Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB760 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 760
5	5	To make certain repairs, replacements, and restorations of private roads
6	6	and bridges eligible for reimbursement under the Robert T. Stafford
7	7	Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, and for other purposes.
8	8	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
9	9	JANUARY28, 2025
10	10	Mr. E
11	11	DWARDS(for himself, Mr. DAVISof North Carolina, and Mr. MOORE
12	12	of North Carolina) introduced the following bill; which was referred to
13	13	the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To make certain repairs, replacements, and restorations of
16	16	private roads and bridges eligible for reimbursement
17	17	under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-
18	18	gency Assistance Act, and for other purposes.
19	19	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
20	20	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
21	21	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
22	22	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Restoring Access to 4
23	23	Mountain Homes Act’’. 5
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26	26	•HR 760 IH
27	27	SEC. 2. REIMBURSEMENT FOR REPAIR, REPLACEMENT, 1
28	28	AND RESTORATION WORK ON PRIVATE 2
29	29	ROADS AND BRIDGES IMPACTED BY TROP-3
30	30	ICAL STORM HELENE. 4
31	31	(a) E
32	32	LIGIBILITY FORREIMBURSEMENT.—Notwith-5
33	33	standing any provision of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 6
34	34	Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et 7
35	35	seq.) or the regulations governing the public assistance 8
36	36	program of the Federal Emergency Management Agency 9
37	37	under such Act, the State, Indian Tribal, and local govern-10
38	38	ments in North Carolina covered under major disaster 11
39	39	declaration FEMA–4827–DR–NC (relating to Tropical 12
40	40	Storm Helene) shall be eligible for reimbursement for the 13
41	41	cost of repairs, replacements, or restoration to private 14
42	42	roads and bridges, without regard to pre-existing condi-15
43	43	tion, under section 428 of such Act that— 16
44	44	(1) are used as the sole means of access to pri-17
45	45	mary residences or essential community services; 18
46	46	(2) are significantly damaged or destroyed as a 19
47	47	direct result of Tropical Storm Helene as identified 20
48	48	in FEMA–4827–DR–NC; and 21
49	49	(3) does not duplicate work that has already 22
50	50	been completed. 23
51	51	(b) C
52	52	ONDITIONS OFREIMBURSEMENT.—Reimburse-24
53	53	ment under this section shall be subject to the following 25
54	54	conditions: 26
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57	57	•HR 760 IH
58	58	(1) Private roads or bridges shall be inspected 1
59	59	by appropriate State, Indian Tribal, or local govern-2
60	60	ment officials or their designees to verify the scope, 3
61	61	need, and cost-effectiveness of any mitigation meas-4
62	62	ures for the proposed repair, replacement, or res-5
63	63	toration. 6
64	64	(2) The State, Indian Tribal, or local govern-7
65	65	ments requesting assistance shall ensure that the 8
66	66	private roads or bridges being repaired, replaced, or 9
67	67	restored remain open for disaster recovery activities 10
68	68	for the duration of the repair, replacement, or res-11
69	69	toration process. 12
70	70	(3) The State or Indian Tribal governments 13
71	71	shall be responsible for documenting all costs associ-14
72	72	ated with repairs, replacements, or restorations with-15
73	73	in their jurisdiction in accordance with Federal 16
74	74	Emergency Management Agency policy. 17
75	75	(4) The State, Indian Tribal, or local govern-18
76	76	ment applying for public assistance funding shall ob-19
77	77	tain authority or permission to perform the work to 20
78	78	permanently repair, replace, or restore the private 21
79	79	roads and bridges. 22
80	80	(5) The State, Indian Tribal, or local govern-23
81	81	ment applying for public assistance funding shall en-24
82	82	sure the work under this section is performed in 25
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85	85	•HR 760 IH
86	86	compliance with all applicable State and Federal 1
87	87	regulations and requirements that pertain to work 2
88	88	that is permanent in nature. 3
89	89	(c) D
90	90	UPLICATION OFBENEFITS.— 4
91	91	(1) I
92	92	N GENERAL.—Any individual or household 5
93	93	that has received assistance prior to the date of en-6
94	94	actment of this section pursuant to section 408 of 7
95	95	the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-8
96	96	gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5174) for the pur-9
97	97	poses of repairing a private road or bridge eligible 10
98	98	under this section may proceed with such repairs or 11
99	99	return any such assistance to have such repair eligi-12
100	100	ble pursuant to this section. 13
101	101	(2) C
102	102	ALCULATION.—In the event the individual 14
103	103	or household chooses to proceed with such repairs 15
104	104	utilizing assistance provided pursuant to section 408 16
105	105	of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-17
106	106	gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5174) for a private 18
107	107	road or bridge, such assistance shall not be counted 19
108	108	against the maximum amount of assistance for such 20
109	109	individual or household under such section. 21
110	110	(d) E
111	111	LIGIBLECOSTS.—In determining eligible costs, 22
112	112	the Administrator shall base such determinations on prop-23
113	113	erly conducted and certified cost estimates prepared by 24
114	114	professionally licensed engineers (mutually agreed upon by 25
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117	117	•HR 760 IH
118	118	the Administrator and the applicant). Once certified by 1
119	119	a professionally licensed engineer and accepted by the Ad-2
120	120	ministrator, the estimates on which grants made pursuant 3
121	121	to this section are based shall be presumed to be reason-4
122	122	able and eligible costs, as long as there is no evidence of 5
123	123	fraud. 6
124	124	Æ
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