II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 861
To streamline the sharing of information among Federal disaster assistance
agencies, to expedite the delivery of life-saving assistance to disaster
survivors, to speed the recovery of communities from disasters, to protect
the security and privacy of information provided by disaster survivors,
and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH5, 2025
Mr. P
ETERS(for himself, Mr. LANKFORD, Mr. PAUL, and Mr. TILLIS) intro-
duced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com-
mittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
A BILL
To streamline the sharing of information among Federal
disaster assistance agencies, to expedite the delivery of
life-saving assistance to disaster survivors, to speed the
recovery of communities from disasters, to protect the
security and privacy of information provided by disaster
survivors, 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
Simplification Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF A UNIFIED DISASTER ASSIST-1
ANCE INTAKE PROCESS AND SYSTEM. 2
The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-3
gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.) is amended 4
by adding at the end the following: 5
‘‘SEC. 707. ESTABLISHMENT OF A UNIFIED DISASTER AS-6
SISTANCE INTAKE PROCESS AND SYSTEM. 7
‘‘(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 8
‘‘(1) A
DMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘Adminis-9
trator’ means the Administrator of the Federal 10
Emergency Management Agency. 11
‘‘(2) A
PPLICANT.—The term ‘applicant’ 12
means— 13
‘‘(A) an individual, business, or organiza-14
tion that applies for disaster assistance from a 15
disaster assistance program; 16
‘‘(B) an individual, business, or organiza-17
tion on behalf of which an individual described 18
in subparagraph (A) applies for disaster assist-19
ance from a disaster assistance program; and 20
‘‘(C) an individual, business, or organiza-21
tion that seeks assistance as a beneficiary of a 22
State, local government, or Indian tribal gov-23
ernment that received assistance under a dis-24
aster assistance program. 25
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‘‘(3) DISASTER ASSISTANCE AGENCY .—The 1
term ‘disaster assistance agency’ means— 2
‘‘(A) the Federal Emergency Management 3
Agency; and 4
‘‘(B) any Federal agency that provides dis-5
aster assistance to individuals, businesses, orga-6
nizations, States, local governments, Indian 7
tribal governments, communities, or organiza-8
tions that the Administrator certifies as a dis-9
aster assistance agency in accordance with sub-10
section (f) to carry out the purposes of a dis-11
aster assistance program. 12
‘‘(4) D
ISASTER ASSISTANCE INFORMATION .— 13
The term ‘disaster assistance information’ includes 14
any personal, biographical, demographic, geo-15
graphical, financial, application decision, or other in-16
formation that a disaster assistance agency, or a re-17
cipient of a Federal block grant from a disaster as-18
sistance agency, is authorized to collect, maintain, 19
disclose, or use to— 20
‘‘(A) process an application for disaster as-21
sistance from a disaster assistance program; or 22
‘‘(B) otherwise carry out the purpose of a 23
disaster assistance program. 24
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‘‘(5) DISASTER ASSISTANCE PROGRAM .—The 1
term ‘disaster assistance program’ means— 2
‘‘(A) a program that provides disaster as-3
sistance to individuals and households under 4
title IV or V in accordance with sections 408 5
and 502; or 6
‘‘(B) any other assistance program author-7
ized by a Federal statute or funded with Fed-8
eral appropriations under which a disaster as-9
sistance agency awards or distributes disaster 10
assistance to an individual, household, or orga-11
nization, or provides a Federal block grant for 12
these purposes, that arises from a major dis-13
aster or emergency declared under section 401 14
or 501, respectively, including— 15
‘‘(i) disaster assistance; 16
‘‘(ii) long-term disaster recovery as-17
sistance; 18
‘‘(iii) the post-disaster restoration of 19
infrastructure and housing; 20
‘‘(iv) post-disaster economic revitaliza-21
tion; 22
‘‘(v) a loan authorized under section 23
7(b) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 24
636(b)); and 25
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‘‘(vi) food benefit allotments under 1
section 412 of this Act and section 5(h) of 2
the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 3
U.S.C. 2014(h)). 4
‘‘(6) R
ECORD.—The term ‘record’ has the 5
meaning given the term in section 552a of title 5, 6
United States Code. 7
‘‘(b) U
NIFIEDDISASTERASSISTANCEINTAKEPROC-8
ESS ANDSYSTEM.— 9
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 360 days 10
after the date of enactment of the Disaster Assist-11
ance Simplification Act, the Administrator shall, in 12
consultation with appropriate Federal, State, local, 13
and Indian tribal governments and entities, develop 14
and establish a unified intake process and system 15
for applicants for disaster assistance provided by a 16
disaster assistance agency to— 17
‘‘(A) facilitate a consolidated application 18
for any form of disaster assistance provided by 19
a disaster assistance agency when appropriate 20
to support the nature and purposes of the as-21
sistance; 22
‘‘(B) carry out the purposes of disaster as-23
sistance programs swiftly, efficiently, fairly, and 24
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in accordance with applicable laws and privacy 1
and data protections; and 2
‘‘(C) support the detection, prevention, and 3
investigation of waste, fraud, abuse, or discrimi-4
nation in the administration of disaster assist-5
ance programs. 6
‘‘(2) C
APABILITIES OF THE CONSOLIDATED AP -7
PLICATION SYSTEM.—The unified intake process and 8
system established under paragraph (1) shall— 9
‘‘(A) accept applications for disaster assist-10
ance programs; 11
‘‘(B) allow for applicants to receive status 12
updates on applications for disaster assistance 13
programs; 14
‘‘(C) allow for applicants to update dis-15
aster assistance information throughout the re-16
covery journeys of those applicants; 17
‘‘(D) allow for the distribution of informa-18
tion on additional recovery resources to disaster 19
survivors that may be available in a disaster- 20
stricken jurisdiction, in coordination with ap-21
propriate Federal, State, local, and Tribal part-22
ners; 23
‘‘(E) provide disaster survivors with infor-24
mation and documentation on the applications 25
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of those disaster survivors for a disaster assist-1
ance program; 2
‘‘(F) allow for the distribution of applica-3
tion data to support faster and more effective 4
distribution of Federal disaster assistance, in-5
cluding block grant assistance, for disaster re-6
covery; 7
‘‘(G) allow for disaster assistance agencies 8
to communicate directly with disaster survivors; 9
and 10
‘‘(H) contain other capabilities determined 11
necessary by the heads of disaster assistance 12
agencies. 13
‘‘(3) U
PDATES.—Not later than 30 days after 14
the date on which the Administrator receives a re-15
quest from a disaster assistance agency to update 16
questions in the consolidated application described in 17
paragraph (1) needed to administer the disaster as-18
sistance programs of the disaster assistance agency, 19
the Administrator shall make those updates. 20
‘‘(c) A
UTHORITIES OF ADMINISTRATOR.—The Ad-21
ministrator may— 22
‘‘(1) collect, maintain, disclose, and use disaster 23
assistance information, including such information 24
received from any disaster assistance agency, with 25
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any other disaster assistance agency for purposes of 1
subsection (b)(1); and 2
‘‘(2) subject to subsection (d), authorize the col-3
lection, maintenance, disclosure, and use of disaster 4
assistance information collected on or after the date 5
of enactment of the Disaster Assistance Simplifica-6
tion Act by publishing a notice on a public website 7
that— 8
‘‘(A) includes a detailed description of— 9
‘‘(i) the specific disaster assistance in-10
formation authorized to be collected, main-11
tained, disclosed, and used; 12
‘‘(ii) why the collection, maintenance, 13
disclosure, or use of the disaster assistance 14
information is necessary to carry out the 15
purpose of a disaster assistance program; 16
‘‘(iii) how the collection, maintenance, 17
disclosure, and use of disaster assistance 18
information incorporates fair information 19
practices; and 20
‘‘(iv) the disaster assistance agencies 21
that will be granted access to the disaster 22
assistance information to carry out the 23
purpose of any disaster assistance pro-24
gram; and 25
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‘‘(B) provides that the submission of an 1
application through a unified disaster applica-2
tion constitutes prior written consent to disclose 3
disaster assistance information to disaster as-4
sistance agencies for the purpose of section 5
552a(b) of title 5, United States Code. 6
‘‘(d) C
OLLECTION AND SHARING OFRECORDS AND 7
I
NFORMATION.— 8
‘‘(1) E
FFECT OF PUBLICATION OF NOTICE ON 9
PUBLIC WEBSITE.—The publication of a notice by 10
the Administrator on a public website of a revision 11
to the system of records of the unified intake process 12
and system established under subsection (b)(1) prior 13
to any new collection, maintenance, disclosure, or 14
use of records to carry out the purposes of a disaster 15
assistance program with respect to a major disaster 16
or emergency declared by the President under sec-17
tion 401 or 501, respectively, of this Act shall be 18
deemed to satisfy the notice and publication require-19
ments of section 552a(e)(4) of title 5, United States 20
Code, for the entire period of performance for any 21
assistance provided under a disaster assistance pro-22
gram. 23
‘‘(2) P
APERWORK REDUCTION ACT WAIVER .— 24
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‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Upon the declaration 1
of a major disaster or emergency pursuant to 2
section 401 or 501, respectively, of this Act, the 3
Administrator may waive the requirements of 4
subchapter I of chapter 35 of title 44, United 5
States Code (commonly known as the ‘Paper-6
work Reduction Act’), with respect to the vol-7
untary collection of information specific to the 8
declared major disaster or emergency needed to 9
carry out the purposes of a disaster assistance 10
program. 11
‘‘(B) D
URATION.—A waiver described in 12
subparagraph (A) shall be in effect for the en-13
tire period of performance for any assistance 14
provided under a disaster assistance program 15
with respect to a declared major disaster or 16
emergency. 17
‘‘(C) T
RANSPARENCY.—If the Adminis-18
trator waives the requirements described in sub-19
paragraph (A), the Administrator shall— 20
‘‘(i) promptly post on a public 21
website— 22
‘‘(I) a brief justification for the 23
waiver; and 24
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‘‘(II) the agencies and offices to 1
which the waiver shall apply; 2
‘‘(ii) update the information posted 3
under clause (i), as applicable; and 4
‘‘(iii) comply with the requirements of 5
subchapter I of chapter 35 of title 44, 6
United States Code (commonly known as 7
the ‘Paperwork Reduction Act’) upon the 8
expiration of the period of performance of 9
any assistance provided under a disaster 10
assistance program if the collection of in-11
formation may be utilized for the purposes 12
of supporting the disaster assistance pro-13
gram in future major disaster or emer-14
gency declarations. 15
‘‘(D) E
FFECTIVENESS OF WAIVER .—Any 16
waiver under subparagraph (A) shall take effect 17
on the date on which the Administrator posts 18
information on the internet website as provided 19
for under subparagraph (C). 20
‘‘(e) D
ATASECURITY.—The Administrator shall fa-21
cilitate the collection of disaster assistance information 22
into a unified application only after— 23
‘‘(1) the Administrator certifies that the unified 24
application substantially complies with the data se-25
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curity standards established pursuant to subchapter 1
II of chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code, and 2
any other applicable Federal information security 3
policy; 4
‘‘(2) the Secretary of Homeland Security pub-5
lishes a privacy impact assessment for the unified 6
application that is similar to the privacy assessment 7
conducted under section 208(b)(1)(B) of the E-Gov-8
ernment Act of 2002 (44 U.S.C. 3501 note); and 9
‘‘(3) the Administrator, in consultation with 10
disaster assistance agencies, publishes standard 11
rules of behavior for disaster assistance agencies and 12
personnel granted access to disaster assistance infor-13
mation to protect such information from improper 14
disclosure. 15
‘‘(f) C
ERTIFICATION OF DISASTERASSISTANCE 16
A
GENCIES.— 17
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Administrator may 18
certify a Federal agency as a disaster assistance 19
agency after posting an agreement between the Ad-20
ministrator and the Federal agency on a public 21
website that contains the detailed terms of the 22
agreement. 23
‘‘(2) C
ONTENTS OF AGREEMENT .—An agree-24
ment between the Administrator and a Federal 25
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agency described in paragraph (1) shall state that 1
the Federal Emergency Management Agency and 2
the Federal agency will— 3
‘‘(A) collect, disclose, maintain, and use 4
disaster assistance information in accordance 5
with— 6
‘‘(i) this section; and 7
‘‘(ii) subject to subsection (i)(2), any 8
existing policies of the Federal Emergency 9
Management Agency and the Federal 10
agency for information protection and use; 11
‘‘(B) train any personnel granted access to 12
disaster assistance information on the rules of 13
behavior established by the Administrator under 14
subsection (e)(3); 15
‘‘(C) in the event of any unauthorized dis-16
closure of disaster assistance information— 17
‘‘(i) not later than 24 hours after dis-18
covering the unauthorized disclosure— 19
‘‘(I) in the case of an unauthor-20
ized disclosure by the Federal agency, 21
notify the Administrator of the disclo-22
sure; and 23
‘‘(II) in the case of an unauthor-24
ized disclosure by the Federal Emer-25
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gency Management Agency, notify dis-1
aster assistance agencies of the disclo-2
sure; 3
‘‘(ii) cooperate fully with the Adminis-4
trator and disaster assistance agencies in 5
the investigation and remediation of the 6
disclosure; and 7
‘‘(iii) cooperate fully in the prosecu-8
tion of a person responsible for the disclo-9
sure; and 10
‘‘(D) assume responsibility for any com-11
pensation, civil liability, or other remediation 12
measure awarded by a judgment of a court or 13
agreed upon as a compromise of any potential 14
claim by or on behalf of an applicant, including 15
by obtaining credit monitoring and remediation 16
services, for an improper disclosure of disaster 17
assistance information that is— 18
‘‘(i) caused, directly or indirectly, by 19
the acts or omissions of an officer, em-20
ployee, or contractor of the Federal agen-21
cy; or 22
‘‘(ii) from any electronic system of 23
records that was created or maintained by 24
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the Federal agency pursuant to section 1
552a(e) of title 5, United States Code. 2
‘‘(g) R
EPORTS.— 3
‘‘(1) FEMA.—Not later than 1 year after the 4
date of enactment of this section, and every year 5
thereafter for 2 years, the Administrator, in coordi-6
nation with the heads of disaster assistance agen-7
cies, shall submit to Congress a report on the imple-8
mentation of this section, including— 9
‘‘(A) how disaster assistance agencies are 10
working together to implement the require-11
ments under this section; 12
‘‘(B) the effect of this section on disaster 13
survivor burden and the speed and efficiency of 14
delivering disaster assistance; and 15
‘‘(C) a description of any other challenges 16
that require further legislative action. 17
‘‘(2) GAO.—Not later than 3 years after the 18
date of enactment of this section, the Comptroller 19
General of the United States shall submit to Con-20
gress a report on how the implementation of this 21
section has affected the disaster survivor experience, 22
and any recommendations for improvements to the 23
requirements under this section. 24
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‘‘(h) BRIEFINGS.—Not later than 90 days after the 1
date of enactment of this section, and again not later than 2
180 days after the date of enactment of this section, the 3
Administrator shall brief Congress on— 4
‘‘(1) the status of the implementation of the re-5
quirements under this section; and 6
‘‘(2) how disaster assistance agencies are work-7
ing together to implement the requirements under 8
this section. 9
‘‘(i) R
ULES OFCONSTRUCTION.— 10
‘‘(1) I
NAPPLICABILITY OF MATCHING PROGRAM 11
PROVISIONS.—The disclosure and use of disaster as-12
sistance information subject to the requirements of 13
section 552a of title 5, United States Code, among 14
disaster assistance agencies or with State, local, or 15
Tribal governments carrying out disaster assistance 16
programs shall not— 17
‘‘(A) be construed as a matching program 18
for the purpose of section 552a(a)(8) of title 5, 19
United States Code; or 20
‘‘(B) be subject to subsection (e)(12), (o), 21
(p)(1)(A)(ii), (q), (r), or (u) of section 552a of 22
title 5, United States Code. 23
‘‘(2) A
UTHORITIES IN OTHER LAWS .—Nothing 24
in this section shall be construed to affect the au-25
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thority of an entity to share disaster assistance in-1
formation regarding programs funded or facilitated 2
by the entity in accordance with any other law or 3
agency policy. 4
‘‘(3) A
PPLYING TO MULTIPLE PROGRAMS .— 5
Nothing in this section shall be construed to require 6
an applicant to apply to more than 1 disaster assist-7
ance program. 8
‘‘(4) P
ROGRAM AUTHORIZATION .—Nothing in 9
this section shall be construed to authorize a pro-10
gram that is not authorized by law as of the date 11
of enactment of this section.’’. 12
Æ
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