To authorize supplemental appropriations for fiscal year 2020 for community development block grants, and for other purposes.

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6358 To authorize supplemental appropriations for fiscal year 2020 for community development block grants, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 23, 2020 Mr. LYNCH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services A BILL To authorize supplemental appropriations for fiscal year 2020 for community development block grants, 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. SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDING FOR COMMUNITY 3 DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANTS. 4 (a) FUNDING AND ALLOCATIONS.— 5 (1) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 6 There is authorized to be appropriated 7 $12,000,000,000 for assistance in accordance with 8 this section under the community development block 9 grant program under title I of the Housing and 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:21 Apr 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6358.IH H6358 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6358 IH Community Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 1 5301 et seq.). 2 (2) INITIAL ALLOCATION.—$6,000,000,000 of 3 the amount made available pursuant to paragraph 4 (1) shall be distributed pursuant to section 106 of 5 such Act (42 U.S.C. 5306) to grantees and such al- 6 locations shall be made within 30 days after the date 7 of the enactment of this Act. 8 (3) SUBSEQUENT ALLOCATION.— 9 (A) IN GENERAL.—The $6,000,000,000 10 made available pursuant to paragraph (1) that 11 remains after allocation pursuant to paragraph 12 (2) shall be allocated, not later than 45 days 13 after the date of the enactment of this Act, di- 14 rectly to States to prevent, prepare for, and re- 15 spond to coronavirus within the State, including 16 activities within entitlement and nonentitlement 17 communities, based on public health needs, risk 18 of transmission of coronavirus, number of 19 coronavirus cases compared to the national av- 20 erage, and economic and housing market dis- 21 ruptions, and other factors, as determined by 22 the Secretary, using best available data. 23 (B) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—Of the 24 amount referred to in subparagraph (A), 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:21 Apr 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6358.IH H6358 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6358 IH $10,000,000 shall be made available for capac- 1 ity building and technical assistance to support 2 the use of such amounts to expedite or facilitate 3 infectious disease response. 4 (4) DIRECT DISTRIBUTION.—Of the amount 5 made available pursuant to paragraph (1), 6 $3,000,000,000 shall be distributed directly to 7 States and units of general local government, at the 8 discretion of the Secretary of Housing and Urban 9 Development (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Sec- 10 retary’’), according to a formula based on factors to 11 be determined by the Secretary, prioritizing risk of 12 transmission of coronavirus, number of coronavirus 13 cases compared to the national average, and eco- 14 nomic and housing market disruptions resulting 15 from coronavirus. 16 (5) ROLLING ALLOCATIONS.—Allocations under 17 this subsection may be made on a rolling basis as 18 additional needs develop and data becomes available. 19 (6) BEST AVAILABLE DATA.—The Secretary 20 shall make all allocations under this subsection 21 based on the best available data at the time of allo- 22 cation. 23 (b) ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.—Amounts made available 24 pursuant to subsection (a) may be used only for— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:21 Apr 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6358.IH H6358 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6358 IH (1) eligible activities described in 105(a) of the 1 Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 2 (42 U.S.C. 5305(a)) relating to preventing, pre- 3 paring for, or responding to the public health emer- 4 gency relating to Coronavirus Disease 2019 5 (COVID-19); and 6 (2) reimbursement of costs for such eligible ac- 7 tivities relating to preventing, preparing for, or re- 8 sponding to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) 9 that were accrued before the date of the enactment 10 of this Act. 11 (c) INAPPLICABILITY OF PUBLIC SERVICES CAP.— 12 The limitation under paragraph (8) of section 105(a) of 13 the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 14 (42 U.S.C. 5305(a)(8)) on the amount that may be used 15 for activities under such paragraph shall not apply with 16 respect to— 17 (1) amounts made available pursuant to sub- 18 section (a); and 19 (2) amounts made available in preceding appro- 20 priation Acts for fiscal years 2019 and 2020 for car- 21 rying out title I of the Housing and Community De- 22 velopment Act of 1974, to the extent such amounts 23 are used for activities described in subsection (b) of 24 this section. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:21 Apr 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6358.IH H6358 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6358 IH (d) WAIVERS.— 1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may waive, or 2 specify alternative requirements for, any provision of 3 any statute or regulation that the Secretary admin- 4 isters in connection with the use of amounts made 5 available pursuant to subsection (a)(1) and for fiscal 6 years 2019 and 2020 (except for requirements re- 7 lated to fair housing, nondiscrimination, labor stand- 8 ards, and the environment), if the Secretary finds 9 that good cause exists for the waiver or alternative 10 requirement and such waiver or alternative require- 11 ment would not be inconsistent with the overall pur- 12 pose of title I of the Housing and Community Devel- 13 opment Act of 1974, including for the purposes of 14 addressing the impact of coronavirus. 15 (2) NOTICE.—The Secretary shall notify the 16 public through the Federal Register or other appro- 17 priate means 5 days before the effective date of any 18 such waiver or alternative requirement in order for 19 such waiver or alternative requirement to take effect. 20 Such public notice may be provided on the internet 21 at the appropriate government website or through 22 other electronic media, as determined by the Sec- 23 retary. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:21 Apr 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6358.IH H6358 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 6358 IH (e) STATEMENTS OF ACTIVITIES; COMPREHENSIVE 1 HOUSING AFFORDABILITY STRATEGIES.— 2 (1) INAPPLICABILITY OF REQUIREMENTS.—Sec- 3 tion 116(b) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 5316(b); relating 4 to submission of final statements of activities not 5 later than August 16 of a given fiscal year) and any 6 implementing regulations shall not apply to final 7 statements submitted in accordance with paragraphs 8 (2) and (3) of section 104 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 9 5304(a)) and comprehensive housing affordability 10 strategies submitted in accordance with section 105 11 of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Hous- 12 ing Act (42 U.S.C. 12705) for fiscal years 2019 and 13 2020. 14 (2) NEW REQUIREMENTS.—Final statements 15 and comprehensive housing affordability strategies 16 shall instead be submitted not later than August 16, 17 2021. 18 (3) AMENDMENTS.—Notwithstanding sub- 19 sections (a)(2), (a)(3), and (c) of section 104 of the 20 Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 21 (42 U.S.C. 5304) and section 105 of the Cranston- 22 Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act (42 23 U.S.C. 12705), a grantee may not be required to 24 amend its statement of activities in order to engage 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:21 Apr 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6358.IH H6358 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 6358 IH in activities to prevent, prepare, and respond to 1 coronavirus or the economic and housing disruption 2 caused by it, but shall make public a report within 3 180 days of the end of the crisis which fully ac- 4 counts for such activities. 5 (f) PUBLIC HEARINGS.— 6 (1) INAPPLICABILITY OF IN-PERSON HEARING 7 REQUIREMENTS.—A grantee may not be required to 8 hold in-person public hearings in connection with its 9 citizen participation plan, but shall provide citizens 10 with notice and a reasonable opportunity to com- 11 ment of not less than 15 days. 12 (2) VIRTUAL PUBLIC HEARINGS.—During the 13 period that national or local health authorities rec- 14 ommend social distancing and limiting public gath- 15 erings for public health reasons, a grantee may ful- 16 fill applicable public hearing requirements for all 17 grants from funds made available pursuant to sub- 18 section (a)(1) and under the heading ‘‘Department 19 of Housing and Urban Development—Community 20 Planning and Development—Community Develop- 21 ment Fund’’ in appropriation Acts for fiscal years 22 2019 and 2020 by carrying out virtual public hear- 23 ings. Any such virtual hearings shall provide reason- 24 able notification and access for citizens in accord- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:21 Apr 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6358.IH H6358 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 6358 IH ance with the grantee’s certifications, timely re- 1 sponses from local officials to all citizen questions 2 and issues, and public access to all questions and re- 3 sponses. 4 (g) DUPLICATION OF BENEFITS.—The Secretary 5 shall ensure there are adequate procedures in place to pre- 6 vent any duplication of benefits as defined by section 312 7 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 8 Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5155) and act in accordance 9 with section 1210 of the Disaster Recovery Reform Act 10 of 2018 (division D of Public Law 115–254; 132 Stat. 11 3442) and section 312 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 12 Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5155). 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:21 Apr 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6358.IH H6358 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS