II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 388
To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance
Act with respect to the implementation of building codes, and for other
purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY4, 2025
Mr. C
ORNYN(for himself and Mr. FETTERMAN) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Secu-
rity and Governmental Affairs
A BILL
To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-
gency Assistance Act with respect to the implementation
of building codes, 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 ‘‘Promoting Resilient 4
Buildings Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. PREDISASTER HAZARD MITIGATION. 6
Section 203(a) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re-7
lief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5133) is 8
amended— 9
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•S 388 IS
(1) by striking the subsection heading and in-1
serting ‘‘D
EFINITIONS’’; 2
(2) by striking ‘‘In this section, the term’’ and 3
inserting the following: 4
‘‘(2) S
MALL IMPOVERISHED COMMUNITY .—The 5
term’’; and 6
(3) by inserting before paragraph (2), as so 7
designated, ‘‘In this section: 8
‘‘(1) L
ATEST PUBLISHED EDITIONS .—The term 9
‘latest public editions’ means the 2 most recently 10
published editions of relevant consensus-based codes, 11
specifications, and standards.’’. 12
SEC. 3. HAZARD MITIGATION REVOLVING LOAN FUND PRO-13
GRAM. 14
Section 205(f) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re-15
lief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5135(f)) 16
is amended— 17
(1) by striking paragraph (5); and 18
(2) by redesignating paragraphs (6), (7), and 19
(8) as paragraphs (5), (6), and (7), respectively. 20
SEC. 4. RESIDENTIAL RETROFIT AND RESILIENCE PILOT 21
PROGRAM. 22
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 23
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(1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-1
trator’’ means the Administrator of the Federal 2
Emergency Management Agency. 3
(2) R
ESIDENTIAL RESILIENT RETROFIT .—The 4
term ‘‘residential resilient retrofit’’— 5
(A) means a project that— 6
(i) is designed to increase the resil-7
ience of an existing home or residence 8
using mitigation measures that the Admin-9
istrator determines reduce damage and im-10
pacts from natural disaster hazards and 11
risks that are most likely to occur in the 12
area where the home is located; and 13
(ii) to the extent applicable, are con-14
sistent with— 15
(I) the 2 most recently published 16
editions of relevant consensus-based 17
codes, specifications, and standards, 18
including any amendments made to 19
those codes by State, local, or Indian 20
tribal governments; and 21
(II) specifications and standards 22
that, for the purpose of protecting 23
health, safety, and general welfare of 24
users of buildings against disasters— 25
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(aa) incorporate the latest 1
hazard-resistant designs; and 2
(bb) establish criteria for the 3
design, construction, and mainte-4
nance of residential structures 5
and facilities that may be eligible 6
for assistance under the Robert 7
T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 8
Emergency Assistance Act (42 9
U.S.C. 5121 et seq.); and 10
(B) includes— 11
(i) elevations of homes and utilities 12
within and around structures to mitigate 13
damages; 14
(ii) floodproofing measures; 15
(iii) the construction of tornado safe 16
rooms; 17
(iv) seismic retrofits; 18
(v) wildfire retrofit and mitigation 19
measures; 20
(vi) wind retrofits, including roof re-21
placements, hurricane straps, and tie- 22
downs; and 23
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(vii) any other measure that meet the 1
requirements of subparagraph (A), as de-2
termined by the Administrator. 3
(b) E
STABLISHMENT.—The Administrator shall 4
carry out a residential resilience pilot program through the 5
program established under section 203 of the Robert T. 6
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 7
(42 U.S.C. 5133) to make available assistance to States 8
and local governments for the purpose of providing grants 9
to individuals for residential resilience retrofits. 10
(c) A
MOUNT OFFUNDS.—The Administrator may 11
use not more than 10 percent of the assistance made avail-12
able to applicants on an annual basis under section 203 13
of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 14
Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5133) to provide assistance 15
under this section. 16
(d) T
IMELINE.—With respect to the pilot program 17
carried out under subsection (b), the Administrator 18
shall— 19
(1) establish the pilot program not later than 1 20
year after the date of enactment of this Act; and 21
(2) terminate the pilot program on September 22
30, 2030. 23
(e) P
RIORITY.—In carrying out the pilot program 24
under this section, the Administrator shall ensure that a 25
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State or local government receiving assistance under the 1
pilot program provides grants to individuals that dem-2
onstrate financial need. 3
(f) R
EPORT.—Not later than 4 years after the date 4
of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall submit 5
to the Committee on Homeland Security and Govern-6
mental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Trans-7
portation and Infrastructure of the House of Representa-8
tives a report that includes— 9
(1) a summary of the grant awards and 10
projects carried out under this section; 11
(2) a detailed compilation of results achieved by 12
the grant awards and projects carried out under this 13
section, including the number of homes receiving ret-14
rofits, the types and average costs of retrofits, and 15
demographic information for participants in the pilot 16
program; 17
(3) an estimate of avoidance in disaster impacts 18
and Federal disaster payments as a result of the 19
grant investments carried out under this section, 20
and whether that avoidance is different than other 21
mitigation projects funded under section 203 of the 22
Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 23
Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5133); and 24
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(4) any identified implementation challenges 1
and recommendations for improvements to the pilot 2
program established under this section. 3
(g) A
PPLICABILITY.—This section shall only apply 4
with respect to amounts appropriated on or after the date 5
of enactment of this Act. 6
SEC. 5. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 7
Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this 8
Act shall be construed to affect any program other than 9
the predisaster hazard mitigation program or the hazard 10
mitigation revolving loan fund program established under 11
section 203 or 205, respectively, of the Robert T. Stafford 12
Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 13
5133, 5135). 14
Æ
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