Fairness in Federal Disaster Declarations Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1852 To require rulemaking by the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Man- agement Agency to address considerations in evaluating the need for public and individual disaster assistance, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 13, 2019 Mr. DURBIN (for himself and Ms. DUCKWORTH) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Secu- rity and Governmental Affairs A BILL To require rulemaking by the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to address consider- ations in evaluating the need for public and individual disaster 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 ‘‘Fairness in Federal 4 Disaster Declarations Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. REGULATORY ACTION REQUIRED. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days after the 7 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:46 Jun 15, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1852.IS S1852 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1852 IS Federal Emergency Management Agency (in this Act re- 1 ferred to as the ‘‘Administrator’’ and ‘‘FEMA’’, respec- 2 tively) shall amend the rules of the Administrator under 3 section 206.48 of title 44, Code of Federal Regulations, 4 as in effect on the date of enactment of this Act, in accord- 5 ance with the provisions of this Act. 6 (b) NEW CRITERIA REQUIRED.—The amended rules 7 issued under subsection (a) shall provide for the following: 8 (1) PUBLIC ASSISTANCE PROGRAM.—Such rules 9 shall provide that, with respect to the evaluation of 10 the need for public assistance— 11 (A) specific weighted valuations shall be 12 assigned to each criterion, as follows— 13 (i) estimated cost of the assistance, 10 14 percent; 15 (ii) localized impacts, 40 percent; 16 (iii) insurance coverage in force, 10 17 percent; 18 (iv) hazard mitigation, 10 percent; 19 (v) recent multiple disasters, 10 per- 20 cent; 21 (vi) programs of other Federal assist- 22 ance, 10 percent; and 23 (vii) economic circumstances described 24 in subparagraph (B), 10 percent; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:46 Jun 15, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1852.IS S1852 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1852 IS (B) FEMA shall consider the economic cir- 1 cumstances of— 2 (i) the local economy of the affected 3 area, including factors such as the local as- 4 sessable tax base and local sales tax, the 5 median income as it compares to that of 6 the State, and the poverty rate as it com- 7 pares to that of the State; and 8 (ii) the economy of the State, includ- 9 ing factors such as the unemployment rate 10 of the State, as compared to the national 11 unemployment rate. 12 (2) INDIVIDUAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM.—Such 13 rules shall provide that, with respect to the evalua- 14 tion of the severity, magnitude, and impact of the 15 disaster and the evaluation of the need for assist- 16 ance to individuals— 17 (A) specific weighted valuations shall be 18 assigned to each criterion, as follows— 19 (i) concentration of damages, 20 per- 20 cent; 21 (ii) trauma, 20 percent; 22 (iii) special populations, 20 percent; 23 (iv) voluntary agency assistance, 10 24 percent; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:46 Jun 15, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1852.IS S1852 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1852 IS (v) insurance, 20 percent; 1 (vi) average amount of individual as- 2 sistance by State, 5 percent; and 3 (vii) economic considerations de- 4 scribed in subparagraph (B), 5 percent; 5 and 6 (B) FEMA shall consider the economic cir- 7 cumstances of the affected area, including fac- 8 tors such as the local assessable tax base and 9 local sales tax, the median income as it com- 10 pares to that of the State, and the poverty rate 11 as it compares to that of the State. 12 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amended rules issued 13 under subsection (a) shall apply to any disaster for which 14 a Governor requested a major disaster declaration under 15 the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency As- 16 sistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.) and was denied on 17 or after January 1, 2012. 18 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:46 Jun 15, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1852.IS S1852 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS