<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><BillSummaries>
<item congress="115" measure-type="s" measure-number="709" measure-id="id115s709" originChamber="SENATE" orig-publish-date="2017-03-23" update-date="2017-04-20">
<title>Disaster Assistance Improvement Act of 2017</title>
<summary summary-id="id115s709v00" currentChamber="SENATE" update-date="2017-04-20">
<action-date>2017-03-23</action-date>
<action-desc>Introduced in Senate</action-desc>
<summary-text><![CDATA[<p><strong>Disaster Assistance Improvement Act of 2017</strong></p> <p>This bill amends the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to prohibit the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) from taking administrative action to recover any payment made to a state or local government for disaster or emergency assistance initiated in any forum (with exceptions for fraud) after three years following the transmission of the final expenditure report for project completion, as certified by the grantee (currently, after three years following the transmission of the final expenditure report for the disaster or emergency). </p> <p>The bill makes the same change with respect to the deadline: (1) for any dispute arising under such Act for which there shall be a presumption that accounting records were maintained that adequately identify the source and application of funds provided for financially assisted activities, and (2) by which the inability of the government to produce source documentation supporting expenditure reports shall not constitute evidence to rebut such presumption.</p> <p>With respect to a payment for disaster or emergency assistance provided to a state or local government on or after January 1, 2004, FEMA may not take administrative action to recover such payment after the date of enactment of this bill if the action is prohibited under such Act as amended by this bill.</p>]]></summary-text>
</summary>
</item>
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<dc:language>EN</dc:language>
<dc:rights>Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.</dc:rights>
<dc:contributor>Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress</dc:contributor>
<dc:description>This file contains bill summaries for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.</dc:description>
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</BillSummaries>
