I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 152
To amend the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 to develop a study
regarding streamlining and consolidating information collection and pre-
liminary damage assessments, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY3, 2025
Mr. E
ZELLintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Transportation and Infrastructure
A BILL
To amend the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 to
develop a study regarding streamlining and consolidating
information collection and preliminary damage assess-
ments, 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. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Disaster As-4
sistance Coordination Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. STUDY TO STREAMLINE AND CONSOLIDATE INFOR-1
MATION COLLECTION AND PRELIMINARY 2
DAMAGE ASSESSMENTS. 3
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 1223 of the Disaster Re-4
covery Reform Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–254) is 5
amended to read as follows: 6
‘‘SEC. 1223. STUDY TO STREAMLINE AND CONSOLIDATE IN-7
FORMATION COLLECTION AND PRELIMINARY 8
DAMAGE ASSESSMENTS. 9
‘‘(a) I
NFORMATIONCOLLECTION.—Not later than 2 10
years after the date of enactment of this section, the Ad-11
ministrator, in coordination with the Small Business Ad-12
ministration, the Department of Housing and Urban De-13
velopment, the Disaster Assistance Working Group of the 14
Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Effi-15
ciency, and other appropriate agencies, shall— 16
‘‘(1) conduct a study and develop a plan, con-17
sistent with law, under which the collection of infor-18
mation from disaster assistance applicants and 19
grantees will be modified, streamlined, expedited, ef-20
ficient, flexible, consolidated, and simplified to be 21
less burdensome, duplicative, and time consuming 22
for applicants and grantees; and 23
‘‘(2) develop a plan for the regular collection 24
and reporting of information on Federal disaster as-25
sistance awarded, including the establishment and 26
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•HR 152 IH
maintenance of a website for presenting the informa-1
tion to the public. 2
‘‘(b) P
RELIMINARYDAMAGEASSESSMENTS.—Not 3
later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this sec-4
tion, the Administrator, in consultation with the Council 5
of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, 6
shall convene a working group on a regular basis with the 7
Secretary of Labor, the Director of the Office of Manage-8
ment and Budget, the Secretary of Health and Human 9
Services, the Administrator of the Small Business Admin-10
istration, the Secretary of Transportation, the Assistant 11
Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development, and 12
other appropriate agencies as the Administrator considers 13
necessary, to— 14
‘‘(1) identify and describe the potential areas of 15
duplication or fragmentation in preliminary damage 16
assessments after disaster declarations; 17
‘‘(2) determine the applicability of having one 18
Federal agency make the assessments for all agen-19
cies; and 20
‘‘(3) identify potential emerging technologies, 21
such as unmanned aircraft systems, consistent with 22
the requirements established in the FEMA Account-23
ability, Modernization and Transparency Act of 24
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2017 (42 U.S.C. 5121 note), to expedite the admin-1
istration of preliminary damage assessments. 2
‘‘(c) C
OMPREHENSIVE REPORT.—The Administrator 3
shall submit one comprehensive report that comprises the 4
plans developed under subsections (a)(1) and (a)(2) and 5
a report of the findings of the working group convened 6
under subsection (b), which may include recommenda-7
tions, to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastruc-8
ture of the House of Representatives and the Committee 9
on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 10
Senate. 11
‘‘(d) P
UBLICAVAILABILITY.—The comprehensive re-12
port developed under subsection (c) shall be made avail-13
able to the public and posted on the website of the Federal 14
Emergency Management Agency— 15
‘‘(1) in pre-compressed, easily downloadable 16
versions that are made available in all appropriate 17
formats; and 18
‘‘(2) in machine-readable format, if applicable. 19
‘‘(e) S
OURCES OFINFORMATION.—In preparing the 20
comprehensive report, any publication, database, or web- 21
based resource, and any information compiled by any gov-22
ernment agency, nongovernmental organization, or other 23
entity that is made available may be used. 24
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‘‘(f) BRIEFING.—Not later than 180 days after sub-1
mission of the comprehensive report, the Administrator of 2
the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or a des-3
ignee, and a member of the Council of the Inspectors Gen-4
eral on Integrity and Efficiency, or a designee, shall brief, 5
upon request, the appropriate congressional committees on 6
the findings and any recommendations made in the com-7
prehensive report.’’. 8
(b) T
ECHNICALAMENDMENT.—The item relating to 9
section 1223 in the table of contents of the FAA Reau-10
thorization Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–254) is amended 11
to read as follows: 12
‘‘Sec. 1223. Study to streamline and consolidate information collection and pre-
liminary damage assessments.’’.
Æ
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