Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB374 Compare Versions

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Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 374
5	5	To establish a pilot program for property acquisition projects, and for other
6	6	purposes.
7	7	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
8	8	FEBRUARY3, 2025
9	9	Mr. L
10	10	ANKFORDintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and
11	11	referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
12	12	A BILL
13	13	To establish a pilot program for property acquisition projects,
14	14	and for other purposes.
15	15	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
16	16	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
17	17	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
18	18	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Direct Property Acqui-4
19	19	sitions Act’’. 5
20	20	SEC. 2. PILOT PROGRAM FOR PROPERTY ACQUISITIONS. 6
21	21	(a) D
22	22	EFINITIONS.—In this section: 7
23	23	(1) A
24	24	DMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-8
25	25	trator’’ means the Administrator of the Federal 9
26	26	Emergency Management Agency. 10
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29	29	•S 374 IS
30	30	(2) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -1
31	31	TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-2
32	32	mittees’’ means— 3
33	33	(A) the Committee on Homeland Security 4
34	34	and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; and 5
35	35	(B) the Committee on Transportation and 6
36	36	Infrastructure of the House of Representatives. 7
37	37	(3) C
38	38	OVERED COMMUNITY .—The term ‘‘covered 8
39	39	community’’ means a local government determined 9
40	40	by the Administrator to be able to meet relevant 10
41	41	Federal and State statutory and regulatory require-11
42	42	ments for hazard mitigation assistance— 12
43	43	(A) with limited assistance from the State 13
44	44	in which the local government is located; and 14
45	45	(B) for which the Administrator received 15
46	46	positive feedback from the State in which the 16
47	47	local government is located relating to eligibility 17
48	48	for the pilot program. 18
49	49	(4) L
50	50	OCAL GOVERNMENT ; STATE.—The terms 19
51	51	‘‘local government’’ and ‘‘State’’ have the meanings 20
52	52	given those terms in section 102 of the Robert T. 21
53	53	Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 22
54	54	Act (42 U.S.C. 5122). 23
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57	57	•S 374 IS
58	58	(5) PILOT PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘pilot pro-1
59	59	gram’’ means the pilot program established under 2
60	60	subsection (b). 3
61	61	(b) E
62	62	STABLISHMENT.—The Administrator shall 4
63	63	carry out a pilot program under which covered commu-5
64	64	nities may directly apply to the Administrator for hazard 6
65	65	mitigation assistance for the purposes of property acquisi-7
66	66	tion and structure demolition or relocation assistance 8
67	67	under section 404(b) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 9
68	68	Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 10
69	69	5170c(b)). 11
70	70	(c) S
71	71	ELECTION.— 12
72	72	(1) C
73	73	ONSIDERATIONS.—In determining whether 13
74	74	a local government is a covered community for pur-14
75	75	poses of the pilot program, the Administrator 15
76	76	shall— 16
77	77	(A) consult with the State in which the 17
78	78	local government is located before determining 18
79	79	the suitability of the local government for the 19
80	80	pilot program; and 20
81	81	(B) provide a written justification to the 21
82	82	local government and the State in which the 22
83	83	local government is located for selecting or not 23
84	84	selecting the local government for the pilot pro-24
85	85	gram, which shall be based on— 25
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88	88	•S 374 IS
89	89	(i) the prior performance and current 1
90	90	processes of the local government relating 2
91	91	to property acquisitions and other hazard 3
92	92	mitigation projects; 4
93	93	(ii) the level of need in the local gov-5
94	94	ernment in conducting or completing fu-6
95	95	ture or ongoing property acquisition and 7
96	96	structure demolition or relocation assist-8
97	97	ance projects; 9
98	98	(iii) the risks posed to the local gov-10
99	99	ernment by inclement weather; and 11
100	100	(iv) such other matters as the Admin-12
101	101	istrator determines relevant. 13
102	102	(2) C
103	103	RITERIA.— 14
104	104	(A) I
105	105	N GENERAL.—The Administrator 15
106	106	shall select not more than 2 local governments 16
107	107	from each Federal Emergency Management 17
108	108	Agency region to participate in the pilot pro-18
109	109	gram. 19
110	110	(B) L
111	111	IMITATION.—Not more than 1 local 20
112	112	government shall be selected from a State with-21
113	113	in a Federal Emergency Management Agency 22
114	114	region. 23
115	115	(C) F
116	116	EDERAL REGISTER NOTICE .—Not 24
117	117	later than 1 year after the date of enactment of 25
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120	120	•S 374 IS
121	121	this Act, the Administrator shall publish in the 1
122	122	Federal Register a notice detailing the require-2
123	123	ments for local governments seeking to partici-3
124	124	pate in the pilot program. 4
125	125	(3) L
126	126	ENGTH OF PARTICIPATION .—A covered 5
127	127	community may not participate in the pilot program 6
128	128	for a period of more than 48 months. 7
129	129	(d) A
130	130	NNUALREPORT.—The Administrator shall sub-8
131	131	mit to the appropriate congressional committees an annual 9
132	132	report on the effectiveness of the pilot program, which 10
133	133	shall include— 11
134	134	(1) a summary of the relevant characteristics of 12
135	135	covered communities selected for the pilot program, 13
136	136	including relevant demographic information, the 14
137	137	number of properties in the covered community par-15
138	138	ticipating in the National Flood Insurance Program, 16
139	139	and whether each covered community was frequently 17
140	140	impacted by other, non-flooding-related major disas-18
141	141	ters; 19
142	142	(2) a determination of whether the pilot pro-20
143	143	gram significantly expedited the property acquisition 21
144	144	process of the Federal Emergency Management 22
145	145	Agency in covered communities that participated in 23
146	146	the pilot program; 24
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150	150	(3) an evaluation of the problems, or potential 1
151	151	problems, caused or likely to be caused by perma-2
152	152	nently allowing covered communities to directly 3
153	153	apply for hazard mitigation assistance for the pur-4
154	154	poses of property acquisition and structure demoli-5
155	155	tion or relocation assistance under section 404(b) of 6
156	156	the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-7
157	157	gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170c(b)), which 8
158	158	shall be informed by— 9
159	159	(A) feedback from covered communities 10
160	160	participating in the pilot program; 11
161	161	(B) the States in which the covered com-12
162	162	munities participating in the pilot program are 13
163	163	located; and 14
164	164	(C) such other factors as the Adminis-15
165	165	trator determines relevant; and 16
166	166	(4) an evaluation of whether the pilot program 17
167	167	should be made permanent, ended, or extended for 18
168	168	a certain period of time. 19
169	169	(e) T
170	170	ERMINATION.—The pilot program shall termi-20
171	171	nate not later than 8 years after the date on which the 21
172	172	Administrator selects the covered communities for partici-22
173	173	pation in the pilot program under subsection (c)(2). 23
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177	177	(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 1
178	178	are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 2
179	179	necessary to carry out the pilot program. 3
180	180	Æ
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