Reforming Disaster Recovery Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2301 To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to provide disaster assistance to States, insular areas, units of general local govern- ment, and Indian tribes under a community development block grant disaster recovery program, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 25, 2019 Mr. SCHATZ (for himself and Mr. YOUNG) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs A BILL To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Develop- ment to provide disaster assistance to States, insular areas, units of general local government, and Indian tribes under a community development block grant dis- aster recovery program, 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 ‘‘Reforming Disaster 4 Recovery Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Aug 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2301.IS S2301 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2301 IS SEC. 2. OFFICE OF DISASTER RECOVERY AND RESILIENT 1 COMMUNITIES. 2 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Housing 3 and Urban Development shall establish, within the Office 4 of Community Planning and Development of the Depart- 5 ment of Housing and Urban Development, the Office of 6 Disaster Recovery and Resilient Communities (in this sec- 7 tion referred to as the ‘‘Office’’). 8 (b) DUTIES.—The Office shall be responsible for— 9 (1) coordinating with the Office of Policy Devel- 10 opment and Research of the Department of Housing 11 and Urban Development on needed research to de- 12 velop necessary curriculum and policy to build com- 13 munity resiliency, restore housing and infrastruc- 14 ture, and stimulate economic revitalization to sup- 15 port the recovery of low- to moderate-income individ- 16 uals; 17 (2) coordinating with relevant Department of 18 Housing and Urban Development program offices to 19 support the incorporation of community resiliency 20 planning and implementation across all department- 21 supported program activities; 22 (3) leading and coordinating Department of 23 Housing and Urban Development activities under 24 the Housing Recovery Support Function of the Na- 25 tional Disaster Recovery Framework; 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Aug 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2301.IS S2301 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 2301 IS (4) coordinating Department of Housing and 1 Urban Development interagency disaster recovery 2 support activities, including those related to housing, 3 economic development, infrastructure, and commu- 4 nity planning and capacity building; 5 (5) providing annual and periodic disaster miti- 6 gation and recovery training, incorporating Federal 7 best practices, to regional and field offices of the De- 8 partment of Housing and Urban Development; and 9 (6) providing technical assistance to entities 10 that are eligible to receive disaster recovery assist- 11 ance under title I of the Housing and Community 12 Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.) 13 and that demonstrate capacity constraints. 14 (c) DIVISIONS.—The Office shall contain— 15 (1) the Resiliency Division, which shall— 16 (A) develop, coordinate, and maintain the 17 capacity for disaster resilience and recovery of 18 recipients of grants from the Department of 19 Housing and Urban Development; 20 (B) coordinate and operationalize research 21 and policies of the Department of Housing and 22 Urban Development to assist areas in commu- 23 nity resiliency planning, including— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Aug 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2301.IS S2301 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 2301 IS (i) hazard mitigation and adaptive 1 land use planning; 2 (ii) establishing and carrying out en- 3 forcement activities and implementing the 4 latest published editions of relevant con- 5 sensus-based codes, specifications, and 6 standards that incorporate the latest resil- 7 ient designs and establish minimum ac- 8 ceptable criteria for the design, construc- 9 tion, and maintenance of residential struc- 10 tures and facilities that may be eligible for 11 assistance under this Act for the purpose 12 of protecting the health, safety, and gen- 13 eral welfare of the buildings’ users against 14 disasters; and 15 (iii) sustainable infrastructure invest- 16 ments; and 17 (C) assist areas in the development of ac- 18 tion plans under section 123 of the Housing 19 and Community Development Act of 1974, as 20 added by section 3 of this Act; and 21 (2) the Recovery Division, which shall oversee 22 the disaster recovery policy and response of the De- 23 partment of Housing and Urban Development. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Aug 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2301.IS S2301 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 2301 IS SEC. 3. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT DIS- 1 ASTER RECOVERY PROGRAM. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title I of the Housing and Com- 3 munity Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.) 4 is amended— 5 (1) in section 104(b) (42 U.S.C. 5304(b)), by 6 inserting ‘‘or 123’’ after ‘‘106’’ each place that term 7 appears; and 8 (2) by adding at the end the following: 9 ‘‘SEC. 123. CDBG-DISASTER RECOVERY ASSISTANCE. 10 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 11 ‘‘(1) the term ‘eligible entity’ means— 12 ‘‘(A) a State; 13 ‘‘(B) an insular area; 14 ‘‘(C) a unit of general local government; 15 and 16 ‘‘(D) an Indian tribe; 17 ‘‘(2) the terms ‘homeless’ and ‘at risk of home- 18 lessness’ have the meanings given those terms in 19 sections 103 and 401, respectively, of the McKinney- 20 Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11302, 21 11360; and 22 ‘‘(3) the term ‘public housing agency’ has the 23 meaning given the term in section 3(b) of the United 24 States Housing Act of 1937. 25 ‘‘(b) AUTHORITY; USE.— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Aug 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2301.IS S2301 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 2301 IS ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide 1 assistance under this section to eligible entities for 2 necessary expenses for activities authorized under 3 this title related to disaster relief, resiliency, long- 4 term recovery, restoration of infrastructure and 5 housing, mitigation, and economic revitalization in 6 the most impacted and distressed areas resulting 7 from a major disaster declared pursuant to the Rob- 8 ert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency As- 9 sistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.). 10 ‘‘(2) ALLOCATION FOR MITIGATION.—In deter- 11 mining the amount allocated under this section for 12 any grantee, the Secretary shall include an addi- 13 tional amount for mitigation that is not less than 45 14 percent of the amount allocated for such grantee for 15 unmet needs. 16 ‘‘(3) OTHER ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary may 17 provide an appropriate amount of assistance to eligi- 18 ble entities outside an area described in paragraph 19 (1) that receives displaced residents due to a major 20 disaster declared pursuant to the Robert T. Stafford 21 Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 22 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.) for the purpose of carrying out 23 eligible activities to provide housing to and meet 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Aug 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2301.IS S2301 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 2301 IS other disaster recovery needs of those displaced resi- 1 dents. 2 ‘‘(4) CONSIDERATION.—In carrying out eligible 3 activities with assistance provided under this section, 4 a grantee shall prioritize activities that address 5 housing recovery needs and how to better recover 6 from and withstand future disasters, prolong the life 7 of housing and infrastructure, use cost-effective 8 means of preventing harm to people and property, 9 incorporate protective features, redundancies, energy 10 savings, and other measures that will assure the 11 continuation of critical services during future disas- 12 ters. 13 ‘‘(c) TIMING.— 14 ‘‘(1) DEADLINES FOR ALLOCATION OF 15 AMOUNTS.—Except as provided in paragraph (2), 16 after the enactment of an appropriations Act making 17 funds available for assistance under this section, the 18 Secretary shall allocate for grantees, based on the 19 best available data— 20 ‘‘(A) not less than one-third of funds pro- 21 vided for assistance under this section, within 22 60 days of the date of enactment of that Act; 23 and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Aug 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2301.IS S2301 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 2301 IS ‘‘(B) all remaining unallocated funds to be 1 awarded to grantees, within 180 days of such 2 date of enactment. 3 ‘‘(2) INAPPLICABILITY OF DEADLINES BASED 4 ON INSUFFICIENT INFORMATION.—The deadlines 5 under paragraph (1) for allocation of funds shall not 6 apply in the case of funds made available for assist- 7 ance under this section until sufficient information 8 has been made available to the Secretary to deter- 9 mine unmet recovery needs and make allocations in 10 accordance with those deadlines. 11 ‘‘(3) OBLIGATION OF AMOUNTS BY THE SEC- 12 RETARY.—Subject to subsection (d)(1), the Sec- 13 retary shall— 14 ‘‘(A) obligate the amounts allocated for a 15 grantee over time in accordance with the ap- 16 proved plan of the grantee; 17 ‘‘(B) require the grantee to be in substan- 18 tial compliance with the requirements of this 19 section before the Secretary obligated additional 20 amounts; and 21 ‘‘(C) not later than 90 days after the date 22 on which the plan of the grantee is approved 23 under subsection (d), unless the Secretary 24 makes a public finding that good cause exists 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Aug 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2301.IS S2301 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •S 2301 IS for a waiver of the requirement, require the 1 grantee to establish a direct assistance program 2 and begin processing applications for— 3 ‘‘(i) a program for homeless assist- 4 ance for persons experiencing homelessness 5 prior to or as a result of the major disaster 6 declared pursuant to the Robert T. Staf- 7 ford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist- 8 ance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.); 9 ‘‘(ii) a program for renter assistance; 10 and 11 ‘‘(iii) a program for homeowners as- 12 sistance. 13 ‘‘(4) COORDINATION OF DISASTER BENEFITS 14 AND DATA WITH OTHER FEDERAL AGENCIES.— 15 ‘‘(A) COORDINATION WITH FEMA.— 16 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary and 17 the Administrator of the Federal Emer- 18 gency Management Agency shall share 19 with each other, and make publicly avail- 20 able, any data collected or analyzed during 21 the course of a disaster recovery for which 22 assistance is provided under this section, 23 including, with respect to each census 24 tract, block group, or block— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Aug 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2301.IS S2301 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •S 2301 IS ‘‘(I) all data on damage caused 1 by the disaster; 2 ‘‘(II) information on how any 3 Federal assistance provided in connec- 4 tion with the disaster is expended; 5 and 6 ‘‘(III) information regarding the 7 effect of the disaster on education, 8 transportation capabilities and de- 9 pendence, housing needs, displace- 10 ment, health care, utilities, and other 11 critical facilities. 12 ‘‘(ii) BREAKDOWN.—The data shared 13 and made publicly available under clause 14 (i) shall be broken down by the smallest 15 census tract, block group, or block possible 16 for the data set. 17 ‘‘(B) DEVELOPMENT OF COMMON APPLICA- 18 TION.—The Secretary, the Administrator of the 19 Federal Emergency Management Agency, the 20 Administrator of the Small Business Adminis- 21 tration, and the heads of other appropriate 22 agencies shall develop a common form— 23 ‘‘(i) for the purpose of applying for in- 24 dividual disaster assistance from the De- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:44 Aug 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2301.IS S2301 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •S 2301 IS partment of Housing and Urban Develop- 1 ment, the Federal Emergency Management 2 Agency, or the Small Business Administra- 3 tion; and 4 ‘‘(ii) that can be used and shared by 5 all agencies providing individual disaster 6 assistance and by the grantees and sub- 7 grantees as necessary. 8 ‘‘(d) PLAN FOR USE OF ASSISTANCE.— 9 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 120 days 10 after the allocation pursuant to subsection (c)(1)(B) 11 of the funds made available by an appropriations 12 Act for assistance under this section, and before the 13 Secretary obligates any of such funds for a grantee, 14 the grantee shall submit a plan to the Secretary for 15 approval detailing the proposed use of all funds, 16 which shall include, at a minimum— 17 ‘‘(A) criteria for eligibility for each pro- 18 posed use of funds, including eligibility limits 19 on income and geography, and a description of 20 how the use of such funds will— 21 ‘‘(i) address unmet needs relating to 22 disaster relief, resiliency, long-term recov- 23 ery and restoration of infrastructure and 24 housing, and mitigation and economic revi- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Aug 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2301.IS S2301 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 12 •S 2301 IS talization in the most impacted and dis- 1 tressed areas; and 2 ‘‘(ii) provide assistance to impacted 3 households experiencing homelessness or at 4 risk of homelessness; 5 ‘‘(B) identification of officials and offices 6 responsible for administering such funds and 7 identifying and recovering duplicative benefits; 8 ‘‘(C) an agreement to share data with Fed- 9 eral agencies and other providers of disaster re- 10 lief, which shall include information the grantee 11 has regarding the matters described in subpara- 12 graph (B); and 13 ‘‘(D) a plan to provide case management 14 services to disaster-impacted residents in identi- 15 fying, understanding, and accessing available 16 Federal assistance. 17 ‘‘(2) PUBLIC CONSULTATION.—In developing 18 the plan required under paragraph (1), a grantee 19 shall, at a minimum— 20 ‘‘(A) consult with affected residents, stake- 21 holders, local governments, and public housing 22 authorities to assess needs; 23 ‘‘(B) publish the plan in accordance with 24 the requirements set forth by the Secretary, in- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Aug 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 [Text truncated for display. 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