 for each project, cost of each project with a break-25
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down of the Federal cost-share and non-Federal 1
cost-share. 2
‘‘(2) Status of the Agency review and approval 3
of each cost estimate submitted pursuant to section 4
409, including the date a project is approved and 5
the date the grant is issued. 6
‘‘(3) An explanation for any cost estimate that 7
is not approved or if the grant is not provided in the 8 timeline as required by section 409 and any correc-9
tive action taken by the Agency to conform with the 10
requirements of section 409. 11
‘‘(4) Project-level progress updates, consistent 12
with the reporting requirements established under 13
section 409. 14
‘‘(5) Information on requests made under sec-15
tion 801, including dates and amounts of each re-16
quest, timelines for submissions of required informa-17 tion, and dates of approval and disbursement of 18
funds. 19
‘‘(6) Any other information the Administrator 20
determines to be appropriate to ensure transparency 21
and accountability in the administration of public 22
assistance.’’. 23
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SEC. 419. IMPROVING DISASTER WORKFORCE RETENTION. 1
(a) I MPROVING DISASTER WORKFORCE RETENTION 2
IN NONCONTIGUOUS COMMUNITIES.— 3
(1) I N GENERAL .—The Administrator of the 4
Federal Emergency Management Agency shall con-5
duct a study on the effectiveness of practices of the 6 Agency relating to hiring, recruitment, and retention 7 in noncontiguous communities by soliciting feedback 8
from staff in such communities. 9
(2) CONTENTS.—In conducting the study under 10
paragraph (1), the Administrator shall— 11
(A) evaluate the recruitment strategies of 12
the Agency and efforts of the Agency to broad-13
en the pool of qualified local candidates; 14
(B) prioritize input from communities in 15
which there are the most severe staffing short-16
ages; and 17
(C) identify specific steps that the Agency 18
can take to improve opportunities for staff in 19
noncontiguous communities. 20
(3) B RIEFING.—Not later than 6 months after 21
the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator 22 shall brief the Committee on Transportation and In-23
frastructure and the Committee on Homeland Secu-24
rity of the House of Representatives and the Com-25
mittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Af-26
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fairs of the Senate on the results of the study con-1
ducted under paragraph (1). 2
(4) P OLICIES.—The Administrator shall take 3
such actions as are necessary to revise any policies, 4 guidance, or regulations of the Agency to address 5
the disaster workforce challenges in noncontiguous 6
communities identified in the study conducted under 7
paragraph (1). 8
(b) GAO R EVIEW OF DISASTER RESPONSE AND RE-9
COVERY IN NONCONTIGUOUS COMMUNITIES.— 10
(1) I N GENERAL .—The Comptroller General of 11
the United States shall conduct a study on the effec-12 tiveness of disaster response and recovery practices 13 in noncontiguous communities, with a particular 14
focus on recovery efforts relating to damage caused 15
by Super Typhoon Yutu, and compare such practices 16
with the disaster response and recovery practices in 17 contiguous communities. 18
(2) CONTENTS.—In conducting the study under 19
paragraph (1), the Comptroller General shall— 20
(A) analyze ongoing recovery efforts from 21
disasters that have impacted noncontiguous 22
communities; 23
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(B) analyze the level of coordination be-1
tween the Federal Departments and Agencies 2
tasked with disaster response and recovery; 3
(C) assess how effectively Federal agencies 4
coordinate with State emergency management 5
offices; 6
(D) assess the effectiveness of the Area of-7
fices and Regional Advisory Councils of the 8
Agency in assisting noncontiguous communities; 9
and 10
(E) make recommendations on how to im-11
prove the disaster response and recovery out-12
comes in noncontiguous communities. 13
(3) R EPORT.—Not later than 18 months after 14
the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 15
General shall submit to the Committee on Transpor-16
tation and Infrastructure and the Committee on 17
Homeland Security of the House of Representatives 18
and the Committee on Homeland Security and Gov-19
ernmental Affairs of the Senate a report on the 20
study conducted under paragraph (1). 21
(c) PRELIMINARY DAMAGE ASSESSMENT PILOT PRO-22
GRAM.— 23
(1) E STABLISHMENT.—Not later than 1 year 24
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trator of the Federal Emergency Management Agen-1
cy shall establish a pilot program to implement new 2
technology in carrying out a preliminary damage as-3
sessment in a noncontiguous community in which a 4
major disaster has been declared under section 401 5
of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-6
gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170). 7
(2) P RIORITY.—In carrying out the pilot pro-8
gram established under paragraph (1), the Adminis-9
trator shall ensure that the most geographically re-10
mote noncontiguous communities are prioritized. 11
(3) B RIEFING.—Not later than 3 years after 12
the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator 13 shall brief the Committee on Transportation and In-14
frastructure and the Committee on Homeland Secu-15
rity of the House of Representatives and the Com-16
mittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Af-17
fairs of the Senate on the implementation of the 18
pilot program established under paragraph (1). 19
(4) S UNSET.—The pilot program established 20
under paragraph (1) shall terminate on September 21
30, 2030. 22
Æ
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