Achieving Racial and Ethnic Equity in Disaster Response, Recovery, and Resilience Act of 2020

II Calendar No. 619 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 3658 [Report No. 116–316] To establish an Office of Equal Rights and Community Inclusion at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 7, 2020 Mr. PETERS (for himself, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, and Ms. HARRIS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs DECEMBER 14, 2020 Reported by Mr. JOHNSON, with an amendment [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] A BILL To establish an Office of Equal Rights and Community In- clusion at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Dec 15, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3658.RS S3658 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 3658 RS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Achieving Racial and 2 Ethnic Equity in Disaster Response, Recovery, and Resil- 3 ience Act of 2020’’. 4 SEC. 2. OFFICE OF EQUAL RIGHTS AND COMMUNITY INCLU- 5 SION. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title V of the Homeland Security 7 Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 311 et seq.) is amended by adding 8 at the end the following: 9 ‘‘SEC. 529. OFFICE OF EQUAL RIGHTS AND COMMUNITY IN- 10 CLUSION. 11 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 12 ‘‘(1) the term ‘appropriate committees of Con- 13 gress’ means— 14 ‘‘(A) the Committee on Homeland Security 15 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; and 16 ‘‘(B) the Committee on Transportation 17 and Infrastructure, the Committee on Oversight 18 and Reform, and the Committee on Homeland 19 Security of the House of Representatives; 20 ‘‘(2) the term ‘Director’ means the Director of 21 the Office of Equal Rights and Community Inclu- 22 sion; 23 ‘‘(3) the term ‘Office’ means the Office of 24 Equal Rights and Community Inclusion; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Dec 15, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S3658.RS S3658 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 3658 RS ‘‘(4) the term ‘underserved community’ 1 means— 2 ‘‘(A) the Native American community; 3 ‘‘(B) the African-American community; 4 ‘‘(C) the Hispanic (including persons of 5 Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Central or 6 South American origin) community; 7 ‘‘(D) the Pacific Islander community; 8 ‘‘(E) the Middle Eastern and North Afri- 9 can community; 10 ‘‘(F) a rural community; and 11 ‘‘(G) any other historically disadvantaged 12 community. 13 ‘‘(b) OFFICE OF EQUAL RIGHTS AND COMMUNITY 14 INCLUSION.— 15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Office of Equal Rights 16 of the Agency shall, on and after the date of enact- 17 ment of the Achieving Racial and Ethnic Equity in 18 Disaster Response, Recovery, and Resilience Act of 19 2020, be known as the Office of Equal Rights and 20 Community Inclusion. 21 ‘‘(2) REFERENCES.—Any reference to the Of- 22 fice of Equal Rights of the Agency in any law, regu- 23 lation, map, document, record, or other paper of the 24 United States shall be deemed to be a reference to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Dec 15, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S3658.RS S3658 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 3658 RS the Office of Equal Rights and Community Inclu- 1 sion. 2 ‘‘(c) DIRECTOR.— 3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Office shall be headed 4 by a Director, who shall report to the Administrator. 5 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENT.—The Director shall have 6 documented experience and expertise in underserved 7 community inclusion research and disaster prepared- 8 ness and resilience disparities elimination. 9 ‘‘(d) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Office is to— 10 ‘‘(1) improve underserved community access to 11 disaster assistance; 12 ‘‘(2) improve the quality of disaster assistance 13 received by underserved communities; 14 ‘‘(3) eliminate racial, ethnic, and other under- 15 served community disparities in the delivery of dis- 16 aster assistance; and 17 ‘‘(4) carry out such other responsibilities of the 18 Office of Equal Rights as in effect on the day before 19 the date of enactment of the Achieving Racial and 20 Ethnic Equity in Disaster Response, Recovery, and 21 Resilience Act of 2020 as determined appropriate by 22 the Administrator. 23 ‘‘(e) AUTHORITIES AND DUTIES.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Dec 15, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S3658.RS S3658 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 3658 RS ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall be re- 1 sponsible for— 2 ‘‘(A) improving— 3 ‘‘(i) underserved community access to 4 disaster assistance; and 5 ‘‘(ii) the quality of assistance under- 6 served communities receive; 7 ‘‘(B) eliminating racial, ethnic, and other 8 underserved community disparities in the deliv- 9 ery of various preparedness, response, and re- 10 covery assistance; and 11 ‘‘(C) carrying out such other responsibil- 12 ities of the Office of Equal Rights as in effect 13 on the day before the date of enactment of the 14 Achieving Racial and Ethnic Equity in Disaster 15 Response, Recovery, and Resilience Act of 2020 16 as determined appropriate by the Adminis- 17 trator. 18 ‘‘(2) GRANTS AND CONTRACTS.—In carrying 19 out this section, to assure improved disaster resil- 20 ience of underserved communities, the Director 21 may— 22 ‘‘(A) award grants and enter into coopera- 23 tive agreements and contracts with local non- 24 profit entities, national nonprofit organizations 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Dec 15, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S3658.RS S3658 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 3658 RS with experience administering multi-State pro- 1 grams in not less than 10 States, and nonprofit 2 organizations that are indigenous human re- 3 source providers in underserved communities; 4 and 5 ‘‘(B) enter into memoranda of under- 6 standing with State, local, Tribal, and terri- 7 torial government agencies. 8 ‘‘(3) REDUCING DISPARITIES IN PREPARED- 9 NESS, RESPONSE, AND RECOVERY.— 10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall de- 11 velop measures to evaluate the effectiveness of 12 the activities of the Office aimed at reducing 13 disparities in preparedness, response, and recov- 14 ery. 15 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENT.—The measures de- 16 veloped under subparagraph (A) shall— 17 ‘‘(i) evaluate community outreach ac- 18 tivities, language services, workforce cul- 19 tural competence, historical assistance for 20 grants and loans provided to individuals, 21 State, local, Tribal, and territorial govern- 22 ments, the effects of disaster declaration 23 thresholds on underserved communities, 24 historical barriers to equitable assistance 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Dec 15, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S3658.RS S3658 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 3658 RS across race and class during and after dis- 1 asters, and other areas as determined by 2 the Director; and 3 ‘‘(ii) identify the communities impli- 4 cated in the evaluations conducted under 5 clause (i). 6 ‘‘(C) COORDINATION WITH OTHER OF- 7 FICES.—In carrying out this section, the Direc- 8 tor shall— 9 ‘‘(i) participate in scenario-based dis- 10 aster response exercises at the Agency; 11 ‘‘(ii) coordinate with the Office of Mi- 12 nority Health of the Department of Health 13 and Human Services; 14 ‘‘(iii) coordinate with the Office of 15 Disability Integration and Coordination of 16 the Agency; 17 ‘‘(iv) as appropriate, coordinate with 18 other relevant offices across the Federal 19 Government, including by leading a vol- 20 untary task force to address disaster re- 21 sponse needs of underserved communities; 22 and 23 ‘‘(v) investigate allegations of unequal 24 disaster assistance based on race or ethnic 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Dec 15, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S3658.RS S3658 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 3658 RS origin or refer such allegations to the Of- 1 fice for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties of 2 the Department and assist the Office for 3 Civil Rights and Civil Liberties with inves- 4 tigations of such allegations. 5 ‘‘(f) REPORTS.— 6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 7 the date of enactment of the Achieving Racial and 8 Ethnic Equity in Disaster Response, Recovery, and 9 Resilience Act of 2020, and biennially thereafter, the 10 Administrator shall prepare and submit to the ap- 11 propriate committees of Congress a report describing 12 the activities carried out under this section during 13 the period for which the report is being prepared. 14 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—Each report submitted under 15 paragraph (1) shall include— 16 ‘‘(A) a narrative on activities conducted by 17 the Office, including a description of outreach 18 and consultation efforts with advocacy organiza- 19 tions and human resource providers; 20 ‘‘(B) the results of the measures developed 21 to evaluate the effectiveness of activities aimed 22 at reducing preparedness, response, and recov- 23 ery disparities; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Dec 15, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S3658.RS S3658 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 3658 RS ‘‘(C) the number and types of allegations 1 investigated or referred to the Office for Civil 2 Rights and Civil Liberties under subsection 3 (e)(3)(D)(v). 4 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 5 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are nec- 6 essary to carry out this section.’’. 7 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 8 The table of contents in section 1(b) of the Homeland Se- 9 curity Act of 2002 (Public Law 107–296; 116 Stat. 2135) 10 is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 11 528 the following: 12 ‘‘Sec. 529. Office of Equal Rights and Community Inclusion.’’. (c) COVID–19 RESPONSE.— 13 (1) IN GENERAL.—During the period of time 14 for which there is a major disaster or emergency de- 15 clared by the President under section 401 or 501, 16 respectively, of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re- 17 lief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170, 18 5191) declared with respect to COVID–19, the Di- 19 rector of the Office of Equal Rights and Community 20 Inclusion shall regularly consult with State, local, 21 territorial, and Tribal government officials and com- 22 munity-based organizations from underserved com- 23 munities the Office of Equal Rights and Community 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Dec 15, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S3658.RS S3658 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 3658 RS Inclusion identifies as disproportionately impacted 1 by COVID–19. 2 (2) FACA APPLICABILITY.—The Federal Advi- 3 sory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply 4 to any consultation conducted under paragraph (1). 5 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 6 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Achieving Racial and 7 Ethnic Equity in Disaster Response, Recovery, and Resil- 8 ience Act of 2020’’. 9 SEC. 2. OFFICE OF EQUAL RIGHTS AND COMMUNITY INCLU- 10 SION. 11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title V of the Homeland Security 12 Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 311 et seq.) is amended by adding 13 at the end the following: 14 ‘‘SEC. 529. OFFICE OF EQUAL RIGHTS AND COMMUNITY IN- 15 CLUSION. 16 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 17 ‘‘(1) the term ‘appropriate committees of Con- 18 gress’ means— 19 ‘‘(A) the Committee on Homeland Security 20 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; and 21 ‘‘(B) the Committee on Transportation and 22 Infrastructure, the Committee on Oversight and 23 Reform, and the Committee on Homeland Secu- 24 rity of the House of Representatives; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Dec 15, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S3658.RS S3658 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 3658 RS ‘‘(2) the term ‘Director’ means the Director of the 1 Office of Equal Rights and Community Inclusion; 2 ‘‘(3) the term ‘disaster assistance’ means assist- 3 ance provided under titles IV and V of the Robert T. 4 Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 5 Act (42 U.S.C. 5170 et seq.); 6 ‘‘(4) the term ‘Office’ means the Office of Equal 7 Rights and Community Inclusion; and 8 ‘‘(5) the term ‘underserved community’ means— 9 ‘‘(A) the Native American community; 10 ‘‘(B) the African-American community; 11 ‘‘(C) the Asian community; 12 ‘‘(D) the Hispanic (including persons of 13 Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Central or 14 South American origin) community; 15 ‘‘(E) the Pacific Islander community; 16 ‘‘(F) the Middle Eastern and North African 17 community; 18 ‘‘(G) a rural community; 19 ‘‘(H) the low-income community; 20 ‘‘(I) the disability community; and 21 ‘‘(J) any other historically disadvantaged 22 community, as determined by the Director. 23 ‘‘(b) OFFICE OF EQUAL RIGHTS AND COMMUNITY IN- 24 CLUSION.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Dec 15, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S3658.RS S3658 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 3658 RS ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Office of Equal Rights 1 of the Agency shall, on and after the date of enact- 2 ment of the Achieving Racial and Ethnic Equity in 3 Disaster Response, Recovery, and Resilience Act of 4 2020, be known as the Office of Equal Rights and 5 Community Inclusion. 6 ‘‘(2) REFERENCES.—Any reference to the Office 7 of Equal Rights of the Agency in any law, regulation, 8 map, document, record, or other paper of the United 9 States shall be deemed to be a reference to the Office 10 of Equal Rights and Community Inclusion. 11 ‘‘(c) DIRECTOR.— 12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Office shall be headed by 13 a Director, who shall report to the Administrator. 14 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENT.—The Director shall have 15 documented experience and expertise in underserved 16 community inclusion research, disaster preparedness, 17 or resilience disparities elimination. 18 ‘‘(d) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Office is to— 19 ‘‘(1) improve underserved community access to 20 disaster assistance; 21 ‘‘(2) improve the quality of disaster assistance 22 received by underserved communities; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Dec 15, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S3658.RS S3658 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 13 •S 3658 RS ‘‘(3) eliminate racial, ethnic, and other under- 1 served community disparities in the delivery of dis- 2 aster assistance; and 3 ‘‘(4) carry out such other responsibilities of the 4 Office of Equal Rights as in effect on the day before 5 the date of enactment of the Achieving Racial and 6 Ethnic Equity in Disaster Response, Recovery, and 7 Resilience Act of 2020 as determined appropriate by 8 the Administrator. 9 ‘‘(e) A [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]