[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 10211 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                               H. R. 10211

  To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to make 
   grants to States, territories, and Indian tribes to support local 
              resiliency offices, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 21, 2024

   Mr. Crow (for himself and Mrs. Kim of California) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial 
                                Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to make 
   grants to States, territories, and Indian tribes to support local 
              resiliency offices, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Championing Local Efforts to Advance 
Resilience Act of 2024'' or the ``CLEAR Act of 2024''.

SEC. 2. RESILIENCY OFFICE GRANTS.

    (a) Authority.--The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, in 
consultation with the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management 
Agency, the Secretary of Commerce, and the Secretary of the Interior, 
may make grants under this section to States, territories, and Indian 
tribes that are eligible for such grants pursuant to subsection (b) for 
use in accordance with subsection (c).
    (b) Eligibility.--To be eligible for a grant under this section, a 
State, territory, or Indian tribe shall establish and maintain, or show 
a plan and ability to establish and maintain, an office specifically 
responsible for issues relating to resilience and that has among its 
duties the following:
            (1) To develop and update, not less frequently than every 5 
        years, a resiliency framework, in consultation with vulnerable 
        and impacted communities, that identifies current and projected 
        risks and vulnerabilities due to extreme weather and other 
        challenges, and provides recommendations to address such risks 
        and vulnerabilities, in each of the areas of--
                    (A) environmental and natural hazards;
                    (B) the economy and workforce;
                    (C) infrastructure;
                    (D) health and social services; and
                    (E) housing.
            (2) To implement programming to address risks and 
        vulnerabilities identified in the resiliency framework, 
        including--
                    (A) providing technical assistance to local 
                governments for the implementation of resilience 
                planning;
                    (B) assisting State, territory, or tribal agencies 
                in the implementation of resilience policies and 
                procedures;
                    (C) integrating resilience criteria into existing 
                competitive grant funding administered by such office 
                or State agencies; and
                    (D) supporting long-term community pre-disaster 
                mitigation and recovery efforts and facilitating access 
                to resources before and after a disaster.
            (3) To improve coordination among State, territory, or 
        tribal agencies and regional and local jurisdictions to support 
        community and economic recovery efforts and address risk and 
        vulnerability reduction.
    (c) Use.--Amounts from a grant under this section may be used by 
the grantee, or any unit of local government that is a subgrantee of 
such grantee, only for--
            (1) costs of establishing or maintaining, or both, a 
        resiliency office and implementing resiliency programming, 
        developing resilience planning and analytic tools, enhancing 
        community planning and capacity, enhancing coordination among 
        State, territory, or tribal agencies and regional and local 
        jurisdictions and stakeholders, and providing technical 
        assistance, in accordance with the requirements of subsection 
        (b); and
            (2) payment of any non-Federal share required in connection 
        with a Federal program undertaken to carry out any of the 
        purposes of subsection (b)(2).
    (d) Applications.--To apply for a grant under this section, a 
State, territory, or Indian tribe shall submit an application at such 
time, in such form, and containing such information as the Secretary 
may prescribe for establishing a formula-based grant program.
    (e) Priority.--In awarding grants under this section to States or 
territories, the Secretary shall give priority to applications that--
            (1) demonstrate the greatest need for assistance under this 
        section, as determined by the Secretary;
            (2) identify vulnerabilities and risks in disadvantaged 
        communities and prioritize projects to benefit such communities 
        and promote equity in resilience;
            (3) demonstrate a broad approach to resilience, as such 
        term is defined in subsection (j)(3); and
            (4) provide for subgrants to entities that adhere to 
        prevailing wage provisions as published by the Department of 
        Labor.
    (f) Amount.--The Secretary shall award formula grants in an amount 
sufficient to provide funding to a grantee to cover a minimum of 24 
months of grant activities.
    (g) Technical Assistance.--The Secretary shall, in consultation 
with the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the 
Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of the Interior, and such other 
heads of Federal agencies as the Secretary considers appropriate, 
provide technical assistance to grantees regarding developing 
resiliency frameworks and implementing resiliency strategies.
    (h) Administrative Costs.--Of any amounts made available for grants 
under this section, the Secretary may use 1.0 percent for--
            (1) the costs of administering the program under this 
        section for such grants; and
            (2) for providing technical assistance--
                    (A) to applicants for such grants; and
                    (B) under subsection (g).
    (i) Reports to HUD.--Not later than 90 days after the end of each 
fiscal year for which a grantee receives a grant under this section, 
the grantee shall submit a report to the Secretary regarding the use of 
such grant amounts, which shall include--
            (1) a description of the activities undertaken by the 
        grantee using such grant amounts;
            (2) identification of the costs of each of the services 
        provided using such grant amounts; and
            (3) assessments of the effectiveness of the grant program 
        under this section and the programs carried out by the 
        resiliency office of the grantee and recommendations for 
        improving such programs.
    (j) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Disadvantaged community.--The term ``disadvantaged 
        community'' shall have such meaning as shall be established by 
        regulation by the Secretary, in consultation with the heads of 
        other appropriate Federal agencies, using such indicators and 
        metrics as the Secretary considers appropriate.
            (2) Grantee.--The term ``grantee'' means a State, 
        territory, or Indian tribe to which a grant under this section 
        is made.
            (3) Indian tribe.--The term ``Indian tribe'' has the 
        meaning given such term in section 4 of the Native American 
        Housing and Self-Determination Act of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 4103).
            (4) Resilience.--The term ``resilience'' means, with 
        respect to a community, the ability to rebound, positively 
        adapt to, or thrive amidst changing conditions or challenges, 
        including human-caused and natural disasters, and to maintain 
        quality of life, healthy growth, durable systems, economic 
        vitality, and conservation of resources for present and future 
        generations.
            (5) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Housing and Urban Development.
            (6) State.--The term ``State'' means a State of the United 
        States and the District of Columbia.
            (7) Territory.--The term ``territory'' means the 
        Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana 
        Islands, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa.
    (k) Funding.--
            (1) Authorization of appropriations.--There is authorized 
        to be appropriated for grants under this section $200,000,000 
        for each of fiscal years 2024 through 2029.
            (2) Set-aside for indian tribes.--Of any amounts 
        appropriated for a fiscal year for grants under this section, 
        the Secretary shall reserve 10 percent for grants to Indian 
        tribes. The Secretary shall allocate such amounts reserved, 
        among Indian tribes having applications for grants under this 
        section for such fiscal year approved by the Secretary, on the 
        basis of a competition conducted pursuant to specific criteria 
        for the selection of Indian tribes to receive such amounts. The 
        criteria shall be contained in a regulation promulgated by the 
        Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of the Interior, 
        after notice and opportunity for public comment.
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