[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5395 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5395

     To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
 Assistance Act to direct the expedient disbursement of funds, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 16, 2025

 Mr. Hernandez (for himself, Mr. Kennedy of New York, and Mr. Stanton) 
 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 Emergency 
 Assistance Act to direct the expedient disbursement of funds, 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 ``Disaster Relief Disbursement 
Accountability Act''.

SEC. 2. EXPEDIENT DISBURSEMENT OF FUNDS.

    Title VI of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5195 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 
the following:

``SEC. 630. EXPEDIENT DISBURSEMENT OF FUNDS.

    ``(a) In General.--The Administrator shall take any actions that 
are necessary to ensure that funds are disbursed to eligible entities 
as expediently as possible after a project is approved under this Act, 
including the hazard mitigation grant program under section 404 and the 
public assistance program under sections 403, 406, 407, 428, and 502.
    ``(b) Report to Administrator.--
            ``(1) Retroactive report.--For each major disaster or 
        emergency for which a declaration was made under section 401 or 
        501 and for which assistance is being disbursed as of the date 
        of enactment of this section, each recipient of assistance for 
        such major disaster or emergency under the hazard mitigation 
        grant program under section 404 or the public assistance 
        program under sections 403, 406, 407, 428, or 502 shall, not 
        later than 1 year after such date of enactment, submit to the 
        Administrator a report that describes the average amount of 
        time the recipient takes to disburse such assistance to a 
        subrecipient.
            ``(2) Annual report.--For each major disaster or emergency 
        for which a declaration is made under section 401 or 501 after 
        the date of enactment of this section, each recipient of 
        assistance for such major disaster or emergency under the 
        hazard mitigation grant program under section 404 or the public 
        assistance program under sections 403, 406, 407, 428, or 502 
        shall submit to the Administrator, on an annual basis, a report 
        that describes the average amount of time the recipient takes 
        to disburse such assistance to a subrecipient.
    ``(c) Report to Congress.--Not later than 3 years after the date of 
enactment of this section, and annually thereafter, the Administrator 
shall submit to the Committees on Homeland Security and Transportation 
and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate a report 
containing a summary of the information provided under subsection 
(b).''.
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