MALDEN Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3917 To enure that a declaration for a major disaster or emergency is made on a timely basis, rural areas receive assistance, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 15, 2021 Mrs. RODGERS of Washington introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To enure that a declaration for a major disaster or emer- gency is made on a timely basis, rural areas receive assistance, 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 ‘‘Making Aid for Local 4 Disasters Equal Now Act’’ or the ‘‘MALDEN Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. DECLARATION TIME FRAME. 6 (a) MAJOR DISASTER DECLARATION.—Section 7 401(a) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 8 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170) is amended 9 by adding at the end the following: ‘‘A major disaster dec- 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:53 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3917.IH H3917 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3917 IH laration under this section shall be made not later than 1 30 days after a request by a Governor or the Chief Execu- 2 tive of an affected Indian Tribal Government. Failure to 3 meet the 30-day requirement shall result in an automatic 4 approval of such request for a declaration.’’. 5 (b) EMERGENCY DECLARATION.—Section 501(a) of 6 the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency As- 7 sistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5191) is amended by adding at 8 the end the following: ‘‘An emergency declaration under 9 this section shall be made not later than 30 days after 10 a request for a declaration by a Governor or the Chief 11 Executive of an affected Indian Tribal Government. Fail- 12 ure to meet the 30-day requirement shall result in an 13 automatic approval of such request for a declaration.’’. 14 SEC. 3. RURAL ASSISTANCE. 15 Section 326 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 16 and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5165d) is 17 amended by adding at the end the following: 18 ‘‘(d) ADDITIONAL ASSISTANCE FOR RURAL AREAS.— 19 If a disaster or emergency occurs in a rural area, regard- 20 less if a declaration has been made, the Small State and 21 Rural Advocate shall work in coordination with the State, 22 Territory or Tribal Emergency Management Agency to 23 provide guidance to the rural areas emergency manager 24 on developing a recovery team, including resources to help 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:53 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3917.IH H3917 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3917 IH prevent flooding, mudslides, rockslides or any other nat- 1 ural disaster that could result after a wildfire and identi- 2 fying available resources for both short-term and long- 3 term recovery, including resources to help prevent a future 4 natural disaster within the burned area.’’. 5 ‘‘(e) CASE WORKER AVAILABILITY.—In a case in 6 which a request for individual assistance in a rural area 7 is made under section 408 but denied, the Small State 8 and Rural Advocate shall work in coordination with the 9 affected State, Territory or Tribal Emergency Manage- 10 ment Agency to make disaster case workers available to 11 the residents impacted by the disaster or emergency.’’. 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:53 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3917.IH H3917 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS