[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4830 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4830

To require the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency 
   to quickly and fairly address the abundance of surplus temporary 
  housing units stored by the Federal Government across the Nation at 
                           taxpayer expense.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 18, 2007

   Mr. Ross introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
             Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency 
   to quickly and fairly address the abundance of surplus temporary 
  housing units stored by the Federal Government across the Nation at 
                           taxpayer expense.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; DEFINITIONS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``FEMA 
Accountability Act of 2007''.
    (b) Definitions.--In this Act, the following definitions apply:
            (1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the 
        Administrator of FEMA.
            (2) FEMA.--The term ``FEMA'' means the Federal Emergency 
        Management Agency.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) more than 19,000 temporary housing units purchased by 
        FEMA sit unused at a storage site located in Hope, Arkansas, 
        and FEMA spends $25,000 each month to store these temporary 
        housing units;
            (2) FEMA purchased these temporary housing units to aid 
        disaster victims during the 2005 hurricane season;
            (3) FEMA spends in excess of $3,000,000 each year to store, 
        secure, and maintain temporary housing units at 17 storage 
        sites across the Nation;
            (4) it is anticipated that the number of temporary housing 
        units in FEMA inventory will continue to increase as disaster 
        victims find permanent housing;
            (5) many of the unused temporary housing units currently in 
        the FEMA inventory are not mission-ready or may contain 
        elevated levels of formaldehyde; and
            (6) FEMA has had ample time to assess the need for on-hand 
        temporary housing units.

SEC. 3. STORAGE, SALE, TRANSFER, AND DISPOSAL OF HOUSING UNITS.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 3 months after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall complete an assessment 
of the number of temporary housing units purchased by FEMA that the 
Administrator finds necessary to stock to respond to major disasters 
occurring after the date of enactment of this Act.
    (b) Plan.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 6 months after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall establish a plan 
        for--
                    (A) permanently storing the temporary housing units 
                that the Administrator finds necessary to stock under 
                subsection (a);
                    (B) selling, transferring, or otherwise disposing 
                of the temporary housing units that the Administrator 
                finds are in excess of the number that the 
                Administrator finds necessary to stock under subsection 
                (a) and are in usable condition; and
                    (C) disposing of the temporary housing units that 
                the Administrator finds are not in usable condition.
            (2) Exception.--
                    (A) In general.--If the Administrator submits to 
                Congress a written certification that the Administrator 
                is unable to determine the safe level of exposure to 
                formaldehyde for purposes of travel trailers, the 
                Administrator may exclude from the plan established 
                under paragraph (1) any travel trailer that the 
                Administrator determines may contain formaldehyde.
                    (B) Duration.--The authority to exclude travel 
                trailers under this paragraph shall terminate on the 
                date on which the Environmental Protection Agency or 
                other appropriate department or agency promulgates 
                regulations regarding exposure levels for formaldehyde 
                that are applicable to travel trailers.
            (3) Applicability of disposal requirements.--The plan 
        established under paragraph (1) shall be subject to the 
        requirements of section 408(d)(2) of the Robert T. Stafford 
        Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 
        5174(d)(2)) and other applicable provisions of law.
    (c) Implementation.--Not later than 9 months after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall implement the plan 
described in subsection (b).
    (d) Report.--Not later than one year after the date of enactment of 
this Act, the Administrator shall submit to Congress a report on the 
status of the distribution, sale, transfer, or other disposal of the 
unused temporary housing units purchased by FEMA.
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