II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 374
To establish a pilot program for property acquisition projects, and for other
purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY3, 2025
Mr. L
ANKFORDintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
A BILL
To establish a pilot program for property acquisition projects,
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 ‘‘Direct Property Acqui-4
sitions Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. PILOT PROGRAM FOR PROPERTY ACQUISITIONS. 6
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 7
(1) A
DMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-8
trator’’ means the Administrator of the Federal 9
Emergency Management Agency. 10
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(2) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -1
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-2
mittees’’ means— 3
(A) the Committee on Homeland Security 4
and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; and 5
(B) the Committee on Transportation and 6
Infrastructure of the House of Representatives. 7
(3) C
OVERED COMMUNITY .—The term ‘‘covered 8
community’’ means a local government determined 9
by the Administrator to be able to meet relevant 10
Federal and State statutory and regulatory require-11
ments for hazard mitigation assistance— 12
(A) with limited assistance from the State 13
in which the local government is located; and 14
(B) for which the Administrator received 15
positive feedback from the State in which the 16
local government is located relating to eligibility 17
for the pilot program. 18
(4) L
OCAL GOVERNMENT ; STATE.—The terms 19
‘‘local government’’ and ‘‘State’’ have the meanings 20
given those terms in section 102 of the Robert T. 21
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 22
Act (42 U.S.C. 5122). 23
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(5) PILOT PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘pilot pro-1
gram’’ means the pilot program established under 2
subsection (b). 3
(b) E
STABLISHMENT.—The Administrator shall 4
carry out a pilot program under which covered commu-5
nities may directly apply to the Administrator for hazard 6
mitigation assistance for the purposes of property acquisi-7
tion and structure demolition or relocation assistance 8
under section 404(b) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 9
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 10
5170c(b)). 11
(c) S
ELECTION.— 12
(1) C
ONSIDERATIONS.—In determining whether 13
a local government is a covered community for pur-14
poses of the pilot program, the Administrator 15
shall— 16
(A) consult with the State in which the 17
local government is located before determining 18
the suitability of the local government for the 19
pilot program; and 20
(B) provide a written justification to the 21
local government and the State in which the 22
local government is located for selecting or not 23
selecting the local government for the pilot pro-24
gram, which shall be based on— 25
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(i) the prior performance and current 1
processes of the local government relating 2
to property acquisitions and other hazard 3
mitigation projects; 4
(ii) the level of need in the local gov-5
ernment in conducting or completing fu-6
ture or ongoing property acquisition and 7
structure demolition or relocation assist-8
ance projects; 9
(iii) the risks posed to the local gov-10
ernment by inclement weather; and 11
(iv) such other matters as the Admin-12
istrator determines relevant. 13
(2) C
RITERIA.— 14
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Administrator 15
shall select not more than 2 local governments 16
from each Federal Emergency Management 17
Agency region to participate in the pilot pro-18
gram. 19
(B) L
IMITATION.—Not more than 1 local 20
government shall be selected from a State with-21
in a Federal Emergency Management Agency 22
region. 23
(C) F
EDERAL REGISTER NOTICE .—Not 24
later than 1 year after the date of enactment of 25
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this Act, the Administrator shall publish in the 1
Federal Register a notice detailing the require-2
ments for local governments seeking to partici-3
pate in the pilot program. 4
(3) L
ENGTH OF PARTICIPATION .—A covered 5
community may not participate in the pilot program 6
for a period of more than 48 months. 7
(d) A
NNUALREPORT.—The Administrator shall sub-8
mit to the appropriate congressional committees an annual 9
report on the effectiveness of the pilot program, which 10
shall include— 11
(1) a summary of the relevant characteristics of 12
covered communities selected for the pilot program, 13
including relevant demographic information, the 14
number of properties in the covered community par-15
ticipating in the National Flood Insurance Program, 16
and whether each covered community was frequently 17
impacted by other, non-flooding-related major disas-18
ters; 19
(2) a determination of whether the pilot pro-20
gram significantly expedited the property acquisition 21
process of the Federal Emergency Management 22
Agency in covered communities that participated in 23
the pilot program; 24
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(3) an evaluation of the problems, or potential 1
problems, caused or likely to be caused by perma-2
nently allowing covered communities to directly 3
apply for hazard mitigation assistance for the pur-4
poses of property acquisition and structure demoli-5
tion or relocation assistance under section 404(b) of 6
the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-7
gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170c(b)), which 8
shall be informed by— 9
(A) feedback from covered communities 10
participating in the pilot program; 11
(B) the States in which the covered com-12
munities participating in the pilot program are 13
located; and 14
(C) such other factors as the Adminis-15
trator determines relevant; and 16
(4) an evaluation of whether the pilot program 17
should be made permanent, ended, or extended for 18
a certain period of time. 19
(e) T
ERMINATION.—The pilot program shall termi-20
nate not later than 8 years after the date on which the 21
Administrator selects the covered communities for partici-22
pation in the pilot program under subsection (c)(2). 23
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(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 1
are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 2
necessary to carry out the pilot program. 3
Æ
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