Directing Dollars to Disaster Relief Act of 2015

(Sec. 3) This bill directs the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to:

• develop and implement an integrated plan to control and reduce administrative costs incurred by FEMA in support of the delivery of assistance for major disasters;
• compare the costs and benefits of tracking the administrative cost data for major disasters by the public assistance, individual assistance, hazard mitigation, and mission assignment programs;
• track such information; and
• clarify FEMA guidance and minimum documentation requirements for a direct administrative cost claimed by a grantee or subgrantee of a public assistance grant program authorized by the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act.

(Sec. 4) FEMA must submit to Congress, by November 30 of each year for seven years beginning on the date of this Act's enactment, and make publicly available on its website, a report on the development and implementation of the plan for the previous fiscal year, with three-year and five-year updates. Each report shall contain:

• the total amount spent on administrative costs and the average annual percentage of administrative costs for the fiscal year period for which the report is being submitted;
• an assessment of the effectiveness of the plan;
• an analysis of whether FEMA is achieving its strategic goals for the average annual percentage of administrative costs of major disasters for each fiscal year and, in the case of it not achieving such goals, what is preventing it from doing so;
• any actions FEMA has identified as useful in improving upon and reaching those goals; and
• any administrative cost data for major disasters, if FEMA determines it is feasible to track such data.

Directing Dollars to Disaster Relief Act of 2015

(Sec. 3) This bill directs the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to:

• develop and implement an integrated plan to control and reduce administrative costs incurred by FEMA in support of the delivery of assistance for major disasters;
• compare the costs and benefits of tracking the administrative cost data for major disasters by the public assistance, individual assistance, hazard mitigation, and mission assignment programs;
• track such information; and
• clarify FEMA guidance and minimum documentation requirements for a direct administrative cost claimed by a grantee or subgrantee of a public assistance grant program authorized by the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act.

(Sec. 4) FEMA must submit to Congress, by November 30 of each year for seven years beginning on the date of this Act's enactment, and make publicly available on its website, a report on the development and implementation of the plan for the previous fiscal year, with three-year and five-year updates. Each report shall contain:

• the total amount spent on administrative costs and the average annual percentage of administrative costs for the fiscal year period for which the report is being submitted;
• an assessment of the effectiveness of the plan;
• an analysis of whether FEMA is achieving its strategic goals for the average annual percentage of administrative costs of major disasters for each fiscal year and, in the case of it not achieving such goals, what is preventing it from doing so;
• any actions FEMA has identified as useful in improving upon and reaching those goals; and
• any administrative cost data for major disasters, if FEMA determines it is feasible to track such data.

(Sec. 3) This bill directs the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to:

• develop and implement an integrated plan to control and reduce administrative costs incurred by FEMA in support of the delivery of assistance for major disasters;
• compare the costs and benefits of tracking the administrative cost data for major disasters by the public assistance, individual assistance, hazard mitigation, and mission assignment programs;
• track such information; and
• clarify FEMA guidance and minimum documentation requirements for a direct administrative cost claimed by a grantee or subgrantee of a public assistance grant program authorized by the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act.

(Sec. 4) FEMA must submit to Congress, by November 30 of each year for seven years beginning on the date of this Act's enactment, and make publicly available on its website, a report on the development and implementation of the plan for the previous fiscal year, with three-year and five-year updates. Each report shall contain:

• the total amount spent on administrative costs and the average annual percentage of administrative costs for the fiscal year period for which the report is being submitted;
• an assessment of the effectiveness of the plan;
• an analysis of whether FEMA is achieving its strategic goals for the average annual percentage of administrative costs of major disasters for each fiscal year and, in the case of it not achieving such goals, what is preventing it from doing so;
• any actions FEMA has identified as useful in improving upon and reaching those goals; and
• any administrative cost data for major disasters, if FEMA determines it is feasible to track such data.

(Sec. 3) This bill directs the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to:

• develop and implement an integrated plan to control and reduce administrative costs incurred by FEMA in support of the delivery of assistance for major disasters;
• compare the costs and benefits of tracking the administrative cost data for major disasters by the public assistance, individual assistance, hazard mitigation, and mission assignment programs;
• track such information; and
• clarify FEMA guidance and minimum documentation requirements for a direct administrative cost claimed by a grantee or subgrantee of a public assistance grant program authorized by the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act.

(Sec. 4) FEMA must submit to Congress, by November 30 of each year, and make publicly available on its website a report on the development and implementation of the plan for the previous fiscal year, with three-year and five-year updates. Each report shall contain:

• the total amount spent on administrative costs and the average annual percentage of administrative costs for the fiscal year period for which the report is being submitted;
• an assessment of the effectiveness of the plan;
• an analysis of whether FEMA is achieving its strategic goals for the average annual percentage of administrative costs of major disasters for each fiscal year and, in the case of it not achieving such goals, what is preventing it from doing so;
• any actions FEMA has identified as useful in improving upon and reaching those goals; and
• any administrative cost data for major disasters, if FEMA determines it is feasible to track such data.

This bill directs the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to:

• develop and implement an integrated plan to control and reduce administrative costs incurred by FEMA in support of the delivery of assistance for major disasters;
• compare the costs and benefits of tracking the administrative cost data for major disasters by the public assistance, individual assistance, hazard mitigation, and mission assignment programs;
• track such information, if feasible; and
• clarify FEMA guidance and minimum documentation requirements for a direct administrative cost claimed by a grantee or subgrantee of a public assistance grant program authorized by the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act.

This bill: (1) provides that, of the total amount obligated for major disasters by FEMA from the Disaster Relief Fund for a fiscal year, the amount obligated for administrative costs shall not exceed the milestones set by FEMA in such plan; and (2) permits FEMA to waive such requirement if it has completed a required assessment of the administrative costs of major disasters for the fiscal year and submits to Congress a written explanation as to why FEMA exceeded such milestones.

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