Federal

Federal Disaster Assistance Coordination Act

Source: Congress.gov · 1,033 words in original text

What This Bill Does

This bill directs the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to study how to simplify the process of collecting information from people and organizations asking for disaster assistance. The bill also requires FEMA to work with other federal agencies to find ways to reduce duplicated damage assessments after disasters and to explore new technologies that could speed up the process.

Who It Affects

People and businesses applying for federal disaster assistance, FEMA, the Small Business Administration, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Labor, the Office of Management and Budget, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Transportation, and the Commerce Department.

Key Provisions

• The administrator of FEMA must work with multiple agencies to study ways to make information collection from disaster assistance applicants less burdensome, duplicative and time-consuming, and to create a plan for regularly reporting information on federal disaster assistance to the public through a website (Sec. 2(a)(1) and (a)(2)). • FEMA must convene a working group with other federal agencies to identify areas where preliminary damage assessments after disasters overlap or conflict with each other, determine if one federal agency could handle all assessments, and explore emerging technologies like unmanned aircraft systems to speed up the assessment process (Sec. 2(b)). • FEMA must submit a comprehensive report to Congress within 2 years of enactment that includes the study findings and working group results, which will be made available to the public on FEMA's website in downloadable and machine-readable formats (Sec. 2(c) and (d)). • Within 180 days of submitting the report, FEMA and a member of the Council of the Inspectors General must brief congressional committees upon request about the findings and any recommendations (Sec. 2(f)).

What Changes

If this becomes law, FEMA will conduct a formal study of how to simplify disaster assistance applications and will create a plan to make information sharing easier for applicants. FEMA will also work with other agencies to reduce duplicate damage assessments and explore new technologies to speed up the process. A public website will be created to show what federal disaster assistance was awarded.

Important Definitions

None defined in bill text.

II Calendar No. 703 118TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 255 [Report No. 118–297] IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JANUARY 26, 2023 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs DECEMBER 16, 2024 Reported by Mr. PETERS, without amendment AN ACT To amend the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 to develop a study regarding streamlining and consolidating information collection and preliminary damage assess- ments, 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 ‘‘Federal Disaster As- 4 sistance Coordination Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:17 Dec 17, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H255.RS H255 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 255 RS SEC. 2. STUDY TO STREAMLINE AND CONSOLIDATE INFOR- 1 MATION COLLECTION AND PRELIMINARY 2 DAMAGE ASSESSMENTS. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1223 of the Disaster Re- 4 covery Reform Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–254) is 5 amended to read as follows: 6 ‘‘SEC. 1223. STUDY TO STREAMLINE AND CONSOLIDATE IN- 7 FORMATION COLLECTION AND PRELIMINARY 8 DAMAGE ASSESSMENTS. 9 ‘‘(a) INFORMATION COLLECTION.—Not later than 2 10 years after the date of enactment of this section, the Ad- 11 ministrator, in coordination with the Small Business Ad- 12 ministration, the Department of Housing and Urban De- 13 velopment, the Disaster Assistance Working Group of the 14 Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Effi- 15 ciency, and other appropriate agencies, shall— 16 ‘‘(1) conduct a study and develop a plan, con- 17 sistent with law, under which the collection of infor- 18 mation from disaster assistance applicants and 19 grantees will be modified, streamlined, expedited, ef- 20 ficient, flexible, consolidated, and simplified to be 21 less burdensome, duplicative, and time consuming 22 for applicants and grantees; and 23 ‘‘(2) develop a plan for the regular collection 24 and reporting of information on Federal disaster as- 25 sistance awarded, including the establishment and 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:17 Dec 17, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H255.RS H255 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 255 RS maintenance of a website for presenting the informa- 1 tion to the public. 2 ‘‘(b) PRELIMINARY DAMAGE ASSESSMENTS.—Not 3 later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this sec- 4 tion, the Administrator, in consultation with the Council 5 of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, 6 shall convene a working group on a regular basis with the 7 Secretary of Labor, the Director of the Office of Manage- 8 ment and Budget, the Secretary of Health and Human 9 Services, the Administrator of the Small Business Admin- 10 istration, the Secretary of Transportation, the Assistant 11 Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development, and 12 other appropriate agencies as the Administrator considers 13 necessary, to— 14 ‘‘(1) identify and describe the potential areas of 15 duplication or fragmentation in preliminary damage 16 assessments after disaster declarations; 17 ‘‘(2) determine the applicability of having one 18 Federal agency make the assessments for all agen- 19 cies; and 20 ‘‘(3) identify potential emerging technologies, 21 such as unmanned aircraft systems, consistent with 22 the requirements established in the FEMA Account- 23 ability, Modernization and Transparency Act of 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:17 Dec 17, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H255.RS H255 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 255 RS 2017 (42 U.S.C. 5121 note), to expedite the admin- 1 istration of preliminary damage assessments. 2 ‘‘(c) COMPREHENSIVE REPORT.—The Administrator 3 shall submit one comprehensive report that comprises the 4 plans developed under subsections (a)(1) and (a)(2) and 5 a report of the findings of the working group convened 6 under subsection (b), which may include recommenda- 7 tions, to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastruc- 8 ture of the House of Representatives and the Committee 9 on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 10 Senate. 11 ‘‘(d) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The comprehensive re- 12 port developed under subsection (c) shall be made avail- 13 able to the public and posted on the website of the Federal 14 Emergency Management Agency— 15 ‘‘(1) in pre-compressed, easily downloadable 16 versions that are made available in all appropriate 17 formats; and 18 ‘‘(2) in machine-readable format, if applicable. 19 ‘‘(e) SOURCES OF INFORMATION.—In preparing the 20 comprehensive report, any publication, database, or web- 21 based resource, and any information compiled by any gov- 22 ernment agency, nongovernmental organization, or other 23 entity that is made available may be used. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:17 Dec 17, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H255.RS H255 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 255 RS ‘‘(f) BRIEFING.—Not later than 180 days after sub- 1 mission of the comprehensive report, the Administrator of 2 the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or a des- 3 ignee, and a member of the Council of the Inspectors Gen- 4 eral on Integrity and Efficiency, or a designee, shall brief, 5 upon request, the appropriate congressional committees on 6 the findings and any recommendations made in the com- 7 prehensive report.’’. 8 (b) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—The item relating to 9 section 1223 in the table of contents of the FAA Reau- 10 thorization Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–254) is amended 11 to read as follows: 12 ‘‘Sec. 1223. Study to streamline and consolidate information collection and pre- liminary damage assessments.’’. VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:17 Dec 17, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\H255.RS H255 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB Calendar No. 703 118TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 255 [Report No. 118–297] AN ACT To amend the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 to develop a study regarding streamlining and consolidating information collection and pre- liminary damage assessments, and for other pur- poses. DECEMBER 16, 2024 Reported without amendment VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:17 Dec 17, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\H255.RS H255 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB

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