I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 316
To authorize the President to provide disaster assistance to States and Indian
Tribes under a major disaster recovery program, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY9, 2025
Mr. R
OUZERintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
A BILL
To authorize the President to provide disaster assistance
to States and Indian Tribes under a major disaster re-
covery program, 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
‘‘Natural Disaster Recovery Program 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. Natural Disaster Recovery Program.
Sec. 3. Unmet needs assistance.
Sec. 4. Further considerations for disaster declarations.
Sec. 5. Repair and rebuilding.
VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Feb 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\H316.IH H316
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2
•HR 316 IH
Sec. 6. FEMA Emergency Home Repair Program.
Sec. 7. Appeals of individuals and households program benefits.
Sec. 8. Report to Congress on major disaster declarations.
Sec. 9. Review by Comptroller General.
Sec. 10. GAO study on timing of closing out disaster recovery.
SEC. 2. NATURAL DISASTER RECOVERY PROGRAM.
1
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Robert T. Stafford Disaster 2
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et 3
seq.) is amended by adding at the end of title IV the fol-4
lowing: 5
‘‘SEC. 431. NATURAL DISASTER RECOVERY PROGRAM. 6
‘‘(a) N
ATURALDISASTERRECOVERYRESERVE 7
F
UND.— 8
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—There is established in the 9
Treasury of the United States an account to be 10
known as the Natural Disaster Recovery Reserve 11
Fund (in this section referred to as the ‘Fund’). 12
‘‘(2) A
MOUNTS.—The Fund shall consist of— 13
‘‘(A) any amounts appropriated, and de-14
posited in the Fund, for a specific major dis-15
aster declared under section 401; and 16
‘‘(B) amounts deposited into the Fund 17
pursuant to paragraph (4). 18
‘‘(3) U
SE OF FUNDS.—Amounts in the Fund 19
shall be available, pursuant to a declaration of a 20
major disaster— 21
VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Feb 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H316.IH H316
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3
•HR 316 IH
‘‘(A) to States and Indian tribal govern-1
ments for unmet need related to a major dis-2
aster is declared under section 401; and 3
‘‘(B) with respect to grantees that have 4
been allocated assistance for such unmet need, 5
for technical assistance and capacity building 6
under subsection (c)(2) to facilitate planning 7
and increase capacity to administer assistance 8
under this section. 9
‘‘(4) U
NUSED AMOUNTS.—If any amounts made 10
available for assistance under this section to grant-11
ees remain unexpended on the earlier of— 12
‘‘(A) the date that the grantee of such 13
amounts notifies the President that the grantee 14
has completed all activities; or 15
‘‘(B) except as provided in paragraph (5), 16
the expiration of the 6-year period beginning 17
when the President obligates such amounts to 18
the grantee, the President shall transfer such 19
unexpended amounts to the Secretary of the 20
Treasury for deposit into the Fund, except that 21
the President may permit the grantee to retain 22
amounts needed to close out the grant. 23
‘‘(5) E
XTENSION OF PERIOD FOR USE OF 24
FUNDS.—The period under paragraph (4)(B) may 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Feb 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H316.IH H316
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4
•HR 316 IH
be extended by not more than 4 years if, before the 1
expiration of such 6-year period, the President 2
waives this requirement and submits a written jus-3
tification for such waiver to the Committees on Ap-4
propriations of the House of Representatives and the 5
Senate that specifies the period of such extension. 6
‘‘(b) A
SSESSMENT OFUNMETNEED.— 7
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—To assess unmet need with 8
respect to a major disaster under section, not later 9
than 90 days after the declaration of such a dis-10
aster, the President shall coordinate with other Fed-11
eral agencies, as determined appropriate and includ-12
ing the Administrator of the Small Business Admin-13
istration, to obtain data on all recovery needs and 14
the amount of such recovery needs that are unmet, 15
including— 16
‘‘(A) all data on damage caused by the dis-17
aster; 18
‘‘(B) information on how any Federal as-19
sistance provided in connection with the dis-20
aster has been expended; 21
‘‘(C) information on the effect of the dis-22
aster on education, transportation capabilities 23
and dependence, housing needs, health care ca-24
pacity, and displacement of persons; and 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Feb 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H316.IH H316
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5
•HR 316 IH
‘‘(D) the extent of the unmet need remain-1
ing in relation to such disaster. 2
‘‘(2) P
UBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The President 3
shall make publicly available the data described in 4
paragraph (1) for any major disaster for which as-5
sistance is provided from the Fund under this sec-6
tion. 7
‘‘(3) P
ROTECTION OF PERSONALLY IDENTIFI -8
ABLE INFORMATION .—In carrying out this sub-9
section, the President and any recipient of funds 10
under this section shall take such actions as may be 11
necessary to ensure that personally identifiable in-12
formation regarding recipients of assistance provided 13
under this section is not made publicly available by 14
any agency with which information is shared pursu-15
ant to this subsection. 16
‘‘(c) A
DMINISTRATIVECOSTS.— 17
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—A State or Indian tribal 18
government receiving a grant under this section may 19
use not more than 13 percent of the amount of 20
grant funds received, or within such other percent-21
age as may be established pursuant to subparagraph 22
(B), for administrative costs, including costs related 23
to audits, reviews, oversight, evaluation, and inves-24
tigations. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Feb 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H316.IH H316
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 6
•HR 316 IH
‘‘(2) DISCRETION TO ESTABLISH SLIDING 1
SCALE.—The President may establish a series of 2
percentage limitations on the amount of grant funds 3
received that may be used by a grantee for adminis-4
trative costs, but only if— 5
‘‘(A) such percentage limitations are based 6
on the amount of grant funds received by a 7
grantee; and 8
‘‘(B) such series provides that the percent-9
age that may be used is lower for grantees re-10
ceiving a greater amount of grant funds and 11
such percentage that may be used is higher for 12
grantees receiving a lesser amount of grant 13
funds. 14
‘‘(3) T
ECHNICAL ASSISTANCE; CAPACITY BUILD-15
ING.—From funds made available for use under this 16
section, the President may provide— 17
‘‘(A) necessary technical assistance to 18
grantees to ensure grantees are compliant with 19
Federal law; and 20
‘‘(B) capacity building assistance, includ-21
ing assistance regarding contracting and pro-22
curement processes, including providing solicita-23
tion and contractual templates that conform to 24
Federal requirements for use by grantees. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Feb 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H316.IH H316
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 7
•HR 316 IH
‘‘(d) ALLOCATION, PROCESS, ANDPROCEDURES; CO-1
ORDINATION.— 2
‘‘(1) A
LLOCATION.— 3
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The President shall 4
allocate funds under this section proportionally 5
to grantees based on their level of unmet need 6
as determined under subsection (b). 7
‘‘(B) G
RANTEE USE OF FUNDS .—Each 8
grantee— 9
‘‘(i) shall be solely responsible for de-10
termining how funds provided under this 11
section are prioritized and expended; and 12
‘‘(ii) shall not be required to provide 13
an action or spending plan to the Presi-14
dent before or after funds are allocated. 15
‘‘(C) L
IMITATION.—Notwithstanding sec-16
tion 312, a loan shall not— 17
‘‘(i) be considered a duplication of 18
benefits with funds provided by a Federal 19
agency; or 20
‘‘(ii) limit or otherwise impact the 21
ability of a recipient to receive any other 22
Federal assistance. 23
‘‘(2) P
ROCEDURE FOR PROVISION OF FUNDS .— 24
An entity awarded a grant under this section shall 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Feb 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H316.IH H316
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 8
•HR 316 IH
be provided an initial amount that equals 50 percent 1
of total grant amount allocated under paragraph (1). 2
To be eligible for the remaining 50 percent of the 3
allocation, a grantee shall submit to the Committees 4
on Appropriations of the House of Representatives 5
and the Senate, the Committee on Transportation 6
and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives, 7
the Committee on Homeland Security and Govern-8
mental Affairs of the Senate, and the Inspector Gen-9
eral of the United States a report containing— 10
‘‘(A) a detailed description of how such 11
amount was spent; and 12
‘‘(B) a certification from an auditor of the 13
State or Indian tribal government that none of 14
the funds were wasted or used inappropriately. 15
‘‘(3) R
EQUIREMENTS.—Each State and Indian 16
tribal government that receives funds under this sec-17
tion shall establish or adhere to existing guidelines 18
for procurement processes and procedures and re-19
quire that subgrantees— 20
‘‘(A) provide for full and open competition 21
and require cost or price analysis; 22
‘‘(B) specify methods of procurement and 23
their applicability, but not allow cost-plus-a-per-24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Feb 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H316.IH H316
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 9
•HR 316 IH
centage-of cost or percentage-of-construction- 1
cost methods of procurement; 2
‘‘(C) include standards of conduct gov-3
erning employees engaged in the award or ad-4
ministration of contracts; and 5
‘‘(D) ensure that all purchase orders and 6
contracts include any clauses required by Fed-7
eral statute, Executive order, or implementing 8
regulation. 9
‘‘(e) F
UNDING.—Any funds provided under this sec-10
tion— 11
‘‘(1) shall supplement and not supplant any 12
other assistance provided by the President or any 13
other Federal agency in response to a major dis-14
aster; and 15
‘‘(2) may not be considered a duplication of as-16
sistance. 17
‘‘(f) E
NVIRONMENTAL REVIEW.—Any Federal agen-18
cy or recipient of funds received under this section that 19
fund or use funds to supplement funds provided under sec-20
tion 402, 403, 404, 406, 407, 408(c)(4), 428, or 502 may 21
adopt, without review or public comment, any environ-22
mental review, approval, or permit performed by a Federal 23
agency. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Feb 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H316.IH H316
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 10
•HR 316 IH
‘‘(g) BESTPRACTICES.—The President shall identify 1
best practices for grantees on issues including developing 2
action plans, establishing financial controls, building 3
grantee technical and administrative capacity, procure-4
ment, and use of grant funds as local match for other 5
sources of Federal funding. Not later than 1 year after 6
the date of enactment of this section, the President shall 7
publish a compilation of such identified best practices and 8
share with all relevant grantees to facilitate a more effi-9
cient and effective disaster recovery process. 10
‘‘(h) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 11
‘‘(1) S
TATE AUDITOR.—The term ‘State audi-12
tor’ means the individual selected by the Governor or 13
head of an Indian tribal government to submit a cer-14
tification in accordance with subsection (d)(2)(A)(ii). 15
‘‘(2) U
NMET NEED.—The term ‘unmet need’— 16
‘‘(A) means any necessary expenses for ac-17
tivities related to disaster relief, resiliency, long- 18
term recovery, restoration of infrastructure and 19
housing, mitigation, and economic revitalization 20
related to a major disaster declared by the 21
President under section 401; and 22
‘‘(B) may include— 23
‘‘(i) any unresourced item, support, or 24
assistance that has been assessed and 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Feb 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H316.IH H316
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 11
•HR 316 IH
verified as necessary for a survivor to re-1
cover from a major disaster, including 2
food, clothing, shelter, first aid, emotional 3
and spiritual care, household items, home 4
repair, or rebuilding; and 5
‘‘(ii) cleaning and removing debris 6
from rivers, creeks, streams, and ditches.’’. 7
(b) L
IMITATION.—No amounts made available by an 8
appropriations Act that provide funding for any activity 9
not authorized by law for the program established under 10
section 431 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 11
Emergency Assistance Act (as added by this Act) may be 12
expended. 13
SEC. 3. UNMET NEEDS ASSISTANCE. 14
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Title IV of the Robert T. Stafford 15
Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 16
5170 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol-17
lowing: 18
‘‘SEC. 432. UNMET NEEDS ASSISTANCE. 19
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—In any major disaster, the Gov-20
ernor or the Chief Executive of the Indian tribal govern-21
ment may request a grant from the President to provide 22
assistance to meet unmet needs resulting from a major 23
disaster. 24
‘‘(b) F
UNDING.— 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Feb 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H316.IH H316
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 12
•HR 316 IH
‘‘(1) AMOUNT OF FUNDING .—The President 1
may set aside from the Disaster Relief Fund, with 2
respect to each major disaster, an amount equal to 3
10 percent of the estimated aggregate amount of the 4
grants to be made pursuant to sections 406 and 408 5
of the major disaster in order to provide technical 6
and financial assistance under this section and such 7
amounts shall be deemed to be related to activities 8
carried out pursuant to major disasters under this 9
Act. 10
‘‘(2) E
STIMATED AGGREGATE AMOUNT .—Not 11
later than 180 days after each major disaster de-12
clared pursuant to this Act, the estimated aggregate 13
amount of grants for purposes of paragraph (1) 14
shall be determined by the President and such esti-15
mated amount need not be reduced, increased, or 16
changed due to variations in estimates. 17
‘‘(3) N
O REDUCTION IN AMOUNTS .—The 18
amount set aside pursuant to paragraph (1) shall 19
not reduce the amounts otherwise made available for 20
sections 403, 406, 407, 408, 410, 416, and 428 21
under this Act. 22
‘‘(c) U
NMETNEEDS.—A State or Indian tribal gov-23
ernment may use unmet needs grants to provide assist-24
ance, in addition to other assistance made available under 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Feb 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H316.IH H316
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 13
•HR 316 IH
this Act, for the following unmet needs resulting from a 1
major disaster: 2
‘‘(1) Disaster-related home repair and rebuild-3
ing financial assistance to families for permanent 4
housing purposes, including in conjunction with eli-5
gible expenditures under section 408. 6
‘‘(2) Disaster-related unmet needs of families 7
who are unable to obtain adequate assistance from 8
other sources. 9
‘‘(3) Other disaster-related services that allevi-10
ate human suffering and promote the well-being of 11
disaster victims. 12
‘‘(4) Economic and business activities (includ-13
ing food and agriculture) after a disaster to imple-14
ment post-disaster economic recovery measures, in-15
cluding planning and technical assistance for long- 16
term economic recovery plans, infrastructure im-17
provements, business or infrastructure financing, 18
market or industry research, and other activities au-19
thorized under a comprehensive economic develop-20
ment strategy. 21
‘‘(d) A
CCOUNTING ANDFISCALCONTROLS.— 22
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months 23
after receipt of funds and every 6 months thereafter 24
until all such funds are expended, each State or In-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Feb 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H316.IH H316
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 14
•HR 316 IH
dian tribal government receiving such funds shall 1
submit to the Administrator a report that includes— 2
‘‘(A) the criteria established for deter-3
mining how the funds are spent; 4
‘‘(B) the allocation of such funds; and 5
‘‘(C) the process for public notice and com-6
ment. 7
‘‘(2) A
DMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—A State or In-8
dian tribal government that receives funds under 9
this section may expend not more than 5 percent of 10
the amount of such funds for the administrative 11
costs of providing financial assistance to individuals 12
and households in the State.’’. 13
(b) A
PPLICABILITY.—This section and the amend-14
ments made by this section shall apply to funds appro-15
priated on or after the date of enactment of this Act. 16
SEC. 4. FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS FOR DISASTER DEC-17
LARATIONS. 18
(a) I
NGENERAL.—In making recommendations to 19
the President regarding the declaration of a major disaster 20
or emergency pursuant to section 401 or 501 of the Rob-21
ert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 22
Act (42 U.S.C. 5170; 5191) or the proposed non-Federal 23
share of the cost of carrying out activities with assistance 24
provided under such Act, the Administrator of the Federal 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Feb 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H316.IH H316
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 15
•HR 316 IH
Emergency Management Agency shall give greater weight 1
and consideration to severe local impact resulting from 2
such disaster or emergency and, in the 5-year period pre-3
ceding such disaster or emergency, whether multiple other 4
disasters or emergencies have occurred in the affected 5
area. 6
(b) R
EVISIONS TOGUIDANCE, POLICIES, ANDREGU-7
LATIONS.—The Administrator shall take such actions as 8
are necessary to revise any policies, guidance, or regula-9
tions of the Agency to implement subsection (a). 10
(c) R
EPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 11
of enactment of this section, the Administrator shall sub-12
mit to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastruc-13
ture of the House of Representatives and the Committee 14
on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 15
Senate a report on the implementation of this section and 16
shall include in such report a description of— 17
(1) changes made to guidance, policies, or regu-18
lations pursuant to subsection (b); and 19
(2) the number of major disasters and emer-20
gencies that have been declared pursuant to section 21
401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 22
Emergency Assistance Act based on the criteria de-23
scribed in subsection (a). 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Feb 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H316.IH H316
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 16
•HR 316 IH
SEC. 5. REPAIR AND REBUILDING. 1
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 408(c) of the Robert T. 2
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 3
(42 U.S.C. 5174) is amended— 4
(1) by amending paragraph (2) to read as fol-5
lows: 6
‘‘(2) R
EPAIRS.— 7
‘‘(A) F
INANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR RE -8
PAIRS.—The President may provide financial 9
assistance for the repair of owner-occupied pri-10
vate residences, utilities, and residential infra-11
structure (such as a private access route) dam-12
aged by a major disaster, or with respect to in-13
dividuals with disabilities, rendered inaccessible 14
by a major disaster. 15
‘‘(B) D
IRECT ASSISTANCE FOR REPAIRS .— 16
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—The President 17
may provide direct assistance to individuals 18
and households who are unable to make 19
use of financial assistance under subpara-20
graph (A) and when there is a lack of 21
available resources, for— 22
‘‘(I) the repair of owner-occupied 23
private residences, utilities, and resi-24
dential infrastructure (such as a pri-25
vate access route) damaged by a 26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Feb 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H316.IH H316
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 17
•HR 316 IH
major disaster, or with respect to indi-1
viduals with disabilities, rendered in-2
accessible by a disaster; and 3
‘‘(II) eligible hazard mitigation 4
measures that reduce the likelihood 5
and future damage to such residences, 6
utilities, and infrastructure. 7
‘‘(ii) E
LIGIBILITY.—A recipient of as-8
sistance under this subparagraph shall not 9
be eligible for assistance under paragraph 10
(1), unless otherwise determined by the 11
Administrator. 12
‘‘(iii) C
OORDINATION WITH OTHER AS -13
SISTANCE.—Assistance allowed under this 14
paragraph may be used in coordination 15
with other sources for the repair and re-16
building of an owner-occupied residence. 17
‘‘(C) R
ELATIONSHIP TO OTHER ASSIST -18
ANCE.—A recipient of assistance provided 19
under this paragraph shall not be required to 20
show that the assistance can be met through 21
other means, except insurance proceeds.’’; and 22
(2) in paragraph (4) by striking ‘‘in cases in 23
which’’ and all that follows through the end of the 24
paragraph and inserting ‘‘if the President considers 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Feb 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00017 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H316.IH H316
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 18
•HR 316 IH
it a cost effective alternative to other housing solu-1
tions, including the costs associated with temporary 2
housing provided under this section, and long-term 3
rebuilding costs associated with section 431.’’. 4
(b) E
LIGIBILITY.—Section 408(b)(1) of the Robert 5
T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 6
(42 U.S.C. 5174(b)(1)) is amended— 7
(1) by striking ‘‘rendered uninhabitable’’ and 8
inserting ‘‘damaged by a major disaster’’; and 9
(2) by striking ‘‘uninhabitable, as a result of 10
damage caused by a major disaster’’ and inserting 11
‘‘damaged by a major disaster’’. 12
(c) A
PPLICABILITY.—This section and the amend-13
ments made by this section shall apply to funds appro-14
priated on or after the date of enactment of this Act. 15
SEC. 6. FEMA EMERGENCY HOME REPAIR PROGRAM. 16
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 403(a) of the Robert T. 17
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 18
(42 U.S.C. 5170b(a)) is amended— 19
(1) in paragraph (3)— 20
(A) in subparagraph (I) by striking ‘‘and’’ 21
at the end; 22
(B) in subparagraph (J) by striking the 23
period and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 24
(C) by adding at the end the following: 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Feb 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00018 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H316.IH H316
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 19
•HR 316 IH
‘‘(K) minor repairs up to habitability of 1
owner-occupied homes damaged by the disaster 2
in order for survivors to safely shelter in place, 3
subject to the availability of appropriations.’’; 4
and 5
(2) by adding at the end the following: 6
‘‘(5) S
HELTERING AND HOUSING OPTIONS .— 7
Not later than 15 days after a declaration of a 8
major disaster, the Federal coordinating officer shall 9
identify all sheltering and housing options available 10
under this section or section 408 to a State Gov-11
ernor, or the designated State coordinating officer. 12
‘‘(6) D
EFINITIONS.—In this subsection, the 13
term ‘minor repairs up to habitability’ means the 14
minimum standards for permanent housing de-15
scribed in section 576.403(c) of title 24, Code of 16
Federal Regulations (or successor regulations).’’. 17
(b) R
ULEMAKING.—Not later than 2 years after the 18
date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the 19
Federal Emergency Management Agency shall issue final 20
regulations to implement the amendments made by this 21
section. 22
VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Feb 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00019 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H316.IH H316
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 20
•HR 316 IH
SEC. 7. APPEALS OF INDIVIDUALS AND HOUSEHOLDS PRO-1
GRAM BENEFITS. 2
(a) P
ERIOD OFASSISTANCE.—Clauses (iii) and (iv) 3
of section 408(c)(1)(B) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 4
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5
5174(c)(1)(B)) are amended by striking ‘‘18-month pe-6
riod’’ and inserting ‘‘24-month period’’. 7
(b) A
PPEALS.—The Administrator shall revise sec-8
tion 206.115 of title 44, Code of Federal Regulations, to 9
require the Federal Emergency Management Agency to 10
provide to any applicant who appeals a determination of 11
eligibility 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
VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Feb 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00020 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H316.IH H316
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 21
•HR 316 IH
(c) APPLICABILITY.—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. 8. REPORT TO CONGRESS ON MAJOR DISASTER DEC-4
LARATIONS. 5
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 6
of this Act, the Administrator shall submit to the Com-7
mittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 8
of the Senate and the Committee on Transportation and 9
Infrastructure of the House of Representatives a report 10
containing the following information with respect to each 11
major disaster declared pursuant to section 401 of the 12
Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist-13
ance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170) during the 5-year period pre-14
ceding such date of enactment: 15
(1) The process used by the Federal Emergency 16
Management Agency to determine individual house-17
hold need. 18
(2) An itemization of the most common reasons 19
for denial of individual and household assistance 20
pursuant to section 408 of the Robert T. Stafford 21
Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 22
U.S.C. 5174). 23
(3) The rate of appeals of denial of such assist-24
ance. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Feb 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00021 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H316.IH H316
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 22
•HR 316 IH
(4) The amount of time the Agency takes to 1
issue a decision regarding eligibility for individual 2
assistance, disaggregated by each such major dis-3
aster. 4
(5) Information on the use of Disaster Legal 5
Services and the number of applicants who were eli-6
gible for such services. 7
(6) The total number of Disaster Legal Services 8
volunteers as of such date of enactment. 9
(7) The number of such volunteers who were 10
activated for each such major disaster. 11
(8) The amount of time taken after the declara-12
tion of each such major disaster to set up disaster 13
recovery centers that provide access to individual as-14
sistance. 15
(9) The number of disaster recovery centers 16
opened for each such major disaster. 17
(10) The process used for selecting the location 18
of such disaster recovery centers. 19
(11) The average amount of time disaster re-20
covery centers remained open. 21
(12) The average amount of time individual 22
survivors spend at such centers. 23
(13) A description of outreach efforts in low-in-24
come, rural, and underserved communities regarding 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Feb 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00022 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H316.IH H316
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 23
•HR 316 IH
the availability of assistance provided by the Federal 1
Emergency Management Agency under the Robert 2
T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist-3
ance Act. 4
SEC. 9. REVIEW BY COMPTROLLER GENERAL. 5
Not later than 5 years after the date of enactment 6
of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 7
shall— 8
(1) conduct a review of the fiscal controls of 9
States that receive assistance under section 432 of 10
the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-11
gency Assistance Act, as added by section 3; and 12
(2) make recommendations regarding the pro-13
gram established under such section to the Com-14
mittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Af-15
fairs of the Senate and the Committee on Transpor-16
tation and Infrastructure of the House of Represent-17
atives. 18
SEC. 10. GAO STUDY ON TIMING OF CLOSING OUT DIS-19
ASTER RECOVERY. 20
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 21
of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 22
shall submit to Congress a report on how long it takes 23
the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management 24
Agency to officially close out each major disaster declared 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Feb 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00023 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H316.IH H316
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 24
•HR 316 IH
under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-1
gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.) pursuant 2
to section 705 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 3
and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5205). 4
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Feb 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00024 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H316.IH H316
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS