Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB437 Compare Versions

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Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 437
5	5	To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance
6	6	Act to expand assistance related to winter storms, and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	JANUARY15, 2025
9	9	Mr. K
10	10	ENNEDYof New York introduced the following bill; which was referred
11	11	to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
12	12	A BILL
13	13	To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-
14	14	gency Assistance Act to expand assistance related to
15	15	winter storms, and for other purposes.
16	16	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
17	17	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
18	18	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
19	19	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Support Neighbor-4
20	20	hoods Offset Winter Damage Act of 2025’’ or the ‘‘SNOW 5
21	21	Act of 2025’’. 6
22	22	SEC. 2. WINTER STORMS. 7
23	23	(a) U
24	24	SE OFASSISTANCE FORWINTERSTORMS.— 8
25	25	Section 404 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 9
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28	28	•HR 437 IH
29	29	Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170c) is amended 1
30	30	by adding at the end the following: 2
31	31	‘‘(h) U
32	32	SE OFASSISTANCE FORWINTERSTORMS.— 3
33	33	Recipients of hazard mitigation assistance provided under 4
34	34	this section and section 203 may use the assistance to con-5
35	35	duct activities to help reduce the risk of future damage, 6
36	36	hardship, loss, or suffering in any area affected by a win-7
37	37	ter storm, including acquiring equipment to remove snow. 8
38	38	‘‘(i) W
39	39	INTERSTORMDEFINED.—In this section, the 9
40	40	term ‘winter storm’ means a combination of heavy snow, 10
41	41	blowing snow, or dangerous wind chills, as determined by 11
42	42	the Administrator.’’. 12
43	43	(b) W
44	44	AIVER OFSNOWFALLMETHODOLOGY AND 13
45	45	D
46	46	AMAGESREQUIREMENT.—The Administrator of the 14
47	47	Federal Emergency Management Agency shall, by rule, es-15
48	48	tablish a process to waive the methodology related to the 16
49	49	amount of snowfall required to declare a winter storm eli-17
50	50	gible for a major disaster declaration and to waive the 18
51	51	statewide total damages required for such eligibility, if at 19
52	52	least 2 of the following conditions are met for a response 20
53	53	zone or region affected by a winter storm: 21
54	54	(1) A State emergency management agency de-22
55	55	termines in writing that the damages of such winter 23
56	56	storm exceed the damages required for such State to 24
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59	59	•HR 437 IH
60	60	issue a disaster declaration for such a response zone 1
61	61	or region. 2
62	62	(2) The National Weather Service determines 3
63	63	that, during such winter storm, such a response zone 4
64	64	or region has experienced— 5
65	65	(A) wind speeds that are greater than 58 6
66	66	miles per hour and a wind chill below 0 degrees 7
67	67	Fahrenheit; or 8
68	68	(B) lake-effect snow and conditions for 9
69	69	more than 24 hours. 10
70	70	(3) The Bureau of the Census determines that 11
71	71	such a response zone or region— 12
72	72	(A) represents a population for which the 13
73	73	real median household income is below the real 14
74	74	median household income in the United States; 15
75	75	or 16
76	76	(B) is an area that is not an urban area. 17
77	77	(c) R
78	78	EGULATIONSRELATED TOWINTERSTORMS.— 18
79	79	(1) I
80	80	N GENERAL.—The Administrator of the 19
81	81	Federal Emergency Management Agency shall issue 20
82	82	such regulations, as may be necessary or appro-21
83	83	priate, as follows: 22
84	84	(A) To provide assistance for winter 23
85	85	storms authorized under sections 402, 403, 24
86	86	406, 407, 418, 419, 421(d), 502, and 503 of 25
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89	89	•HR 437 IH
90	90	the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 1
91	91	Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170a, 2
92	92	5170b, 5172, 5173, 5185, 5186, 5188(d), 3
93	93	5192, 5193) related to the following: 4
94	94	(i) Debris removal. 5
95	95	(ii) Roads and bridges. 6
96	96	(iii) Water control facilities. 7
97	97	(iv) Public buildings and contents. 8
98	98	(v) Public utilities. 9
99	99	(vi) Parks, recreational, and other fa-10
100	100	cilities. 11
101	101	(B) To provide assistance for winter 12
102	102	storms authorized under sections 408 and 503 13
103	103	of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 14
104	104	Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5174, 15
105	105	5193) when the State emergency management 16
106	106	agency determines that the magnitude or esti-17
107	107	mated threat of an incident in a response zone 18
108	108	or region exceeds the capacity of the State or 19
109	109	local government (as such term is defined in 20
110	110	section 102 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 5122)) with 21
111	111	jurisdiction over such response zone or region 22
112	112	to respond or recover. 23
113	113	(d) D
114	114	EFINITIONS.—In this section: 24
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117	117	•HR 437 IH
118	118	(1) RESPONSE ZONE OR REGION .—The term 1
119	119	‘‘response zone or region’’ means an area that a 2
120	120	State emergency management agency has listed as a 3
121	121	response zone or region for the purpose of deter-4
122	122	mining any damages required for such State to issue 5
123	123	a disaster declaration. 6
124	124	(2) W
125	125	INTER STORM.—The term ‘‘winter storm’’ 7
126	126	has the meaning given in section 404(i) of the Rob-8
127	127	ert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency As-9
128	128	sistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170c(i)), as added by sub-10
129	129	section (a) of this section. 11
130	130	SEC. 3. FEDERAL COST SHARE. 12
131	131	The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-13
132	132	gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170 et seq.) is amend-14
133	133	ed— 15
134	134	(1) in section 403— 16
135	135	(A) by amending subsection (b) to read as 17
136	136	follows: 18
137	137	‘‘(b) F
138	138	EDERALSHARE.— 19
139	139	‘‘(1) I
140	140	N GENERAL.—The Federal share of as-20
141	141	sistance under this section shall be not less than 75 21
142	142	percent of the eligible cost of such assistance. 22
143	143	‘‘(2) R
144	144	URAL OR DISADVANTAGED AREAS .—Not-23
145	145	withstanding paragraph (1), the Federal share of as-24
146	146	sistance under this section shall be not less than 90 25
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149	149	•HR 437 IH
150	150	percent of the eligible cost of such assistance in a 1
151	151	rural or disadvantaged area.’’; and 2
152	152	(B) by adding at the end the following: 3
153	153	‘‘(e) R
154	154	URAL ORDISADVANTAGEDAREADEFINED.— 4
155	155	In this section, the term ‘rural or disadvantaged area’ 5
156	156	means an area that the Bureau of the Census has deter-6
157	157	mined— 7
158	158	‘‘(1) represents a population for which the real 8
159	159	median household income is below the real median 9
160	160	household income in the United States; or 10
161	161	‘‘(2) is not an urban area.’’; 11
162	162	(2) in section 404— 12
163	163	(A) by striking ‘‘(a) I
164	164	NGENERAL.—The 13
165	165	President’’ and inserting the following: 14
166	166	‘‘(a) F
167	167	EDERALSHARE.— 15
168	168	‘‘(1) I
169	169	N GENERAL.—The President’’; and 16
170	170	(B) in subsection (a), by adding at the end 17
171	171	the following: 18
172	172	‘‘(2) D
173	173	ISADVANTAGED URBAN COMMUNITIES .— 19
174	174	Notwithstanding paragraph (1), the President may 20
175	175	contribute up to 90 percent of the cost of hazard 21
176	176	mitigation measures which the President has deter-22
177	177	mined are cost effective and which substantially re-23
178	178	duce the risk of, or increase resilience to, future 24
179	179	damage, hardship, loss, or suffering in a rural or 25
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182	182	•HR 437 IH
183	183	disadvantaged area (as such term is defined in sec-1
184	184	tion 403) affected by a major disaster, or by a fire 2
185	185	for which assistance was provided under section 420. 3
186	186	Such measures shall be identified following the eval-4
187	187	uation of natural hazards under section 322 and 5
188	188	shall be subject to approval by the President. Sub-6
189	189	ject to section 322, the total of contributions under 7
190	190	this section for a major disaster or event under sec-8
191	191	tion 420 shall not exceed 15 percent for amounts 9
192	192	not more than $2,000,000,000, 10 percent for 10
193	193	amounts of more than $2,000,000,000 and not more 11
194	194	than $10,000,000,000, and 7.5 percent on amounts 12
195	195	of more than $10,000,000,000 and not more than 13
196	196	$35,333,000,000 of the estimated aggregate amount 14
197	197	of grants to be made (less any associated adminis-15
198	198	trative costs) under this Act with respect to the 16
199	199	major disaster or event under section 420.’’; 17
200	200	(3) by amending section 407(d) to read as fol-18
201	201	lows: 19
202	202	‘‘(d) F
203	203	EDERALSHARE.— 20
204	204	‘‘(1) I
205	205	N GENERAL.—The Federal share of as-21
206	206	sistance under this section shall be not less than 75 22
207	207	percent of the eligible cost of debris and wreckage 23
208	208	removal carried out under this section. 24
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211	211	•HR 437 IH
212	212	‘‘(2) RURAL OR DISADVANTAGED AREAS .—Not-1
213	213	withstanding paragraph (1), the Federal share of as-2
214	214	sistance under this section shall be not less than 90 3
215	215	percent of the eligible cost of debris and wreckage 4
216	216	removal carried out under this section in a rural or 5
217	217	disadvantaged area (as such term is defined in sec-6
218	218	tion 403).’’; and 7
219	219	(4) by amending section 503(a) to read as fol-8
220	220	lows: 9
221	221	‘‘(a) F
222	222	EDERALSHARE.— 10
223	223	‘‘(1) I
224	224	N GENERAL.—The Federal share for as-11
225	225	sistance provided under this title shall be equal to 12
226	226	not less than 75 percent of the eligible costs. 13
227	227	‘‘(2) R
228	228	URAL OR DISADVANTAGED AREAS .—Not-14
229	229	withstanding paragraph (1), the Federal share of as-15
230	230	sistance under this title shall be not less than 90 16
231	231	percent of the eligible costs in a rural or disadvan-17
232	232	taged area (as such term is defined in section 18
233	233	403).’’. 19
234	234	Æ
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