I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2342
To establish alternate procedures for lump sum payments for certain covered
small disasters, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH25, 2025
Mr. R
OUZER(for himself and Mr. CARTERof Louisiana) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and
Infrastructure
A BILL
To establish alternate procedures for lump sum payments
for certain covered small disasters, 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 ‘‘State-Managed Dis-4
aster Relief Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. ALTERNATIVE PROCEDURES FOR COVERED SMALL 6
DISASTERS. 7
The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-8
gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.) is amended 9
by adding at the end the following: 10
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‘‘TITLE VIII—ALTERNATIVE PRO-1
CEDURES FOR COVERED 2
SMALL DISASTERS 3
‘‘SEC. 801. ALTERNATIVE PROCEDURES FOR COVERED 4
SMALL DISASTERS. 5
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Governor of a State or the 6
governing body of an Indian tribal government for the 7
area in which a covered small disaster occurs may request 8
a lump sum payment of the estimated damages calculated 9
under subsection (b) for such disaster in lieu of any assist-10
ance under the Public Assistance Program for such dis-11
aster. 12
‘‘(b) C
ALCULATION.—Notwithstanding the require-13
ments of section 206.47(b) of title 44, Code of Federal 14
Regulations, a payment under subsection (a) shall be 15
equal to the amount that is 80 percent of the total esti-16
mated cost of assistance under the Public Assistance Pro-17
gram for a covered small disaster in the area of jurisdic-18
tion of the State or Indian tribal government requesting 19
such payment. 20
‘‘(c) L
IMITATIONS.— 21
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—A State or Indian tribal 22
government receiving a payment under this section 23
may not receive assistance under the Public Assist-24
ance Program with respect to the covered small dis-25
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aster for which a payment was accepted under this 1
section. 2
‘‘(2) F
INAL PAYMENT.— 3
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—A payment under this 4
section may not be increased or decreased based 5
on actual costs calculated for a covered small 6
disaster. 7
‘‘(B) E
XCEPTION.—Notwithstanding sub-8
paragraph (A), the Administrator may adjust a 9
payment under this section in the event of un-10
foreseen circumstances at no fault of the appli-11
cant. 12
‘‘(3) S
ELECTION OF OPTION .—A State or In-13
dian tribal government may designate to the Federal 14
Emergency Management Agency on an annual basis 15
the interest of such State or Indian tribal govern-16
ment in participating in the small disaster authority. 17
‘‘(4) I
NDICATION.—A State or Indian tribal 18
government shall indicate at the time of the submis-19
sion of a request for a major disaster declaration 20
that such State or Indian tribal government is re-21
questing assistance for such incident under this sec-22
tion. 23
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‘‘(5) TIMING REQUIREMENT .—The Adminis-1
trator and the State or Indian tribal government 2
shall— 3
‘‘(A) reach an agreement on the amount 4
under subsection (b) not later than 90 days 5
after the incident; or 6
‘‘(B) administer the incident under the 7
procedures and authorities for the Public As-8
sistance Program. 9
‘‘(6) A
DMINISTRATIVE PLAN.—To be eligible for 10
assistance under this section, a State or Indian trib-11
al government shall have an approved administrative 12
plan in place at the time of the obligation of funds 13
provided under this section. 14
‘‘(d) U
SE OFFUNDS.—A State or Indian tribal gov-15
ernment receiving a payment under this section may use 16
such payment for recovery for the covered small disaster 17
in any manner determined appropriate by the respective 18
Governor or governing body of such State or Indian tribal 19
government if such funds— 20
‘‘(1) address impacts and needs resulting from 21
the declared disaster incident; 22
‘‘(2) are provided to State, Indian tribal govern-23
ment, territorial and local government agencies, and 24
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private non-profit entities eligible for Public Assist-1
ance Program funding; and 2
‘‘(3) are used in a manner that complies with 3
applicable environmental, historic preservation, and 4
civil rights laws (including the National Environ-5
mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) 6
and the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 7
(54 U.S.C. 300101 et seq.)) and any applicable re-8
siliency standards under section 203. 9
‘‘(e) C
OMPLIANCEWITHOTHERLAWS ANDREGULA-10
TIONS.—A State or Indian tribal government shall be re-11
sponsible for ensuring compliance under subsection (d)(3). 12
‘‘(f) R
ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-13
tion shall be construed to affect the eligibility of a State 14
or Indian tribal government for assistance under section 15
404. 16
‘‘(g) R
EPORT TOFEMA.—A State or governing body 17
of an Indian tribal government shall submit to the Federal 18
Emergency Management Agency an annual report of ex-19
penses for a covered small disaster in the area of jurisdic-20
tion of the respective State or Indian tribal government. 21
‘‘(h) S
AVINGSCLAUSE.—Nothing in this section shall 22
be construed to affect any program in title IV or V that 23
is not a Public Assistance Program. 24
‘‘(i) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 25
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‘‘(1) COVERED SMALL DISASTER .—The term 1
‘covered small disaster’ means a major disaster de-2
clared under section 401 or an emergency declared 3
under section 501 with estimated damage eligible 4
under the Public Assistance Program of less than or 5
equal to 125 percent of the State’s per capita indi-6
cator. 7
‘‘(2) P
UBLIC ASSISTANCE PROGRAM .—The term 8
‘Public Assistance Program’ means the programs 9
under sections 403, 406, 407, and 502.’’. 10
Æ
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