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Calendar No. 223
115th Congress } { Report
SENATE
1st Session } { 115-159
_______________________________________________________________________
FEMA ACCOUNTABILITY, MODERNIZATION AND TRANSPARENCY ACT OF 2017
__________
R E P O R T
of the
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
to accompany
H.R. 1679
TO ENSURE THAT THE FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
AGENCY'S CURRENT EFFORTS TO MODERNIZE ITS GRANT
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM INCLUDES APPLICANT ACCESSIBILITY AND TRANSPARENCY,
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
September 18, 2017.--Ordered to be printed
______
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
69-010 WASHINGTON : 2017
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin, Chairman
JOHN McCAIN, Arizona CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri
ROB PORTMAN, Ohio THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware
RAND PAUL, Kentucky JON TESTER, Montana
JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota
MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming GARY C. PETERS, Michigan
JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire
STEVE DAINES, Montana KAMALA D. HARRIS, California
Christopher R. Hixon, Staff Director
Gabrielle D'Adamo Singer, Chief Counsel
Colleen E. Berny, Professional Staff Member
Margaret E. Daum, Minority Staff Director
Stacia M. Cardille, Minority Chief Counsel
Charles A. Moskowitz, Minority Senior Legislative Counsel
Sue Ramanathan, Minority Counsel
Daniel J. Webb, Minority U.S. Government Accountability Office Detailee
Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk
Calendar No. 223
115th Congress } { Report
SENATE
1st Session } { 115-159
======================================================================
FEMA ACCOUNTABILITY, MODERNIZATION AND TRANSPARENCY ACT OF 2017
_______
September 18, 2017.--Ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Johnson, from the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany H.R. 1679]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, to which was referred the bill (H.R. 1679) to ensure
that the Federal Emergency Management Agency's current efforts
to modernize its grant management system includes applicant
accessibility and transparency, and for other purposes, having
considered the same, reports favorably thereon without
amendment and recommends that the bill do pass.
CONTENTS
Page
I. Purpose and Summary..............................................1
II. Background and Need for the Legislation..........................2
III. Legislative History..............................................3
IV. Section-by-Section Analysis......................................4
V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact..................................4
VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate........................4
VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Act, as Reported.............5
I. PURPOSE AND SUMMARY
H.R. 1679, the FEMA Accountability, Modernization and
Transparency Act of 2017, establishes requirements for the
Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) ongoing efforts to
modernize its grant systems.
The Act requires FEMA to implement improvements for
administering disaster assistance grants, including an online
interface for applicants; mechanisms to eliminate duplication
of benefits; a means for the agency to share information with
state, local, and tribal governments, if appropriate; and any
additional tools to improve implementation that the FEMA
Administrator deems necessary. The FEMA Administrator is
responsible for delivering these capabilities in increments to
the extent practicable.
II. BACKGROUND AND THE NEED FOR LEGISLATION
Disaster and preparedness grants
Under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency
Assistance (Stafford) Act,
[t]he President can declare a major disaster for any
natural event, including any hurricane, tornado, storm,
high water, wind-driven water, tidal wave, tsunami,
earthquake, volcanic eruption, landslide, mudslide,
snowstorm, or drought, or, regardless of cause, fire,
flood, or explosion, that the President determines has
caused damage of such severity that it is beyond the
combined capabilities of state and local governments to
respond.\1\
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\1\Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance
(Stafford) Act Sec. 102, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 5122 (2016); see also Fed.
Emergency Mgmt. Agency, The Disaster Declaration Process, https://
www.fema.gov/disaster-declaration-process (last updated Apr. 6, 2017)
[hereinafter The Disaster Declaration Process].
The President may also issue emergency declarations, which
``supplement State and local or Indian tribal government
efforts in providing emergency services, such as the protection
of lives, property, public health, and safety, or to lessen or
avert the threat of a catastrophe in any part of the United
States.''\2\ FEMA coordinates the Federal response and is
authorized under the Stafford Act to provide assistance to
state governments, local governments, and individuals.\3\ After
a major disaster declaration, grants that can be deployed, if
they meet the requirements, include public assistance (PA),
individual assistance, and hazard mitigation assistance.\4\
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\2\Stafford Act Sec. 502, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 5192 (2016); see also The
Disaster Declaration Process, supra note 1.
\3\Stafford Act, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 5121 et seq. (2016).
\4\The Disaster Declaration Process, supra note 1.
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In addition to disaster assistance, ``FEMA provides state
and local governments with preparedness program funding in the
form of Preparedness (non-disaster) Grants to enhance the
capacity of state and local emergency responders to prevent,
respond to, and recover from a weapons of mass destruction
terrorism incident involving chemical, biological,
radiological, nuclear and other explosive devices, and cyber-
attacks.''\5\ FEMA Preparedness Grants include the Emergency
Management Performance Grant Program; Homeland Security Grant
Program; Intercity Bus Security Grant Program; Intercity
Passenger Rail Security Grant Program; Nonprofit Security Grant
Program; Port Security Grant Program; Tribal Homeland Security
Grant Program; and Transit Security Grant Program.\6\ FEMA
awards an average of $10 billion per year in disaster grants
and preparedness grants.\7\
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\5\Fed. Emergency Mgmt. Agency, Preparedness (Non-Disaster) Grants,
https://www.fema.gov/preparedness-non-disaster-grants (last updated
July 20, 2017).
\6\Id.
\7\High Risk: Government Operations Susceptible to Waste, Fraud,
and Mismanagement: Hearing Before the S. Comm. on Homeland Sec. &
Governmental Affairs, 115th Cong. 8 (2017) (statement of John Roth,
Inspector Gen., U.S. Dept. of Homeland Sec.), available at https://
www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/TM/2017/oigtm-jr-021517.pdf.
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Grants management modernization
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of
Inspector General (OIG) and the U.S. Government Accountability
Office (GAO) have identified issues within FEMA grant programs
and emphasized the need for a better grants management system.
Earlier this year, the Inspector General testified before the
Committee that although FEMA effectively responds to disasters,
significant problems remain with its management of recovery
grants.\8\ According to the Inspector General, FEMA has not
held grantees accountable for managing subgrantees.\9\ As a
result, ``the entire layer of oversight intended to monitor the
billions of dollars awarded by FEMA in disaster assistance
grants is ineffective, inefficient, and vulnerable to fraud,
waste, and abuse.''\10\ In addition, the GAO has identified
numerous issues and challenges with disaster grants, including
inconsistencies in PA project approvals across regions and
project closeout timeframes.\11\
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\8\Id. at 9.
\9\Id.
\10\Id.
\11\U.S. Gov't Accountability Office, Disaster Recovery: FEMA's
Public Assistance Grant Program Experienced Challenges with Gulf Coast
Rebuilding (Dec. 18, 2008), https://www.gao.gov/assets/290/284493.pdf.
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The DHS OIG has also identified issues within the FEMA
Preparedness Grants program. For example, the DHS OIG found
that FEMA had not sufficiently examined recurring
recommendations because they ``did not clearly communicate
internal roles and responsibilities and did not have policies
and procedures to conduct substantive trend analyses of audit
recommendations.''\12\
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\12\Statement of John Roth, supra note 7, at 9.
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In 2015, FEMA implemented the Grants Management
Modernization program to improve the efficiency and
effectiveness of FEMA's grant operations.\13\ The purpose of
the program is to streamline the agency's 40-plus grant
programs into a single grants management information technology
platform.\14\ Also, when possible, it intends to provide
unified business processes and a common grants management life
cycle.\15\
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\13\Fed. Emergency Mgmt. Agency, The Grants Management
Modernization Program, https://www.fema.gov/grants-management-
modernization-program (last updated Aug. 3, 2017).
\14\Id.
\15\Id.
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To help ensure FEMA's grants modernization effort
continues, this legislation directs FEMA to integrate
improvements for administering disaster assistance grants,
including an online interface for applicants; mechanisms to
eliminate duplication of benefits; a means for agencies to
share information with state, local, and tribal governments, if
appropriate; and any additional tools to improve implementation
the FEMA Administrator deems necessary.
III. LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
Representative Garret Graves (R-LA) introduced H.R. 1679,
the FEMA Accountability, Modernization and Transparency Act of
2017, on March 22, 2017. The bill passed the House on May 2,
2017.
The bill was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs. The Committee considered H.R. 1679 at
a business meeting on July 26, 2017. The Committee favorably
reported the bill by voice vote en bloc. Senators present for
the vote were Johnson, Portman, Lankford, Daines, McCaskill,
Tester, Heitkamp, Peters, Hassan, and Harris.
IV. SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS OF THE ACT, AS REPORTED
Section 1: Short title
This section provides the Act's short title, the ``FEMA
Accountability, Modernization and Transparency Act of 2017''.
Sec. 2. Requirements
Section 2 ensures that the ongoing modernization of FEMA's
grant systems includes improvements for administering disaster
assistance grants, including an online interface; mechanisms to
eliminate duplication of benefits; enables agencies to share
information with state, local, and tribal governments, if
appropriate; and facilitates any additional tools to improve
implementation that the FEMA Administrator deems necessary.
Sec. 3. No additional funds authorized
This section states that no additional funds are authorized
to carry out this Act.
V. EVALUATION OF REGULATORY IMPACT
Pursuant to the requirements of paragraph 11(b) of rule
XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee has
considered the regulatory impact of this Act and determined
that the Act will have no regulatory impact within the meaning
of the rules. The Committee agrees with the Congressional
Budget Office's statement that the Act contains no
intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would impose no costs
on state, local, or tribal governments.
VI. CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE COST ESTIMATE
August 4, 2017.
Hon. Ron Johnson,
Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs,
United States Senate, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 1679, the FEMA
Accountability, Modernization and Transparency Act of 2017.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Robert Reese.
Sincerely,
Keith Hall.
Enclosure.
H.R. 1679--FEMA Accountability, Modernization and Transparency Act of
2017
H.R. 1679 would require the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) to integrate three specific components into the
agency's ongoing project to upgrade its grant management
system. The act also would direct FEMA to implement the new
system incrementally.
Under current law, FEMA is building a new information
technology system that will streamline the application and
approval process for more than 40 grants authorized under the
Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance
Act. The new system will integrate the grants into one grant-
management system, as opposed to the nine systems FEMA is
currently using. FEMA expects to begin building the new system
in 2018 and expects that it that will cost $105 million over a
three-year period to build the system and $15 million each year
thereafter to maintain.
H.R. 1679 would direct FEMA to include in the new system:
An online interface for applicants to
complete grant application forms,
Mechanisms to eliminate duplication of grant
benefits, and
The capability to share information among
other federal agencies and levels of government.
Based on information provided by FEMA, CBO expects that the
requirements outlined in H.R. 1679 will be met through the
agency's current plans to upgrade its grants management system;
therefore, CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 1679 would have
no effect on the federal budget.
Enacting H.R. 1679 would not affect direct spending or
revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. CBO
estimates that enacting H.R. 1679 would not increase net direct
spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive
10-year periods beginning in 2028.
H.R. 1679 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and
would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
On May 2, 2017, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for H.R.
1679, the FEMA Accountability, Modernization and Transparency
Act of 2017, as ordered reported by the House Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure on March 29, 2017. The two
versions of the legislation are similar and CBO's estimates of
their budgetary effects are the same.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Robert Reese.
The estimate was approved by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy
Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.
VII. CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW MADE BY THE ACT, AS REPORTED
Because this legislation would not repeal or amend any
provision of current law, it would not make changes in existing
law within the meaning of clauses (a) and (b) of paragraph 12
of rule XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate.
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