I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1245
To improve individual assistance provided by the Federal Emergency
Management Agency, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY12, 2025
Mr. E
DWARDS(for himself, Ms. TITUS, Mr. CARTERof Louisiana, Ms.
T
OKUDA, Mr. SHERMAN, and Mr. NEGUSE) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastruc-
ture, and in addition to the Committees on Financial Services, and Small
Business, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned
A BILL
To improve individual assistance provided by the Federal
Emergency Management Agency, and for other purposes.
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
HORTTITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4
‘‘Disaster Survivors Fairness Act of 2025’’. 5
(b) T
ABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents for 6
this Act is as follows: 7
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Information sharing for federal agencies.
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Sec. 3. Universal application for individual assistance.
Sec. 4. Repair and rebuilding.
Sec. 5. Direct assistance.
Sec. 6. State-managed housing pilot authority.
Sec. 7. Management costs.
Sec. 8. Funding for online guides for post-disaster assistance.
Sec. 9. Individual assistance dashboard.
Sec. 10. FEMA reports.
Sec. 11. Sheltering of emergency response personnel.
Sec. 12. Improved rental assistance.
Sec. 13. GAO report on preliminary damage assessments.
Sec. 14. Applicability.
Sec. 15. GAO report to Congress on challenges under public assistance alter-
native procedures.
(c) DEFINITIONS.—Except as otherwise provided, the 1
terms used in this Act have the meanings given such terms 2
in section 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 3
and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122). 4
SEC. 2. INFORMATION SHARING FOR FEDERAL AGENCIES. 5
(a) E
STABLISHMENT OF UNIFIEDDISASTERAPPLI-6
CATIONSYSTEM.— 7
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Administrator of the 8
Federal Emergency Management Agency shall estab-9
lish and maintain a web-based interagency electronic 10
information sharing system, to be known as the 11
‘‘unified disaster application system’’, to— 12
(A) facilitate the administration of the uni-13
versal application for direct Federal disaster as-14
sistance established under section 3; 15
(B) carry out the purposes of disaster as-16
sistance programs swiftly, efficiently, and in ac-17
cordance with applicable laws, regulations, and 18
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the privacy and data protections provided under 1
this section; and 2
(C) support the detection, prevention, and 3
investigation of waste, fraud, abuse, or discrimi-4
nation in the administration of disaster assist-5
ance programs. 6
(2) A
UTHORITIES OF ADMINISTRATOR .—In es-7
tablishing and maintaining the unified disaster ap-8
plication system under this subsection, the Adminis-9
trator may collect and maintain disaster assistance 10
information received from a disaster assistance 11
agency, a block grant recipient, or an applicant for 12
a disaster assistance program and share such infor-13
mation with any other disaster assistance agency or 14
block grant recipient using such system. 15
(3) R
EQUIREMENTS.—The Administrator shall 16
ensure that the unified disaster application system 17
established and maintained under this subsection— 18
(A) allows an applicant to receive status 19
updates on an application for disaster assist-20
ance programs submitted though such system; 21
(B) allows for applicants to update disaster 22
assistance information throughout the recovery 23
journeys of such applicants in accordance with 24
established application timeframes; 25
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(C) allows for the distribution to applicants 1
of information about additional recovery re-2
sources that may be available in a disaster 3
stricken area; 4
(D) provides an applicant with information 5
and documentation relating to an application 6
for a disaster assistance program submitted by 7
such applicant; and 8
(E) contains any other capabilities deter-9
mined necessary by the head of a disaster as-10
sistance agency. 11
(b) D
ATASECURITY.—The Administrator may facili-12
tate the collection of disaster assistance information into 13
the unified disaster application system established under 14
subsection (a) only after the following requirements have 15
been met: 16
(1) The Administrator certifies that the unified 17
disaster application system substantially complies 18
with the data security standards and best practices 19
established pursuant to subchapter II of chapter 35 20
of title 44, United States Code, and any other appli-21
cable Federal information security policy. 22
(2) The Secretary of Homeland Security pub-23
lishes a privacy impact assessment for the unified 24
disaster application system, in accordance with sec-25
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tion 208(b)(1)(B) of the E-Government Act of 2002 1
(44 U.S.C. 3501 note). 2
(3) The Administrator, after consulting with 3
disaster assistance agencies, publishes standard 4
rules of behavior for disaster assistance agencies, 5
block grant recipients, and personnel granted access 6
to disaster assistance information to protect such in-7
formation from improper disclosure. 8
(c) C
OLLECTION AND SHARING OF ADDITIONAL 9
R
ECORDS ANDINFORMATION.— 10
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Administrator may au-11
thorize the additional collection, maintenance, shar-12
ing, and use of disaster assistance information by 13
publishing a notice on the unified disaster applica-14
tion system established under subsection (a) that in-15
cludes a detailed description of— 16
(A) the specific amendments to the collec-17
tion, maintenance, and sharing of disaster as-18
sistance information authorized; 19
(B) why each such amendment to how dis-20
aster assistance information is collected, main-21
tained, or shared is necessary to carry out the 22
purposes of a disaster assistance program and 23
consistent with the fair information practice 24
principles; and 25
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(C) the disaster assistance agencies and 1
block grant recipients that will be granted ac-2
cess to the additional information to carry out 3
the purposes of any disaster assistance pro-4
gram. 5
(2) N
OTICE AND PUBLICATION REQUIRE -6
MENTS.—The publication of a notice under para-7
graph (1) of a revision to the unified disaster appli-8
cation system of records prior to any new collection, 9
or uses, of Privacy Act categories of records, to 10
carry out the purposes of a disaster assistance pro-11
gram with regard to a disaster declared by the 12
President under section 401 or 501 of the Robert T. 13
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 14
Act (42 U.S.C. 5170; 5191), shall be deemed to sat-15
isfy the notice and publication requirements of sec-16
tion 552a(e)(4) of title 5, United States Code, for 17
the entire period of performance for any assistance 18
provided under a disaster assistance program. 19
(3) W
AIVER OF INFORMATION COLLECTION RE -20
QUIREMENTS.— 21
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Upon the declaration of 22
a major disaster or emergency pursuant to sec-23
tions 401 or 501 of the Robert T. Stafford Dis-24
aster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 25
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U.S.C. 5170; 5191) by the President, the Ad-1
ministrator may waive the requirements of sub-2
chapter I of chapter 35 of title 44, United 3
States Code, with respect to voluntary collection 4
of information for the entire period of perform-5
ance for any assistance provided under a dis-6
aster assistance program. 7
(B) T
RANSPARENCY.—Upon exercising the 8
waiver authority under subparagraph (A), the 9
Administrator shall— 10
(i) promptly post on a website of the 11
Federal Emergency Management Agency a 12
brief justification for such waiver, the an-13
ticipated period of time such waiver will be 14
in effect, and the disaster assistance offices 15
within the Federal Emergency Manage-16
ment Agency to which such waiver shall 17
apply; and 18
(ii) update the information relating to 19
such waiver, as applicable. 20
(4) GAO
REVIEW OF WAIVER OF INFORMATION 21
COLLECTION REQUIREMENTS .— 22
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 23
after the date of enactment of this Act, the 24
Comptroller General of the United States shall 25
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issue a report describing the benefits and poten-1
tial risks associated with authorizing the waiver 2
of the information collection requirements de-3
scribed in paragraph (3). 4
(B) C
ONTENTS.—The report required 5
under subparagraph (A) shall include an assess-6
ment of the extent to which a waiver described 7
in paragraph (3) would— 8
(i) affect the paperwork burden for in-9
dividuals, small businesses, State, local and 10
tribal governments, and other persons; 11
(ii) affect the consistent application of 12
Federal laws relating to— 13
(I) privacy and confidentiality; 14
(II) security of information; and 15
(III) access to information; and 16
(iii) encourage or deter a State or 17
other entity from participating in the vol-18
untary collection of information for the du-19
ration of a major disaster or emergency. 20
(d) U
SE BYOTHERFEDERALAGENCIES.— 21
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Administrator may per-22
mit a Federal agency other than a disaster assist-23
ance agency listed in subparagraphs (A) through 24
(D) of subsection (f)(3) to use the unified disaster 25
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application system established under subsection (a) 1
for the purpose of facilitating disaster-related assist-2
ance if such agency enters into an agreement con-3
taining the terms described in paragraph (2). 4
(2) A
GENCY AGREEMENT .—An agreement en-5
tered into under paragraph (1) shall contain the fol-6
lowing terms: 7
(A) The Federal agency shall— 8
(i) collect, share, maintain, and use 9
disaster assistance information in compli-10
ance with this section and any policies of 11
the Federal Emergency Management 12
Agency and any information protection and 13
use policies of such Federal agency; and 14
(ii) train any personnel granted access 15
to disaster assistance information on the 16
rules of behavior established by the Admin-17
istrator under subsection (b)(3). 18
(B) In the event of any unauthorized dis-19
closure of disaster assistance information, the 20
Federal agency shall— 21
(i) notify the Administrator within 24 22
hours of discovering any such unauthorized 23
disclosure; 24
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(ii) cooperate fully with the Adminis-1
trator in the investigation and remediation 2
of any such disclosure; 3
(iii) cooperate fully in the prosecution 4
of a person responsible for such disclosure; 5
and 6
(iv) assume the responsibility for any 7
compensation, civil liability, or other reme-8
diation measures, whether awarded by a 9
judgment of a court or agreed as a com-10
promise of any potential claims by or on 11
behalf of an applicant, including by obtain-12
ing credit monitoring and remediation 13
services, for an improper disclosure that 14
is— 15
(I) caused, directly or indirectly, 16
by the acts or omissions of officers, 17
employees, and contractors of the 18
agency; or 19
(II) from any electronic system 20
of records that is created or main-21
tained by the agency pursuant to sec-22
tion 552a(e) of title 5, United States 23
Code. 24
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(3) PUBLICATION OF AGENCY AGREEMENT .— 1
The Administrator shall publish an agency agree-2
ment entered into under this subsection on the same 3
website as the unified disaster application system es-4
tablished under subsection (a). 5
(e) R
ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—The sharing and use 6
of disaster assistance information that is subject to the 7
requirements of section 552a of title 5, United States 8
Code, by disaster assistance agencies and block grant re-9
cipients— 10
(1) shall not be— 11
(A) construed as a matching program for 12
purposes of section 552a(a)(8) of such title; or 13
(B) subject to the remaining computer 14
matching provisions of section 552a of such 15
title; and 16
(2) shall be in addition to any other law pro-17
viding for the sharing or use of such information. 18
(f) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 19
(1) A
PPLICANT.—The term ‘‘applicant’’ 20
means— 21
(A) a person who applies for disaster as-22
sistance from a disaster assistance program; 23
and 24
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(B) a person on whose behalf a person de-1
scribed in subparagraph (A) has applied for dis-2
aster assistance. 3
(2) B
LOCK GRANT RECIPIENT .—The term 4
‘‘block grant recipient’’ means a State, local govern-5
ment, or Indian Tribe that receives assistance 6
through the disaster assistance program described in 7
paragraph (5)(B)(i). 8
(3) D
ISASTER ASSISTANCE AGENCY .—The term 9
‘‘disaster assistance agency’’ means— 10
(A) the Federal Emergency Management 11
Agency; 12
(B) the Department of Housing and 13
Urban Development; 14
(C) the Small Business Administration; 15
(D) the Department of Agriculture; and 16
(E) any other Federal agency that the Ad-17
ministrator permits to use the unified disaster 18
application system under subsection (d). 19
(4) D
ISASTER ASSISTANCE INFORMATION .—The 20
term ‘‘disaster assistance information’’ includes any 21
personal, demographic, biographical, geographical, 22
financial information, or other information that a 23
disaster assistance agency or block grant recipient is 24
authorized to collect, maintain, share, or use to proc-25
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ess an application for disaster assistance or other-1
wise carry out a disaster assistance program. 2
(5) D
ISASTER ASSISTANCE PROGRAM .—The 3
term ‘‘disaster assistance program’’ means— 4
(A) any program that provides assistance 5
to individuals and households under title IV or 6
title V of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 7
and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170 8
et seq.); or 9
(B) any other assistance program carried 10
out by a disaster assistance agency that pro-11
vides assistance to an individual, household, or 12
organization related to a major disaster or 13
emergency declared under sections 401 or 501 14
of such Act, including— 15
(i) assistance for activities related to 16
disaster relief, long-term recovery, restora-17
tion of infrastructure and housing, eco-18
nomic revitalization, and mitigation that 19
are authorized under title I of the Housing 20
and Community Development Act of 1974 21
(42 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.); 22
(ii) any loan that is authorized under 23
section 7(b) of the Small Business Act (15 24
U.S.C. 636(b)); and 25
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(iii) the distribution of food benefit al-1
lotments as authorized under section 412 2
of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 3
and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 4
5179) and section 5(h) of the Food Stamp 5
Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 2014(h)). 6
SEC. 3. UNIVERSAL APPLICATION FOR INDIVIDUAL ASSIST-7
ANCE. 8
(a) U
NIVERSALAPPLICATION.—The Administrator 9
of the Federal Emergency Management Agency shall de-10
velop and establish a universal application for direct Fed-11
eral disaster assistance for individuals in areas impacted 12
by emergencies or disasters. 13
(b) C
ONSULTATION AND SUPPORT.— 14
(1) C
ONSULTATION.—In carrying out this sec-15
tion, the Administrator shall consult with the fol-16
lowing: 17
(A) The Director of the Office of Manage-18
ment and Budget. 19
(B) The Administrator of the Small Busi-20
ness Administration. 21
(C) The Secretary of Housing and Urban 22
Development. 23
(D) The Secretary of Agriculture. 24
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(2) SUPPORT.—The entities described in para-1
graph (1) shall provide prompt support to the Ad-2
ministrator. 3
(c) S
URVEY.—The application established under sub-4
section (a) shall include a voluntary survey to collect the 5
demographic data of an applicant. 6
(d) GAO A
SSESSMENT ON IDENTITYTHEFT AND 7
D
ISASTERFRAUD IN DISASTERASSISTANCEPRO-8
GRAMS.—Not later than 1 year after the date of enact-9
ment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United 10
States shall— 11
(1) conduct an assessment of improper and po-12
tentially fraudulent Federal disaster assistance for 13
individuals made to survivors of major disasters de-14
clared in 2020 and 2021, including through identity 15
theft; and 16
(2) submit to the Committee on Transportation 17
and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives 18
and the Committee on Homeland Security and Gov-19
ernmental Affairs of the Senate a report that de-20
scribes— 21
(A) the prevalence of improper and poten-22
tially fraudulent Federal disaster assistance for 23
individuals made to registrants who used invalid 24
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information to apply for disaster assistance, in-1
cluding through identity theft; 2
(B) the number of disaster survivors whose 3
claims for Federal disaster assistance for indi-4
viduals were denied due to another individual 5
filing a fraudulent application using their per-6
sonal identifying information; 7
(C) the adequacy of existing fraud preven-8
tion protocols in place on the Federal Emer-9
gency Management Agency’s online application 10
for Federal disaster assistance for individuals; 11
and 12
(D) recommendations for improving the 13
identity verification protocols in place for Fed-14
eral disaster assistance for individuals. 15
SEC. 4. REPAIR AND REBUILDING. 16
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 408(b)(1) of the Robert 17
T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 18
(42 U.S.C. 5174(b)(1)) is amended— 19
(1) by striking ‘‘rendered uninhabitable’’ and 20
inserting ‘‘damaged by a major disaster’’; and 21
(2) by striking ‘‘uninhabitable, as a result of 22
damage caused by a major disaster’’ and inserting 23
‘‘damaged by a major disaster’’. 24
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(b) HAZARDMITIGATION.—Section 408 of the Rob-1
ert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 2
Act (42 U.S.C. 5174) is amended— 3
(1) in subsection (c) by adding at the end the 4
following: 5
‘‘(5) H
AZARD MITIGATION.— 6
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The President may 7
provide financial assistance to individuals and 8
households whose primary residence, utilities, or 9
residential infrastructure are damaged by a 10
major disaster, for cost-effective hazard mitiga-11
tion measures that reduce threats to life and 12
property, or future damage to such residence, 13
utilities, or infrastructure in future disasters. 14
‘‘(B) R
ELATIONSHIP TO OTHER ASSIST -15
ANCE.—A recipient of assistance provided 16
under this paragraph shall not be required to 17
show that the assistance can be met through 18
other means, except insurance proceeds.’’; and 19
(2) in subsection (h)— 20
(A) in paragraph (1) by inserting ‘‘, finan-21
cial assistance for hazard mitigation under sub-22
section (c)(5)(A),’’ after ‘‘subsection 23
(c)(1)(A)(i)’’; 24
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(B) in paragraph (3) by striking ‘‘para-1
graphs (1) and (2)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraphs 2
(1), (2), and (3)’’; and 3
(C) by adding at the end the following: 4
‘‘(5) H
AZARD MITIGATION.—The maximum fi-5
nancial assistance any individual or household may 6
receive under subsection (c)(5) shall be equivalent to 7
the amount set forth in paragraph (1) with respect 8
to a single major disaster.’’. 9
SEC. 5. DIRECT ASSISTANCE. 10
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 408(c) of the Robert T. 11
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 12
(42 U.S.C. 5174(c)) is further amended by striking para-13
graph (2) and inserting the following: 14
‘‘(2) R
EPAIRS.— 15
‘‘(A) F
INANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR RE -16
PAIRS.—The President may provide financial 17
assistance for the repair of owner-occupied pri-18
vate residences, utilities, and residential infra-19
structure (such as a private access route) dam-20
aged by a major disaster, or with respect to in-21
dividuals with disabilities, rendered inaccessible 22
by a major disaster. 23
‘‘(B) D
IRECT ASSISTANCE FOR REPAIRS .— 24
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‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The President 1
may provide direct assistance to individuals 2
and households who are unable to make 3
use of financial assistance under subpara-4
graph (A) and when there is a lack of 5
available resources, for— 6
‘‘(I) the repair of owner-occupied 7
private residences, utilities, and resi-8
dential infrastructure (such as a pri-9
vate access route) damaged by a 10
major disaster, or with respect to indi-11
viduals with disabilities, rendered in-12
accessible by a disaster; and 13
‘‘(II) eligible hazard mitigation 14
measures that reduce the likelihood 15
and future damage to such residences, 16
utilities, and infrastructure. 17
‘‘(ii) E
LIGIBILITY.—A recipient of as-18
sistance under this subparagraph shall not 19
be eligible for assistance under paragraph 20
(1), unless otherwise determined by the 21
Administrator. 22
‘‘(C) R
ELATIONSHIP TO OTHER ASSIST -23
ANCE.—A recipient of assistance provided 24
under this paragraph shall not be required to 25
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show that the assistance can be met through 1
other means, except insurance proceeds.’’. 2
(b) S
TATE- ORINDIANTRIBALGOVERNMENT-AD-3
MINISTEREDASSISTANCE AND OTHERNEEDSASSIST-4
ANCE.—Section 408(f) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 5
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5174(f)) 6
is amended— 7
(1) by striking ‘‘subsections (c)(1)(B), (c)(4), 8
and (e)’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘para-9
graphs (1)(B), (2)(B), and (4) of subsection (c) and 10
subsection (e)’’; and 11
(2) in paragraph (3)(A) by striking ‘‘subsection 12
(c)(1)(B), (c)(4), or (e)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph 13
(1)(B), (2)(B), or (4) of subsection (c) or subsection 14
(e)’’. 15
SEC. 6. STATE-MANAGED HOUSING PILOT AUTHORITY. 16
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 408 of the Robert T. 17
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 18
(42 U.S.C. 5174) is amended— 19
(1) in subsection (f)(3)— 20
(A) in subparagraph (A)— 21
(i) by striking ‘‘A State’’ and insert-22
ing the following: 23
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—A State’’; and 24
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(ii) by adding at the end the fol-1
lowing: 2
‘‘(ii) T
RANSPARENCY.—The President 3
shall make public the criteria used to 4
evaluate applications under clause (i) and 5
determine if a State or Indian tribal gov-6
ernment meets the criteria described in 7
subparagraph (B) to administer grants de-8
scribed in paragraph (1)(A).’’; 9
(B) in subparagraph (C)(ii)— 10
(i) in subclause (I) by striking ‘‘; 11
and’’ and inserting a semicolon; 12
(ii) in subclause (II) by striking the 13
period at the end and inserting a semi-14
colon; and 15
(iii) by adding at the end the fol-16
lowing: 17
‘‘(III) outline the approach of the 18
State to help disaster survivors create 19
a permanent housing plan; and 20
‘‘(IV) outline the approach of the 21
State to provide individual disaster 22
survivors some choice of communities 23
and properties, as practicable.’’; 24
(C) by striking subparagraph (F); 25
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(D) by redesignating subparagraphs (G), 1
(H), (I), and (J) as subparagraphs (F), (G), 2
(H), and (I), respectively; and 3
(E) in subparagraph (I), as so redesig-4
nated— 5
(i) in clause (ii) by striking ‘‘Not later 6
than 2 years after the date of enactment 7
of this paragraph, the’’ and inserting 8
‘‘The’’; and 9
(ii) in clause (iii) by striking ‘‘2 10
years’’ and inserting ‘‘10 years’’; and 11
(2) in subsection (g)— 12
(A) in paragraph (1) by striking ‘‘para-13
graph (2)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraphs (2) and 14
(3)’’; and 15
(B) by adding at the end the following: 16
‘‘(3) D
ISASTER ASSISTANCE.—In the case of as-17
sistance provided under subsections (c)(1)(B), 18
(c)(2)(B), and (c)(4), the Federal share shall be not 19
less than 75 percent.’’. 20
(b) GAO A
SSESSMENT.—Upon the expiration of the 21
authority to carry out section 408(f) of the Robert T. 22
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 23
(42 U.S.C. 5174(f)) as a pilot program, the Comptroller 24
General of the United States shall issue a report on the 25
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effectiveness, successes, and challenges of any pilot pro-1
gram carried out pursuant to such section and make rec-2
ommendations on how to improve the provision of assist-3
ance under such section. 4
SEC. 7. MANAGEMENT COSTS. 5
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 324(b)(2) of the Robert 6
T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 7
(42 U.S.C. 5165b(b)(2)) is amended by adding at the end 8
the following: 9
‘‘(C) I
NDIVIDUAL ASSISTANCE.—A grantee 10
under section 408(f) may be reimbursed not 11
more than 12 percent of the total award 12
amount under each such section. 13
‘‘(D) C
RISIS COUNSELING ASSISTANCE , 14
TRAINING, AND CASE MANAGEMENT SERV -15
ICES.—A grantee and subgrantee, cumulatively, 16
may be reimbursed not more than 15 percent of 17
the total amount of the grant award under ei-18
ther section 416 or 426.’’. 19
(b) A
DMINISTRATIVECOSTS.—Section 408(f)(1) of 20
the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency As-21
sistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5174), as amended by section 5(b) 22
of this Act, is amended— 23
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(1) by striking ‘‘(A) GRANT 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. 8. FUNDING FOR ONLINE GUIDES FOR POST-DISASTER 5
ASSISTANCE. 6
(a) U
SE OFSERVICES OFOTHERAGENCIES.—Sec-7
tion 201(a) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 8
Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5131(a)) is amend-9
ed— 10
(1) in paragraph (7), by striking the period at 11
the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 12
(2) by adding at the end the following: 13
‘‘(8) post-disaster assistance.’’. 14
(b) G
RANTS FOR ONLINEGUIDES FOR ASSIST-15
ANCE.—Section 201 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 16
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5131) 17
is amended by adding at the end the following: 18
‘‘(e) F
UNDING FOR ONLINEGUIDES FORASSIST-19
ANCE.— 20
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Administrator of the 21
Federal Emergency Management Agency may pro-22
vide funding to a State agency established under 23
subsection (c) to establish, update, or operate a 24
website to provide information relating to post-dis-25
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aster recovery funding and resources to a community 1
or an individual impacted by a major disaster or 2
emergency. 3
‘‘(2) M
ANAGEMENT.—A website created under 4
this subsection shall be— 5
‘‘(A) managed by the State agency; and 6
‘‘(B) suitable for the residents of the State 7
of the State agency. 8
‘‘(3) C
ONTENT.—The Administrator may pro-9
vide funding to a State agency under this subsection 10
to establish a website that contains only 1 or more 11
of the following: 12
‘‘(A) A list of Federal, State, and local 13
sources of post-disaster recovery funding or as-14
sistance that may be available to a community 15
after a major disaster or emergency. 16
‘‘(B) A list of Federal, State, and local 17
sources of post-disaster recovery funding or as-18
sistance that may be available to an individual 19
impacted by a major disaster or emergency. 20
‘‘(C) A technical guide that lists and ex-21
plains the costs and benefits of alternatives 22
available to a community to mitigate the im-23
pacts of a major disaster or emergency and pre-24
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pare for sequential hazards such as flooding 1
after a wildfire. 2
‘‘(4) C
OOPERATION.—A State agency that re-3
ceives funding under this subsection shall cooperate 4
with the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of 5
Agriculture, the Secretary of Housing and Urban 6
Development, the Administrator of the Small Busi-7
ness Administration, and the Administrator of the 8
Federal Emergency Management Agency in devel-9
oping a website under this subsection. 10
‘‘(5) U
PDATES.—A State agency that receives 11
funding to establish a website under this subsection 12
shall update the website not less than once every 6 13
months.’’. 14
SEC. 9. INDIVIDUAL ASSISTANCE DASHBOARD. 15
Title IV of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 16
Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170 et seq.) is 17
amended by adding at the end the following: 18
‘‘SEC. 431. INDIVIDUAL ASSISTANCE DASHBOARD. 19
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after a 20
declaration by the President that a major disaster exists 21
under section 401, the Administrator of the Federal 22
Emergency Management Agency shall publish on a 23
website of the Agency an interactive web tool displaying 24
the following information with respect to such disaster: 25
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‘‘(1) The number of applications for assistance 1
under section 408, including a description of the 2
number of applications for assistance related to 3
housing under such section and the number of appli-4
cations for assistance to address other needs under 5
section 408(e). 6
‘‘(2) The number of applications for such as-7
sistance that are approved. 8
‘‘(3) The number of applications for such as-9
sistance that are denied. 10
‘‘(4) A ranked list of the reasons for the denial 11
of such applications, including the number of appli-12
cations for each reason for denial. 13
‘‘(5) If available, the dollar amount of assist-14
ance provided pursuant to section 408 to applicants 15
who are— 16
‘‘(A) property owners with a household an-17
nual income— 18
‘‘(i) above the national median house-19
hold income; and 20
‘‘(ii) below the national median house-21
hold income; and 22
‘‘(B) renters with a household annual in-23
come— 24
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•HR 1245 IH
‘‘(i) above the national median house-1
hold income; and 2
‘‘(ii) below the national median house-3
hold income. 4
‘‘(6) The estimated percentage of residential 5
property that was destroyed as a result of the major 6
disaster, if available. 7
‘‘(7) Any other information that the Adminis-8
trator determines to be relevant. 9
‘‘(b) P
ERSONALLYIDENTIFIABLEINFORMATION.— 10
The Administrator shall ensure that none of the informa-11
tion published under subsection (a) contains the personally 12
identifiable information of an applicant.’’. 13
SEC. 10. FEMA REPORTS. 14
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 15
date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the 16
Federal Emergency Management Agency shall submit to 17
the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of 18
the House of Representatives and the Committee on 19
Homeland Security and Government Affairs of the Senate 20
a report with respect to fiscal year 2016 through the most 21
recent fiscal year ending before the date of enactment of 22
this Act, and an annual report for any fiscal year begin-23
ning on or after the date of enactment of this Act, describ-24
ing— 25
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(1) the average amount of individual assistance 1
and individual and household assistance provided 2
under section 408 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 3
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 4
5121 et seq.) to, and the rate of denial of individual 5
assistance and individual and household assistance 6
provided under such section for— 7
(A) all individuals; 8
(B) households; 9
(C) individuals and households with a re-10
ported annual income under 75 percent of the 11
national median household income; 12
(D) individuals with a reported annual in-13
come over 125 percent of the national median 14
household income; and 15
(E) individuals with a reported annual in-16
come between 75 percent and 125 percent of 17
the national median household income; and 18
(2) an explanation for any factors causing an 19
increase in the rate of denial of the assistance de-20
scribed in paragraph (1), if applicable. 21
(b) I
NFORMATION REQUIRED.—In the report sub-22
mitted under subsection (a), the Administrator shall de-23
scribe the number of homeowners and the number of rent-24
ers for each category of individuals and households de-25
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scribed in subparagraphs (C) through (E) of subsection 1
(a)(1). 2
SEC. 11. SHELTERING OF EMERGENCY RESPONSE PER-3
SONNEL. 4
Section 403 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 5
and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170b) is 6
amended by adding at the end the following: 7
‘‘(e) S
HELTERING OFEMERGENCYRESPONSEPER-8
SONNEL.— 9
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—For any major disaster for 10
which the President has authorized emergency pro-11
tective measures for an area within the jurisdiction 12
of a State, tribal, or local government, the Adminis-13
trator may reimburse the State, tribal, or local gov-14
ernment for costs relating to sheltering emergency 15
response personnel, including individuals that are a 16
part of the same predisaster household as such per-17
sonnel, in exclusive-use congregate or non-con-18
gregate settings if the Governor of the State or chief 19
executive of the tribal or local government deter-20
mines that the damage or disruption to such area is 21
of such a magnitude as to disrupt the provision of 22
emergency protective measures within such area. 23
‘‘(2) L
IMITATION OF ASSISTANCE.— 24
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‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator 1
may only reimburse a State, tribal, or local gov-2
ernment for the costs of sheltering emergency 3
response personnel under paragraph (1) for 4
such a period of time as the Administrator de-5
termines reasonable based in the individual 6
characteristics of and impacts to the affected 7
area, including the extent of damage, the avail-8
ability of alternative housing options, the avail-9
ability of utilities, and disruptions to transpor-10
tation infrastructure. 11
‘‘(B) M
AXIMUM DURATION OF REIMBURSE -12
MENT.—The period of reimbursement under 13
subparagraph (A) may not exceed the 6-month 14
period beginning on the date on which the inci-15
dent period ends. 16
‘‘(3) D
EFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 17
‘emergency response personnel’ means— 18
‘‘(A) employees or contracted employees 19
providing law enforcement, fire suppression, 20
rescue, emergency medical, emergency manage-21
ment, or emergency communications services; 22
and 23
‘‘(B) elected officials, except members of 24
Congress, responsible for the overseeing or di-25
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recting emergency response operations or recov-1
ery activities.’’. 2
SEC. 12. IMPROVED RENTAL ASSISTANCE. 3
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 408(c)(1)(A)(ii) of the 4
Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist-5
ance Act (42 U.S.C. 5174(c)(1)(A)(ii)) is amended by in-6
serting ‘‘, including local post-disaster rent increases,’’ 7
after ‘‘accommodation provided’’. 8
(b) S
TUDY.—Not later than 1 year after the date of 9
enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Federal 10
Emergency Management Agency shall conduct a study to 11
examine the unique challenges of renters when seeking 12
Federal disaster assistance and any disparities of assist-13
ance provided to homeowners and renters pursuant to sec-14
tion 408 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 15
Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5174) and develop 16
a plan that addresses any identified challenges and dis-17
parities, including any recommendations for legislative ac-18
tion. 19
(c) R
EPORT TOCONGRESS.—Upon completion of the 20
activities carried out under subsection (b), the Adminis-21
trator shall submit to the Committee on Transportation 22
and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives and 23
the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 24
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Affairs of the Senate a report containing the study and 1
recommendations required under subsection (b). 2
(d) C
ONSULTATION.—In completing the study and 3
report required under subsections (b) and (c), the Admin-4
istrator shall consult with appropriate Federal entities and 5
stakeholders involved in disaster housing. 6
SEC. 13. GAO REPORT ON PRELIMINARY DAMAGE ASSESS-7
MENTS. 8
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Comptroller General of the 9
United States shall conduct a study on the practices, in-10
cluding the accuracy of such practices, that the Federal 11
Emergency Management Agency uses when conducting 12
preliminary damage assessments for the purposes of pro-13
viding assistance under section 408 of the Robert T. Staf-14
ford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42. 15
U.S.C. 5174). 16
(b) C
ONTENTS.—The Comptroller General shall in-17
clude in the study conducted under subsection (a) the fol-18
lowing: 19
(1) A comparison of the process and procedures 20
used by the Federal Emergency Management Agen-21
cy to complete preliminary damage assessments to 22
the process and procedures used by private insur-23
ance companies following a major disaster. 24
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(2) A review of training provided to individuals 1
conducting preliminary damage assessments. 2
(3) A comparison of damage estimates for 3
homes owned by individuals above the national me-4
dian income to homes owned by individuals at or 5
below the national median income. 6
SEC. 14. APPLICABILITY. 7
The amendments made by sections 4, 5, 7, 8, and 8
11 shall only apply to amounts appropriated on or after 9
the date of enactment of this Act. 10
SEC. 15. GAO REPORT TO CONGRESS ON CHALLENGES 11
UNDER PUBLIC ASSISTANCE ALTERNATIVE 12
PROCEDURES. 13
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Comptroller General of the 14
United States shall conduct a study on the challenges to 15
States and Territories of the United States in obtaining 16
assistance under section 428 of the Robert T. Stafford 17
Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 18
5189f). 19
(b) C
ONTENTS.—In conducting the study described 20
in subsection (a), the Comptroller General shall study the 21
challenges for assistance described in subsection (a) faced 22
by the following: 23
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(1) Rural areas, as such term is defined in sec-1
tion 423 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 2
and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5189a). 3
(2) Small impoverished communities, as such 4
term is defined in section 203 of such Act. 5
(3) Other communities, areas, or individuals 6
that the Comptroller General determines pertinent. 7
(c) R
EPORT TOCONGRESS.—Not later than 1 year 8
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 9
General shall submit to Congress a report describing the 10
results of the study required under subsection (a). 11
Æ
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