GRACE Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1223 To revise the treatment of urbanized areas experiencing population changes following a major disaster. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 20, 2021 Mr. CORNYN (for himself, Mr. KAINE, and Mr. WARNER) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Bank- ing, Housing, and Urban Affairs A BILL To revise the treatment of urbanized areas experiencing population changes following a major disaster. 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 ‘‘Giving Relief to Amer- 4 ican Communities in Emergencies Act’’ or the ‘‘GRACE 5 Act’’. 6 SEC. 2. URBANIZED AREAS. 7 (a) EXTENSION OF TREATMENT OF URBANIZED 8 AREAS.—Section 21101 of division B of the Bipartisan 9 Budget Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–123; 132 Stat. 103) 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:57 May 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1223.IS S1223 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1223 IS is amended by striking ‘‘and 2020’’ and inserting ‘‘2020, 1 2021, and 2022’’. 2 (b) CENSUS DISCRETION.—Section 5324 of title 49, 3 United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 4 following: 5 ‘‘(f) CENSUS DISCRETION.— 6 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 7 ‘‘(A) DISASTER-RELATED POPULATION DE- 8 CREASE.—The term ‘disaster-related population 9 decrease’, with respect to an urbanized area, 10 means that— 11 ‘‘(i) the population of the urbanized 12 area decreases to be less than 50,000 indi- 13 viduals, as determined in a decennial cen- 14 sus after the decennial census in which the 15 area was designated as an urbanized area; 16 and 17 ‘‘(ii) the decrease described in clause 18 (i) is a result of a major disaster declared 19 by the President under section 401 of the 20 Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 21 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 22 5170). 23 ‘‘(B) URBANIZED AREA.—The term ‘ur- 24 banized area’ means an area designated in a de- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:57 May 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1223.IS S1223 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1223 IS cennial census as an urbanized area by the Sec- 1 retary of Commerce. 2 ‘‘(2) ELECTION.—On request by the Governor 3 of a State in which an urbanized area that experi- 4 ences a disaster-related population decrease is lo- 5 cated, the Secretary may elect for the purposes of 6 this chapter, including for purposes of making ap- 7 portionments under this chapter— 8 ‘‘(A) to use the population of the urban- 9 ized area, as determined in the decennial census 10 before the most recent decennial census; and 11 ‘‘(B) to continue to treat the area as an 12 urbanized area.’’. 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:57 May 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1223.IS S1223 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS