| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 1393 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To direct the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency |
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| 6 | 6 | | to conduct a review of the criteria for evaluating the cost-effectiveness |
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| 7 | 7 | | of certain mitigation projects, and for other purposes. |
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| 8 | 8 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 9 | 9 | | FEBRUARY14, 2025 |
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| 10 | 10 | | Mr. S |
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| 11 | 11 | | TANTON(for himself and Mr. LAMALFA) introduced the following bill; |
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| 12 | 12 | | which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure |
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| 13 | 13 | | A BILL |
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| 14 | 14 | | To direct the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Man- |
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| 15 | 15 | | agement Agency to conduct a review of the criteria for |
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| 16 | 16 | | evaluating the cost-effectiveness of certain mitigation |
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| 17 | 17 | | projects, and for other purposes. |
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| 18 | 18 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 19 | 19 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 20 | 20 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 21 | 21 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Wildfire Response Im-4 |
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| 22 | 22 | | provement Act’’. 5 |
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| 23 | 23 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:03 Mar 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1393.IH H1393 |
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| 24 | 24 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
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| 25 | 25 | | •HR 1393 IH |
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| 26 | 26 | | SEC. 2. FIRE MANAGEMENT ASSISTANCE PROGRAM POL-1 |
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| 27 | 27 | | ICY. 2 |
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| 28 | 28 | | Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 3 |
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| 29 | 29 | | of this Act, the Administrator of the Federal Emergency 4 |
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| 30 | 30 | | Management Agency shall recommend such regulations or 5 |
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| 31 | 31 | | guidance as are necessary to make eligible assessments 6 |
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| 32 | 32 | | and emergency stabilization to protect public safety, in-7 |
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| 33 | 33 | | cluding for the fire management assistance program under 8 |
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| 34 | 34 | | section 420 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 9 |
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| 35 | 35 | | Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5187), irrespective 10 |
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| 36 | 36 | | of the incident period for a declared fire. 11 |
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| 37 | 37 | | SEC. 3. CHANGES TO PUBLIC ASSISTANCE POLICY GUIDE. 12 |
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| 38 | 38 | | Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 13 |
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| 39 | 39 | | of this Act, the Administrator of the Federal Emergency 14 |
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| 40 | 40 | | Management Agency shall amend the Public Assistance 15 |
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| 41 | 41 | | Program and Policy Guide of the Federal Emergency 16 |
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| 42 | 42 | | Management Agency to include guidance on wildfire-spe-17 |
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| 43 | 43 | | cific recovery challenges, including debris removal, emer-18 |
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| 44 | 44 | | gency protective measures, and the resulting toxicity of 19 |
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| 45 | 45 | | drinking water resources. 20 |
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| 46 | 46 | | SEC. 4. MITIGATION COST-EFFECTIVENESS. 21 |
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| 47 | 47 | | (a) I |
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| 48 | 48 | | NGENERAL.—The Administrator of the Federal 22 |
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| 49 | 49 | | Emergency Management Agency shall conduct a review of 23 |
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| 50 | 50 | | the criteria for evaluating the cost-effectiveness of projects 24 |
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| 51 | 51 | | intended to mitigate the impacts of wildfire under sections 25 |
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| 52 | 52 | | 203 and 404 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 26 |
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| 54 | 54 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 |
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| 55 | 55 | | •HR 1393 IH |
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| 56 | 56 | | and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5133; 5170c), 1 |
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| 57 | 57 | | including— 2 |
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| 58 | 58 | | (1) the establishment of pre-calculated benefits 3 |
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| 59 | 59 | | criterion for common defensible space mitigation 4 |
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| 60 | 60 | | projects for wildfire mitigation; 5 |
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| 61 | 61 | | (2) the use of nature-based infrastructure in 6 |
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| 62 | 62 | | wildfire mitigation; 7 |
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| 63 | 63 | | (3) considerations for vegetation management 8 |
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| 64 | 64 | | for wildfire mitigation; 9 |
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| 65 | 65 | | (4) reducing the negative effects of wildfire 10 |
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| 66 | 66 | | smoke on public health; and 11 |
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| 67 | 67 | | (5) lessening the impact of wildfires on water 12 |
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| 68 | 68 | | infrastructure. 13 |
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| 69 | 69 | | (b) U |
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| 70 | 70 | | PDATEDCRITERIA.—Not later than 1 year after 14 |
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| 71 | 71 | | the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall 15 |
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| 72 | 72 | | issue such guidance as is necessary to— 16 |
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| 73 | 73 | | (1) update criteria for evaluating the cost-effec-17 |
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| 74 | 74 | | tiveness of mitigation projects under sections 203 18 |
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| 75 | 75 | | and 404 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 19 |
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| 76 | 76 | | and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5133; 20 |
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| 77 | 77 | | 5170c) based on the results of the review conducted 21 |
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| 78 | 78 | | under subsection (a); and 22 |
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| 79 | 79 | | (2) prioritize projects under such sections based 23 |
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| 80 | 80 | | on the criteria updated under paragraph (1). 24 |
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| 81 | 81 | | Æ |
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| 82 | 82 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:03 Mar 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1393.IH H1393 |
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| 83 | 83 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB |
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