[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 23 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 H. R. 23

To amend the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 to authorize 
    communities to use community development block grant funds for 
   construction of tornado-safe shelters in manufactured home parks.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 7, 2003

  Mr. Bachus introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 to authorize 
    communities to use community development block grant funds for 
   construction of tornado-safe shelters in manufactured home parks.

    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 ``Tornado Shelters Act''.

SEC. 2. CDBG ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.

     Section 105(a) of the Housing and Community Development Act of 
1974 (42 U.S.C. 5305(a)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (22), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) in paragraph (23), by striking the period at the end 
        and inserting a semicolon;
            (3) by inserting after paragraph (23) the following new 
        paragraph:
            ``(24) the construction or improvement of tornado-safe 
        shelters located in manufactured housing parks, and the 
        provision of assistance (including loans and grants) to 
        nonprofit or for-profit entities (including owners of such 
        parks) for such construction or improvement, except that--
                    ``(A) a shelter assisted with amounts provided 
                pursuant to this paragraph may be located only in a 
                manufactured housing park that--
                            ``(i) has not less than 20 manufactured 
                        housing units; and
                            ``(ii) is located in a State within which a 
                        tornado has occurred during the fiscal year for 
                        which the amounts to be used under this 
                        paragraph were made available or any of the 3 
                        preceding fiscal years, as determined by the 
                        Secretary after consultation with the Director 
                        of the Federal Emergency Management Agency;
                    ``(B) such a shelter shall comply with standards 
                for construction and safety as the Secretary, after 
                consultation with the Director of the Federal Emergency 
                Management Agency, shall provide to ensure protection 
                from tornadoes;
                    ``(C) such a shelter shall be of a size sufficient 
                to accommodate all occupants of the manufactured 
                housing park at a single time; and
                    ``(D) amounts may not be used for a shelter as 
                provided under this paragraph unless there is located, 
                within 1000 feet of the manufactured housing park in 
                which the shelter is located, a warning siren that is 
                operated in accordance with such local, regional, or 
                national disaster warning programs or systems as the 
                Secretary, after consultation with the Director of the 
                Federal Emergency Management Agency, considers 
                appropriate to ensure adequate notice of occupants of 
                the park of a tornado; and''.
                                 <all>