II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 352
To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance
Act to provide assistance for common interest communities, condomin-
iums, and housing cooperatives damaged by a major disaster, and for
other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY30, 2025
Mr. B
UDD(for himself and Mr. TILLIS) introduced the following bill; which
was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs
A BILL
To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-
gency Assistance Act to provide assistance for common
interest communities, condominiums, and housing co-
operatives damaged by a major disaster, 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 ‘‘Disaster Assistance 4
Fairness Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 1
Section 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 2
and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122) is 3
amended by adding at the end the following: 4
‘‘(13) R
ESIDENTIAL COMMON INTEREST COM -5
MUNITY.—The term ‘residential common interest 6
community’ means a nonprofit mandatory member-7
ship organization comprising of owners of real estate 8
described in a declaration or created pursuant to a 9
covenant or other applicable law with respect to 10
which a person, by virtue of the person’s ownership 11
of a unit of the real estate, is obligated to pay for 12
a share of— 13
‘‘(A) real estate taxes; 14
‘‘(B) insurance premiums; and 15
‘‘(C) maintenance or improvement of, or 16
services or other expenses relating to, common 17
elements, other units, or any other real estate 18
other than the unit described in the declaration. 19
‘‘(14) C
ONDOMINIUM.—The term ‘condo-20
minium’ means a multi-unit housing project— 21
‘‘(A) in which each dwelling unit is sepa-22
rately owned; 23
‘‘(B) the remaining portions of the real es-24
tate of which are designated for common owner-25
ship solely by the owners of the dwelling units, 26
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•S 352 IS
each owner having an undivided interest in the 1
common elements; and 2
‘‘(C) which is represented by a condo-3
minium association consisting exclusively of the 4
owners of each dwelling unit, which is, or will 5
be responsible for the operation, administration, 6
and management of the project. 7
‘‘(15) H
OUSING COOPERATIVE .—The term 8
‘housing cooperative’ means a multi-unit housing en-9
tity in which each dwelling unit is subject to sepa-10
rate use and possession by 1 or more cooperative 11
members whose interest in such unit, and in any un-12
divided assets of the cooperative association that are 13
appurtenant to such unit, is evidenced by a member-14
ship or share interest in a cooperative association 15
and a lease or other document of title or possession 16
granted by such cooperative as the owner of all coop-17
erative property.’’. 18
SEC. 3. REMOVAL OF DEBRIS RESULTING FROM A MAJOR 19
DISASTER IN RESIDENTIAL COMMON INTER-20
EST COMMUNITIES. 21
Section 407 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 22
and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5173) is 23
amended— 24
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(1) by redesignating subsections (d) and (e) as 1
subsections (e) and (f), respectively; and 2
(2) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol-3
lowing: 4
‘‘(d) R
ULESRELATING TORESIDENTIALCOMMON 5
I
NTERESTCOMMUNITIES.—The President shall issue 6
rules which provide that removal of debris or wreckage 7
from real estate owned by a residential common interest 8
community resulting from a major disaster is in the public 9
interest when a State or local government determines in 10
writing that such debris or wreckage constitutes a threat 11
to life, public health or safety, or the economic recovery 12
of the residential common interest community.’’. 13
SEC. 4. CONDOMINIUMS AND HOUSING COOPERATIVES 14
DAMAGED BY A MAJOR DISASTER. 15
Section 408(c)(2)(A) of the Robert T. Stafford Dis-16
aster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 17
5174(c)(2)(A)) is amended— 18
(1) in clause (i) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 19
(2) by redesignating clause (ii) as clause (iii); 20
and 21
(3) by inserting after clause (i) the following: 22
‘‘(ii) the repair of essential common 23
elements of a condominium or housing co-24
operative (such as a roof, exterior wall, 25
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heating and cooling equipment, elevator, 1
stairwell, utility access, plumbing, and elec-2
tricity) if an individual’s or household’s pro 3
rata share of essential common element re-4
pair costs are satisfactorily documented; 5
and’’. 6
SEC. 5. APPLICABILITY. 7
The amendments made by this Act shall apply with 8
respect to a major disaster declared by the President 9
under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-10
gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.) on or after 11
the date of enactment of this Act. 12
Æ
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