Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB388 Compare Versions

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

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 388
5	5	To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance
6	6	Act with respect to the implementation of building codes, and for other
7	7	purposes.
8	8	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
9	9	FEBRUARY4, 2025
10	10	Mr. C
11	11	ORNYN(for himself and Mr. FETTERMAN) introduced the following bill;
12	12	which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Secu-
13	13	rity and Governmental Affairs
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-
16	16	gency Assistance Act with respect to the implementation
17	17	of building codes, and for other purposes.
18	18	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
19	19	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
20	20	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
21	21	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Promoting Resilient 4
22	22	Buildings Act’’. 5
23	23	SEC. 2. PREDISASTER HAZARD MITIGATION. 6
24	24	Section 203(a) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re-7
25	25	lief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5133) is 8
26	26	amended— 9
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29	29	•S 388 IS
30	30	(1) by striking the subsection heading and in-1
31	31	serting ‘‘D
32	32	EFINITIONS’’; 2
33	33	(2) by striking ‘‘In this section, the term’’ and 3
34	34	inserting the following: 4
35	35	‘‘(2) S
36	36	MALL IMPOVERISHED COMMUNITY .—The 5
37	37	term’’; and 6
38	38	(3) by inserting before paragraph (2), as so 7
39	39	designated, ‘‘In this section: 8
40	40	‘‘(1) L
41	41	ATEST PUBLISHED EDITIONS .—The term 9
42	42	‘latest public editions’ means the 2 most recently 10
43	43	published editions of relevant consensus-based codes, 11
44	44	specifications, and standards.’’. 12
45	45	SEC. 3. HAZARD MITIGATION REVOLVING LOAN FUND PRO-13
46	46	GRAM. 14
47	47	Section 205(f) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re-15
48	48	lief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5135(f)) 16
49	49	is amended— 17
50	50	(1) by striking paragraph (5); and 18
51	51	(2) by redesignating paragraphs (6), (7), and 19
52	52	(8) as paragraphs (5), (6), and (7), respectively. 20
53	53	SEC. 4. RESIDENTIAL RETROFIT AND RESILIENCE PILOT 21
54	54	PROGRAM. 22
55	55	(a) D
56	56	EFINITIONS.—In this section: 23
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59	59	•S 388 IS
60	60	(1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-1
61	61	trator’’ means the Administrator of the Federal 2
62	62	Emergency Management Agency. 3
63	63	(2) R
64	64	ESIDENTIAL RESILIENT RETROFIT .—The 4
65	65	term ‘‘residential resilient retrofit’’— 5
66	66	(A) means a project that— 6
67	67	(i) is designed to increase the resil-7
68	68	ience of an existing home or residence 8
69	69	using mitigation measures that the Admin-9
70	70	istrator determines reduce damage and im-10
71	71	pacts from natural disaster hazards and 11
72	72	risks that are most likely to occur in the 12
73	73	area where the home is located; and 13
74	74	(ii) to the extent applicable, are con-14
75	75	sistent with— 15
76	76	(I) the 2 most recently published 16
77	77	editions of relevant consensus-based 17
78	78	codes, specifications, and standards, 18
79	79	including any amendments made to 19
80	80	those codes by State, local, or Indian 20
81	81	tribal governments; and 21
82	82	(II) specifications and standards 22
83	83	that, for the purpose of protecting 23
84	84	health, safety, and general welfare of 24
85	85	users of buildings against disasters— 25
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88	88	•S 388 IS
89	89	(aa) incorporate the latest 1
90	90	hazard-resistant designs; and 2
91	91	(bb) establish criteria for the 3
92	92	design, construction, and mainte-4
93	93	nance of residential structures 5
94	94	and facilities that may be eligible 6
95	95	for assistance under the Robert 7
96	96	T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 8
97	97	Emergency Assistance Act (42 9
98	98	U.S.C. 5121 et seq.); and 10
99	99	(B) includes— 11
100	100	(i) elevations of homes and utilities 12
101	101	within and around structures to mitigate 13
102	102	damages; 14
103	103	(ii) floodproofing measures; 15
104	104	(iii) the construction of tornado safe 16
105	105	rooms; 17
106	106	(iv) seismic retrofits; 18
107	107	(v) wildfire retrofit and mitigation 19
108	108	measures; 20
109	109	(vi) wind retrofits, including roof re-21
110	110	placements, hurricane straps, and tie- 22
111	111	downs; and 23
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114	114	•S 388 IS
115	115	(vii) any other measure that meet the 1
116	116	requirements of subparagraph (A), as de-2
117	117	termined by the Administrator. 3
118	118	(b) E
119	119	STABLISHMENT.—The Administrator shall 4
120	120	carry out a residential resilience pilot program through the 5
121	121	program established under section 203 of the Robert T. 6
122	122	Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 7
123	123	(42 U.S.C. 5133) to make available assistance to States 8
124	124	and local governments for the purpose of providing grants 9
125	125	to individuals for residential resilience retrofits. 10
126	126	(c) A
127	127	MOUNT OFFUNDS.—The Administrator may 11
128	128	use not more than 10 percent of the assistance made avail-12
129	129	able to applicants on an annual basis under section 203 13
130	130	of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 14
131	131	Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5133) to provide assistance 15
132	132	under this section. 16
133	133	(d) T
134	134	IMELINE.—With respect to the pilot program 17
135	135	carried out under subsection (b), the Administrator 18
136	136	shall— 19
137	137	(1) establish the pilot program not later than 1 20
138	138	year after the date of enactment of this Act; and 21
139	139	(2) terminate the pilot program on September 22
140	140	30, 2030. 23
141	141	(e) P
142	142	RIORITY.—In carrying out the pilot program 24
143	143	under this section, the Administrator shall ensure that a 25
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146	146	•S 388 IS
147	147	State or local government receiving assistance under the 1
148	148	pilot program provides grants to individuals that dem-2
149	149	onstrate financial need. 3
150	150	(f) R
151	151	EPORT.—Not later than 4 years after the date 4
152	152	of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall submit 5
153	153	to the Committee on Homeland Security and Govern-6
154	154	mental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Trans-7
155	155	portation and Infrastructure of the House of Representa-8
156	156	tives a report that includes— 9
157	157	(1) a summary of the grant awards and 10
158	158	projects carried out under this section; 11
159	159	(2) a detailed compilation of results achieved by 12
160	160	the grant awards and projects carried out under this 13
161	161	section, including the number of homes receiving ret-14
162	162	rofits, the types and average costs of retrofits, and 15
163	163	demographic information for participants in the pilot 16
164	164	program; 17
165	165	(3) an estimate of avoidance in disaster impacts 18
166	166	and Federal disaster payments as a result of the 19
167	167	grant investments carried out under this section, 20
168	168	and whether that avoidance is different than other 21
169	169	mitigation projects funded under section 203 of the 22
170	170	Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 23
171	171	Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5133); and 24
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174	174	•S 388 IS
175	175	(4) any identified implementation challenges 1
176	176	and recommendations for improvements to the pilot 2
177	177	program established under this section. 3
178	178	(g) A
179	179	PPLICABILITY.—This section shall only apply 4
180	180	with respect to amounts appropriated on or after the date 5
181	181	of enactment of this Act. 6
182	182	SEC. 5. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 7
183	183	Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this 8
184	184	Act shall be construed to affect any program other than 9
185	185	the predisaster hazard mitigation program or the hazard 10
186	186	mitigation revolving loan fund program established under 11
187	187	section 203 or 205, respectively, of the Robert T. Stafford 12
188	188	Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 13
189	189	5133, 5135). 14
190	190	Æ
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