Disaster Learning and Life Saving Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1952 To provide for a National Disaster Safety Board. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 27, 2021 Mr. SCHATZ (for himself and Mr. CASSIDY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Secu- rity and Governmental Affairs A BILL To provide for a National Disaster Safety Board. 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 Learning and 4 Life Saving Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT AND PURPOSE. 6 (a) ORGANIZATION.—There is established in the exec- 7 utive branch a National Disaster Safety Board, which 8 shall be an independent establishment, as defined in sec- 9 tion 104 of title 5, United States Code. 10 (b) PURPOSE.—The purposes of the Board are— 11 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 Jun 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1952.IS S1952 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1952 IS (1) to reduce loss of life, injury, and economic 1 injury caused by future incidents by learning from 2 natural hazards, including the impacts and under- 3 lying factors of such incidents, in a standardized 4 way; 5 (2) to maintain a focus that is future-looking 6 and national in scope, by applying what the Board 7 learns through the trends that emerge from the inci- 8 dents the Board reviews nationally to prevent loss of 9 life, or human or economic injury, not only in the af- 10 fected jurisdiction, but nationally, as the Board de- 11 termines relevant; 12 (3) in carrying out reviews, analyses, and rec- 13 ommendations, not to be accusatory in nature and 14 the Board shall not seek to find blame in any indi- 15 vidual or organization, or second-guess any relevant 16 authorities; 17 (4) to address systemic causes behind the loss 18 of life and human or economic injury in incidents, 19 including by recommending the augmentation of re- 20 sources available to entities responsible for man- 21 aging incident consequences; and 22 (5) while preventing economic injury as part of 23 the mission of the Board, when relevant, to prioritize 24 efforts that focus on lifesaving and injury preven- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 Jun 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1952.IS S1952 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1952 IS tion, especially in disproportionately impacted com- 1 munities, as its work determines them to be. 2 SEC. 3. GENERAL AUTHORITY. 3 (a) AUTHORITY TO REVIEW.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (b), 5 the Board shall review and establish the facts, cir- 6 cumstances, and cause or probable cause of the loss 7 of life, human injury, and economic injury due to a 8 natural hazard with 10 or more fatalities or that 9 meets the requirements described in paragraph (5) 10 or (6) of subsection (b) that occurs after the date 11 of enactment of this Act. 12 (2) DUE TO A NATURAL HAZARD INCIDENT DE- 13 FINED.—For purposes of paragraph (1), the term 14 ‘‘due to a natural hazard’’ means a fatality that, if 15 not for the natural hazard incident, as the case may 16 be, would not have occurred within the time frame 17 of the incident, as defined by standards developed by 18 the Board. 19 (b) DETERMINATION OF WHETHER INCIDENT WAR- 20 RANTS BOARD REVIEW.—In carrying out subsection (a), 21 the Board— 22 (1) may begin the review of an incident, includ- 23 ing by monitoring the natural hazard and collecting 24 facts, before the total number of fatalities is known 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 Jun 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1952.IS S1952 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1952 IS if the Board determines that the natural hazard in- 1 cident has the potential to cause 10 or more fatali- 2 ties at its onset, in accordance with the policies and 3 procedures established by the Board; 4 (2) may, by a two-thirds vote, decide that an in- 5 cident that caused 10 or more fatalities does not re- 6 quire a review and shall issue a public statement ex- 7 plaining the determination; 8 (3) may, by a majority vote, decide to review 9 any natural hazard incident that occurs after the 10 date of enactment of this Act upon request from a 11 representative of an affected State, Tribal govern- 12 ment, or unit of local government, regardless of the 13 number of fatalities; 14 (4) may, by a majority vote, decide to review 15 any natural hazard incident that occurs after the 16 date of enactment of this Act upon recommendation 17 by the Office for the Protection of Disproportion- 18 ately Impacted Communities of the Board, which the 19 Office may make because of the incident’s impacts 20 on populations that are socially, medically, or eco- 21 nomically vulnerable, as decided by the Office; 22 (5) may, by a majority vote, decide to review a 23 natural hazard incident that occurs after the date of 24 enactment of this Act if— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 Jun 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1952.IS S1952 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1952 IS (A) the Board determines that information 1 may be gained by the review that will be useful 2 in reducing systemic causes behind the loss of 3 life and human or economic injury; and 4 (B) the incident— 5 (i) did not result in 10 or more fatali- 6 ties; and 7 (ii)(I) could have resulted in a large 8 number of fatalities if not for swift inter- 9 vention or a shift in the course of events; 10 or 11 (II) resulted in, as determined by the 12 Board— 13 (aa) a significant amount of eco- 14 nomic or infrastructure damage; 15 (bb) significant human displace- 16 ment; or 17 (cc) a significant number of se- 18 vere non-fatal injuries or cases of se- 19 vere illness; and 20 (6) shall, by majority vote, determine whether 21 each incident for which the President issues a major 22 disaster declaration under section 401 of the Robert 23 T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 Jun 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1952.IS S1952 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1952 IS ance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170) meets the criteria for re- 1 view under paragraph (5). 2 (c) NATURE OF REVIEW.— 3 (1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out a review 4 under this Act, the Board shall— 5 (A) conduct the review to determine the 6 facts, conditions, and circumstances relating to 7 the loss of life, human injury, and economic in- 8 jury due to an incident; 9 (B) following an initial assessment of an 10 incident by the Board, notify any individual or 11 organization that the Board anticipates will be 12 affected by the review as to the extent of the 13 expected review response of the Board; 14 (C) use the results of the review under 15 subparagraph (A) to— 16 (i) determine how and why people die 17 and are injured during an incident; and 18 (ii) issue recommendations to prevent 19 or mitigate the loss of life, human injury, 20 or economic injury due to similar incidents; 21 and 22 (D) report on the facts and circumstances 23 of the incident review, including the pre-inci- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 Jun 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1952.IS S1952 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1952 IS dent resilience or vulnerabilities of the incident 1 area or population. 2 (2) GENERALIZED NATURE OF REVIEWS.—A 3 review of loss of life and injury conducted by the 4 Board shall— 5 (A) be generalized; 6 (B) focus on trends across an incident; and 7 (C) not aim to determine the exact indi- 8 vidual cause of death or injury of any affected 9 people. 10 (3) FACT-FINDING PROCEEDING.—Any review 11 of an incident by the Board under this Act shall be 12 a fact-finding proceeding with no adverse parties. 13 (4) LIMITATION OF APPLICABILITY OF OTHER 14 ACTS.— 15 (A) ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE ACT.— 16 Any review proceedings of the Board under this 17 Act shall not be— 18 (i) subject to the Administrative Pro- 19 cedure Act (5 U.S.C. 551 et seq.); or 20 (ii) conducted for the purpose of de- 21 termining the rights, liabilities, or blame of 22 any person, as the review is not an adju- 23 dicatory proceeding. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 Jun 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1952.IS S1952 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1952 IS (B) PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT.—Chap- 1 ter 35 of title 44, United States Code (com- 2 monly known as the ‘‘Paperwork Reduction 3 Act’’), shall not apply to the review proceedings 4 of the Board under this Act. 5 (C) FEDERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE 6 ACT.—The Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 7 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply to the Board. 8 (5) INITIATING REVIEWS.—The Board shall ini- 9 tiate a review of an incident by monitoring the situa- 10 tion and assessing available facts to determine the 11 appropriate review response, without interfering in 12 any ongoing lifesaving and life sustaining efforts un- 13 derway by other entities. 14 (6) ALIGNMENT AND COORDINATION.—In car- 15 rying out this Act, the Board shall coordinate with 16 Federal, State, local, and Tribal entities to— 17 (A) establish or adopt standard methods of 18 measuring the impacts of natural hazards and 19 accessing response capacity and capabilities to 20 maintain consistency and allow for the analysis 21 of trends over time; 22 (B) ensure that the standard data sets and 23 formats necessary for reviews developed under 24 subparagraph (A) are propagated among Fed- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 Jun 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1952.IS S1952 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1952 IS eral, State, local, and Tribal entities that may 1 be involved in response operations; 2 (C) leverage, to the extent practicable, 3 data collected using standard data sets and for- 4 mats established under subparagraph (B) by 5 Federal entities involved in response operations 6 to avoid any duplication of data collection; and 7 (D) during incident response operations, 8 coordinate with partners active in the operation 9 to collect data remotely or take other actions 10 that the Board finds necessary to align and co- 11 ordinate the requirements of the review with 12 ongoing operations, including through the re- 13 quirements of paragraph (7). 14 (7) INCIDENT COMMAND.—The Board shall— 15 (A) recognize the role of incident command 16 systems to address incidents; 17 (B) observe the incident command system 18 to identify and coordinate review needs related 19 to the preservation and collection of information 20 and evidence; and 21 (C) shall collect information and evidence 22 from the incident command in a timely and rea- 23 sonable manner so as not to interfere with the 24 operations of the incident command. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 Jun 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1952.IS S1952 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1952 IS (8) PARTIES TO THE REVIEW.— 1 (A) PARTICIPANTS.—Subject to subpara- 2 graph (B), the Board may invite 1 or more en- 3 tities to serve as a party in a review on a vol- 4 untary basis, and any party participant shall be 5 required to follow all directions and instructions 6 from the Board. 7 (B) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—In designating an 8 entity to serve as a party under subparagraph 9 (A), the Board may designate only a Federal, 10 State, or local government agency or private or- 11 ganization whose employees, functions, activi- 12 ties, or products were involved in the incident, 13 including responsible parties, and that can pro- 14 vide suitable qualified technical personnel to ac- 15 tively assist in the review. 16 (C) REPRESENTATIVES OF ELIGIBLE ENTI- 17 TIES.—To the extent practicable, a representa- 18 tive proposed by an entity designated as a party 19 under subparagraph (A) to participate in the 20 review may not be an individual who had direct 21 involvement in the incident under review. 22 (D) REVOCATION OF PARTY STATUS.—A 23 designation as a party under subparagraph (A) 24 may be revoked or suspended by the Board if 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 Jun 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1952.IS S1952 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •S 1952 IS the party fails to comply with assigned duties 1 and instructions, withholds information, or oth- 2 erwise acts in a manner prejudicial or disrup- 3 tive to a review. 4 (E) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 5 this paragraph shall be construed to establish a 6 right for any entity to participate in a Board 7 review as a party. 8 (F) INTERNAL REVIEW BY A PARTY.—To 9 assure coordination of concurrent efforts, a 10 party to a review that conducts or authorizes an 11 internal review of the processes and procedures 12 of the party as a result of an incident that the 13 Board is reviewing shall— 14 (i) inform the Board of the nature of 15 the review; and 16 (ii) provide to the Board findings 17 from the review. 18 (9) REVIEW PROCEDURES.—In addition to any 19 procedures required under this Act, the Board shall 20 determine and publish detailed review procedures as 21 the Board determines necessary. 22 (10) PRODUCTS.—The Board may use any me- 23 dium that will effectively convey the findings and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 Jun 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1952.IS S1952 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •S 1952 IS recommendations of the Board to the targeted audi- 1 ence of such findings or recommendations. 2 (d) REVIEW BY AFFECTED AUTHORITIES.— 3 (1) IN GENERAL.—When the Board has com- 4 pleted the findings and recommendations or other 5 products as a result of a review under this Act, the 6 Board shall provide all affected States, Tribal Gov- 7 ernments, and units of local government, or their 8 designees, an opportunity to review and comment 9 not later than 30 days before the publication of the 10 findings or recommendations. 11 (2) REQUIREMENT.—The Board shall make 12 every reasonable effort, within its discretion, to re- 13 spond to requests for additional information and 14 context that an affected jurisdiction may make and 15 to edit their findings and recommendations with any 16 useful additional information or context provided by 17 any affected jurisdiction in its comments without af- 18 fecting the integrity or independence of the review 19 and its findings and recommendations, as the Board 20 shall determine. 21 (e) DISPROPORTIONATELY IMPACTED COMMU- 22 NITIES.— 23 (1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out a review of 24 an incident under this section, including in deter- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:17 Jun 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Fr [Text truncated for display. 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