[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1605 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1605
To authorize the President to provide disaster assistance to States and
Indian Tribes under a major disaster recovery program, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 14, 2023
Mr. Rouzer (for himself and Mr. Graves of Louisiana) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation
and Infrastructure
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To authorize the President to provide disaster assistance to States and
Indian Tribes under a major disaster recovery program, 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 ``Natural Disaster Recovery Program
Act of 2023''.
SEC. 2. NATURAL DISASTER RECOVERY PROGRAM.
The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act
(42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end of title IV
the following:
``SEC. 431. NATURAL DISASTER RECOVERY PROGRAM.
``(a) Authority; Use.--The President may provide assistance under
this section to States and Indian Tribes for unmet need, including
necessary expenses for activities related to disaster relief,
resiliency, long-term recovery, restoration of infrastructure and
housing, mitigation, and economic revitalization after a major disaster
is declared under section 401.
``(b) Coordination of Disaster Benefits and Data With Other Federal
Agencies.--
``(1) In general.--The President shall coordinate with
other agencies to obtain data on recovery needs and unmet need,
including the Administrator of the Small Business
Administration and other agencies when necessary regarding
disaster benefits. Not later than 90 days after a major
disaster is declared, the President shall make publicly
available all data collected, possessed, or analyzed during the
course of a disaster recovery for which assistance is provided
under this section, including--
``(A) all data on damage caused by the disaster;
``(B) information on how any Federal assistance
provided in connection with the disaster is expended;
``(C) information regarding the effect of the
disaster on education, transportation capabilities and
dependence, housing needs, health care capacity, and
displacement of persons; and
``(D) the extent of the unmet need.
``(2) Protection of personally identifiable information.--
In carrying out this subsection, the President and the grantee
shall take such actions as may be necessary to ensure that
personally identifiable information regarding recipients of
assistance provided under this section is not made publicly
available by any agency with which information is shared
pursuant to this subsection.
``(c) Use of Funds.--
``(1) Administrative costs.--
``(A) In general.--A State or Indian Tribe
receiving a grant under this section may use not more
than 13 percent of the amount of grant funds received,
or within such other percentage as may be established
pursuant to subparagraph (B), for administrative costs,
including costs related to audits, reviews, oversight,
evaluation, and investigations.
``(B) Discretion to establish sliding scale.--The
President may establish a series of percentage
limitations on the amount of grant funds received that
may be used by a grantee for administrative costs, but
only if--
``(i) such percentage limitations are based
on the amount of grant funds received by a
grantee; and
``(ii) such series provides that the
percentage that may be used is lower for
grantees receiving a greater amount of grant
funds and such percentage that may be used is
higher for grantees receiving a lesser amount
of grant funds.
``(2) Capacity building.--From funds made available for use
under this section, the President shall provide necessary
technical assistance to grantees to ensure grantees are
compliant with Federal law, and capacity building and technical
assistance, including assistance regarding contracting and
procurement processes, including providing solicitation and
contractual templates that conform to Federal requirements for
use by grantees.
``(d) Allocation, Process, and Procedures; Coordination.--
``(1) Allocation.--
``(A) In general.--The President shall allocate
funds under this section proportionally to grantees
based on their level of unmet need as determined
pursuant to subsection (b).
``(B) Grantee use of funds.--Each grantee, not the
President, shall be responsible for determining how
funds provided under this section are prioritized and
spent and a grantee shall not be required to provide an
action or spending plan before or after funds are
allocated, except that the grantee shall use a portion
of these funds for cleaning and removing debris from
rivers, creeks, streams, and ditches.
``(C) Limitation.--Notwithstanding section 312, a
loan shall not be considered a duplication of benefits
or otherwise impact the level of unmet need under this
section.
``(2) Grantee processes and procedures.--
``(A) Initial grant funds.--Initially, grantees
shall be awarded 50 percent of their total allocation
under paragraph (1). After expenditure of such amount,
a grantee shall submit a report, detailing how such
grant funds were spent, to the Committees on
Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the
Senate, the Committee on Transportation and
Infrastructure of the House of Representatives, and the
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
of the Senate. Such report shall include a
certification from the State Auditor that none of the
funds were wasted or used inappropriately.
``(B) Congressional approval.--
``(i) Approval.--Not later than 60 days
after receipt of the report under subparagraph
(A), Congress shall approve or disapprove the
report. If the report is approved, or if 60
days has lapsed and Congress has not commented
on the report, the remaining 50 percent of the
allocation under paragraph (1) shall be
released to the grantee.
``(ii) Disapproval.--If Congress
disapproves the report, the grantee shall work
with Congress to address any and all concerns
regarding how the initial 50 percent of the
grant money was expended. Once these concerns
are resolved, the remaining funds shall be
released to the grantee.
``(iii) Fraud or abuse.--If Congress
determines that a grantee committed fraud or
abuse, Congress shall require the President to
recover all funds provided to the grantee under
this section. Any amount recovered under this
clause shall be redistributed to other grantees
with approved reports pursuant to clause (i).
``(3) Requirements.--Each State and Indian Tribe that
receives funds under this section shall establish or adhere to
existing guidelines for procurement processes and procedures
and require that subgrantees--
``(A) provide for full and open competition and
require cost or price analysis;
``(B) specify methods of procurement and their
applicability, but not allow cost-plus-a-percentage-of
cost or percentage-of-construction-cost methods of
procurement;
``(C) include standards of conduct governing
employees engaged in the award or administration of
contracts; and
``(D) ensure that all purchase orders and contracts
include any clauses required by Federal statute,
Executive order, or implementing regulation.
``(e) Environmental Review.--Recipients of funds received under
this section that use funds to supplement funds provided under section
402, 403, 404, 406, 407, 408(c)(4), 428, or 502 may adopt, without
review or public comment, any environmental review, approval, or permit
performed by a Federal agency.
``(f) Best Practices.--The President shall identify best practices
for grantees on issues including developing action plans, establishing
financial controls, building grantee technical and administrative
capacity, procurement, and use of grant funds as local match for other
sources of Federal funding. Not later than 1 year after the date of
enactment of this section, the President shall publish a compilation of
such identified best practices and share with all relevant grantees to
facilitate a more efficient and effective disaster recovery process.
``(g) Natural Disaster Recovery Reserve Fund.--
``(1) In general.--There is established in the Treasury of
the United States an account to be known as the Natural
Disaster Recovery Reserve Fund (in this section referred to as
the `Fund').
``(2) Amounts.--The Fund shall consist of any amounts
appropriated to or deposited into the Fund, including amounts
deposited into the Fund pursuant to paragraph (4).
``(3) Use of funds.--Amounts in the Fund shall be
available, pursuant to a declaration of a major disaster, only
for providing technical assistance and capacity building in
connection with subsection (c)(4) for grantees that have been
allocated assistance under this section in connection with such
disaster to facilitate planning and increase capacity to
administer assistance under this section.
``(4) Unused amounts.--If any amounts made available for
assistance under this section to grantees remain unexpended on
the earlier of--
``(A) the date that the grantee of such amounts
notifies the President that the grantee has completed
all activities; or
``(B) except as provided in paragraph (5), the
expiration of the 6-year period beginning when the
President obligates such amounts to the grantee, the
President shall transfer such unexpended amounts to the
Secretary of the Treasury for deposit into the Fund,
except that the President may permit the grantee to
retain amounts needed to close out the grant.
``(5) Extension of period for use of funds.--The period
under paragraph (4)(B) may be extended by not more than 4 years
if, before the expiration of such 6-year period, the President
waives this requirement and submits a written justification for
such waiver to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of
Representatives and the Senate that specifies the period of
such extension.
``(h) Waiver Authority.--Until such time as the President issues
regulations to implement this section, the President may--
``(1) waive notice and comment rulemaking, if the President
determines the waiver is necessary to expeditiously implement
the provisions of this section; and
``(2) carry out the grant program under this section as a
pilot program.
``(i) Definitions.--For purposes of this section, the following
terms shall apply:
``(1) State auditor.--The term `State auditor' means the
individual selected by each State or the Chief Executive to
submit information pursuant to subsection (c)(3) and a
certification in accordance with subsection (d)(2)(A).
``(2) Unmet need.--The term `unmet need' means any
unresourced item, support, or assistance that has been assessed
and verified as necessary for a survivor to recover from a
major disaster, including food, clothing, shelter, first aid,
emotional and spiritual care, household items, home repair, or
rebuilding.''.
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