I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2458 To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to establish an emergency preparedness grant program for higher education institutions, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 3, 2023 Mr. CARTER of Louisiana introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer- gency Assistance Act to establish an emergency prepared- ness grant program for higher education institutions, 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 ‘‘Emergency Prepared- 4 ness in Higher Education Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Apr 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2458.IH H2458 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 2458 IH SEC. 2. HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTION EMERGENCY 1 PREPAREDNESS GRANT PROGRAM. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 3 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of FEMA 4 shall establish a grant program within FEMA to create 5 or expand programs at higher education institutions that 6 foster, promote, and increase programs, initiatives, and 7 opportunities for higher education institutions and emer- 8 gency management and preparedness among higher edu- 9 cation institutions. 10 (b) APPLICATIONS.—A higher education institution 11 seeking a grant under this section shall submit to the Ad- 12 ministrator an application that contains a description of— 13 (1) the need for and proposed use of grant 14 funds to promote emergency management and pre- 15 paredness among students, administrators, and fac- 16 ulty at such higher education institution; 17 (2) how the programs, initiatives, or opportuni- 18 ties created or expanded with the grant funds will 19 provide support to students, administrators, and fac- 20 ulty at such higher education institution who— 21 (A) seek support for an established emer- 22 gency management concern; or 23 (B) need assistance in establishing an 24 emergency management concern; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Apr 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2458.IH H2458 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 2458 IH (3) how the higher education institution will 1 create or expand programs, initiatives, or opportuni- 2 ties that— 3 (A) increase higher education institutions 4 recovery efforts to disasters or emergencies; 5 (B) expand access to construction, replace- 6 ment, renovation, and operations costs resulting 7 from the disaster or emergency; 8 (C) assist enrolled students displaced from 9 disasters and emergencies which operations 10 were disrupted by a disaster or emergency; and 11 (D) assist for activities replacing instruc- 12 tional materials and equipment, paying educa- 13 tor and staff incentives, modernizing, ren- 14 ovating, or repairing school buildings. 15 (c) SELECTION.—In making grants under this sec- 16 tion, the Administrator shall evaluate applications from 17 among the same type of higher education institution. 18 (d) AMOUNT OF GRANT.—A grant awarded under 19 this section shall be not less than $250,000. 20 (e) USE OF GRANT FUNDS.—A higher education in- 21 stitution that receives a grant under the Program shall 22 use grant amounts to support the creation or expansion 23 of program initiatives, or opportunities that offer emer- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Apr 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2458.IH H2458 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 2458 IH gency preparedness resources that support students en- 1 rolled at the higher education institution, such as— 2 (1) increasing higher education institutions re- 3 covery efforts to disasters or emergencies; 4 (2) expanding access to construction, replace- 5 ment, renovation, and operations costs resulting 6 from the disaster or emergency; 7 (3) assisting enrolled students displaced from 8 disasters and emergencies which operations were dis- 9 rupted by a disaster or emergency; and 10 (4) assisting for activities replacing instruc- 11 tional materials and equipment; paying educator and 12 staff incentives; modernizing, renovating, or repair- 13 ing school buildings. 14 (f) SUBMISSION REQUIREMENT.—A higher education 15 institution awarded a grant under this section shall, not 16 less than 6 months and not more than 12 months after 17 the receipt of a grant, submit to the Administrator a re- 18 port that contains, for the period covered by the report, 19 the number of— 20 (1) students enrolled at the higher education in- 21 stitution who were impacted by an emergency and 22 were assisted with the grant funds; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Apr 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2458.IH H2458 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 2458 IH (2) emergency and disaster relief concerns cre- 1 ated through the expenditure of the grant funds, in- 2 cluding, with respect to each such concern— 3 (A) the name of such concern; 4 (B) a description of the emergency or dis- 5 aster of the concern; and 6 (C) the amount of grant funds expended in 7 creating the concern. 8 (g) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 18 9 months after the date on which the first grant is awarded 10 under the program under this section, and annually there- 11 after, the Administrator shall submit to Congress a report 12 that contains information regarding the higher education 13 institutions to which grants were made under the program 14 for the period covered by the report, which shall include— 15 (1) the name of each such higher education in- 16 stitution and the amount of each such grant; 17 (2) the number of students assisted with grant 18 funds— 19 (A) at each higher education institution to 20 which a grant was made under the program; 21 and 22 (B) in total under the program; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Apr 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2458.IH H2458 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 2458 IH (3) the number of emergency and disaster con- 1 cerns created through the expenditure of grant 2 funds— 3 (A) at each higher education institution to 4 which a grant was made under the program; 5 and 6 (B) in total under the program; 7 (4) the number of students impacted by emer- 8 gency or disaster concerns created through the ex- 9 penditure of grant funds— 10 (A) at each higher education institution to 11 which a grant was made under the program; 12 and 13 (B) in total under the program; 14 (5) the number of students referred to re- 15 sources of FEMA— 16 (A) at each higher education institution to 17 which a grant was made under the program; 18 and 19 (B) in total under the program; 20 (6) the number of students participating in the 21 programs, initiatives, or opportunities created or ex- 22 panded through the expenditure of grant funds, 23 disaggregated, to the maximum extent possible, by 24 sex, race, and ethnicity— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Apr 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2458.IH H2458 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 2458 IH (A) at each higher education institution to 1 which a grant was made under the program; 2 and 3 (B) in total under the program; 4 (7) a statement regarding whether any amounts 5 made available to carry out this section remain un- 6 expended, as of the date on which the report is sub- 7 mitted. 8 (h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 9 (1) FEMA.—The term ‘‘FEMA’’ means the 10 Federal Emergency Management Agency. 11 (2) HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTION.—The 12 term ‘‘higher education institution’’ means any of 13 the following types of institutions: 14 (A) A historically Black college or univer- 15 sity. 16 (B) A Hispanic-serving institution, as that 17 term is defined in section 502(a) of the Higher 18 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1101a(a)). 19 (C) A Tribal College or University, as that 20 term is defined in section 316(b) of the Higher 21 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1059c(b)). 22 (D) An Alaska Native-serving institution, 23 as that term is defined in section 317(b) of the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Apr 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2458.IH H2458 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •HR 2458 IH Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1 1059d(b)). 2 (E) A Native Hawaiian-serving institution, 3 as that term is defined in section 317(b) of the 4 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 5 1059d(b)). 6 (F) A Predominantly Black Institution, as 7 that term is defined in section 318(b) of the 8 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 9 1059e(b)). 10 (G) A Native American-serving, nontribal 11 institution, as that term is defined in section 12 319(b) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 13 (20 U.S.C. 1059f(b)). 14 (H) An Asian-American and Native Amer- 15 ican Pacific Islander-serving institution, as that 16 term is defined in section 320(b) of the Higher 17 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1059g(b)). 18 (I) An institution of higher education, as 19 such term is defined in section 101(a) of the 20 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 21 1001(a)). 22 (J) A vocational-technical college or uni- 23 versity. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Apr 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2458.IH H2458 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 9 •HR 2458 IH (K) A career college or university. 1 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Apr 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2458.IH H2458 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB