GRACE Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4636 To revise the treatment of urbanized areas experiencing population changes following a major disaster. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES SEPTEMBER 21, 2020 Mr. CORNYN (for himself, Mr. WARNER, and Mr. KAINE) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Bank- ing, Housing, and Urban Affairs A BILL To revise the treatment of urbanized areas experiencing population changes following a major disaster. 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 ‘‘Giving Relief to Amer- 4 ican Communities in Emergencies Act’’ or the ‘‘GRACE 5 Act’’. 6 SEC. 2. URBANIZED AREAS. 7 (a) EXTENSION OF TREATMENT OF URBANIZED 8 AREAS.—Section 21101 of division B of the Bipartisan 9 Budget Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–123; 132 Stat. 103) 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:32 Oct 05, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4636.IS S4636 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4636 IS is amended by striking ‘‘and 2020’’ and inserting ‘‘2020, 1 2021, and 2022’’. 2 (b) CENSUS DISCRETION.—Section 5324 of title 49, 3 United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 4 following: 5 ‘‘(f) CENSUS DISCRETION.— 6 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 7 ‘‘(A) the term ‘disaster-related population 8 decrease’, with respect to an urbanized area, 9 means that— 10 ‘‘(i) the population of the urbanized 11 area decreases to be less than 50,000 indi- 12 viduals, as determined in a decennial cen- 13 sus after the decennial census in which the 14 area was designated as an urbanized area; 15 and 16 ‘‘(ii) the decrease described in clause 17 (i) is a result of a major disaster declared 18 by the President under section 401 of the 19 Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 20 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 21 5170); and 22 ‘‘(B) the term ‘urbanized area’ means an 23 area designated in a decennial census as an ur- 24 banized area by the Secretary of Commerce. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:30 Oct 07, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4636.IS S4636 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4636 IS ‘‘(2) ELECTION.—Upon request by the Gov- 1 ernor of a State in which an urbanized area that ex- 2 periences a disaster-related population decrease is lo- 3 cated, the Secretary of Transportation may elect for 4 the purposes of this chapter, including for purposes 5 of making apportionments under this chapter, to— 6 ‘‘(A) use the population of the urbanized 7 area, as determined in the decennial census be- 8 fore the most recent decennial census; and 9 ‘‘(B) continue to treat the area as an ur- 10 banized area.’’. 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:32 Oct 05, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4636.IS S4636 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS