RIDER Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3459 To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to expand eligibility for individual and public assistance to certain areas and to include cumulative damage from multiple natural catas- trophes in the definition of major disaster, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 21, 2021 Mr. BABIN (for himself and Mr. GARAMENDI) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer- gency Assistance Act to expand eligibility for individual and public assistance to certain areas and to include cumulative damage from multiple natural catastrophes in the definition of major disaster, and for other pur- poses. 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 ‘‘Regional Impact of 4 Disasters and Emergencies Relief Act’’ or the ‘‘RIDER 5 Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:13 Jul 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3459.IH H3459 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3459 IH SEC. 2. CONTIGUOUS AREA. 1 Title IV of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 2 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170 et seq.) is 3 amended by adding at the end the following: 4 ‘‘SEC. 431. CONTIGUOUS AREA. 5 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Any area under the jurisdiction 6 of a State or local government that is contiguous to an 7 area that the President designates as eligible to receive 8 any form of covered assistance as a result of a major dis- 9 aster may be deemed by the Administrator of the Federal 10 Emergency Management Agency to be eligible to receive 11 such assistance with respect to such disaster. 12 ‘‘(b) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘covered 13 assistance’ means— 14 ‘‘(1) hazard mitigation assistance provided 15 under section 404; 16 ‘‘(2) any assistance provided to an individual or 17 household under sections 408, 410, 415, 416, or 18 426; and 19 ‘‘(3) any public assistance provided under sec- 20 tions 403, 406, or 407.’’. 21 SEC. 3. CUMULATIVE DAMAGE. 22 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 102(2) of the Robert T. 23 Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 24 (42 U.S.C. 5122(2)) is amended— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:13 Jul 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3459.IH H3459 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3459 IH (1) by striking ‘‘ ‘Major disaster’ means’’ and 1 inserting ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘major dis- 2 aster’ means’’; and 3 (2) by adding at the end the following: 4 ‘‘(B) INCLUSION.—The term ‘major dis- 5 aster’ includes more than 1 natural catastrophe, 6 fire, flood, or explosion described in subpara- 7 graph (A) that occurs in a 12-month period and 8 that individually does not cause damage of suf- 9 ficient severity and magnitude to warrant major 10 disaster assistance under this Act, but that, in 11 the determination of the President, cumula- 12 tively causes damage of sufficient severity and 13 magnitude to warrant such assistance.’’. 14 (b) INTERIM GUIDANCE.—Not later than 60 days 15 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator 16 of the Federal Emergency Management Agency shall issue 17 interim guidance to implement the amendments made by 18 subsection (a). 19 (c) RULEMAKING.—Not later than 18 months after 20 the date of enactment of this Act, the President, acting 21 through the Administrator of the Federal Emergency 22 Management Agency, shall issue such rules and regula- 23 tions as are necessary to— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:13 Jul 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3459.IH H3459 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3459 IH (1) ensure compliance with section 1232 of the 1 FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 (Public Law 115– 2 254); and 3 (2) implement the amendments made by sub- 4 section (a). 5 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:13 Jul 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3459.IH H3459 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS