[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7329 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7329

     To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
     Assistance Act to authorize funding for emergency management 
performance grants to provide for domestic preparedness and collective 
          response to major disasters, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 10, 2008

 Mr. Thompson of Mississippi introduced the following bill; which was 
referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in 
  addition to the Committee on Homeland Security, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
     Assistance Act to authorize funding for emergency management 
performance grants to provide for domestic preparedness and collective 
          response to major disasters, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. MAJOR DISASTER DEFINITION.

    (a) Expansion of Definition of ``Major Disaster''.--Paragraph (2) 
of section 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122) (relating to the definition of the term 
``major disaster'') is amended by inserting ``catastrophic incident (as 
defined in section 501(3) of title 6, United States Code),'' after 
``),''.

SEC. 2. EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERFORMANCE GRANTS.

    Subtitle B of title VI of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 
and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5197 et seq.) is amended by 
adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 630. EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERFORMANCE GRANTS.

    ``(a) In General.--The Administrator of the Federal Emergency 
Management Agency shall establish an emergency management performance 
grants program (in this section referred to as the `program') to carry 
out the provisions of this title and section 201 to address domestic 
preparedness and collective response to major disasters.
    ``(b) Federal Share.--Except as otherwise specifically provided by 
this Act, the Federal share of the cost of an activity carried out 
using funds made available under the program shall not exceed 50 
percent.
    ``(c) Apportionment.--For fiscal year 2009 and each fiscal year 
thereafter, the Administrator shall apportion the amounts appropriated 
to carry out the program among the States as follows:
            ``(1) Baseline amount.--With respect to a fiscal year for 
        which amounts have been appropriated in accordance with 
        subsection (d), the Administrator shall first apportion 0.25 
        percent of such amounts to each of American Samoa, the 
        Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and the 
        Virgin Islands and 0.75 of such amounts to each of the 
        remaining States.
            ``(2) Remainder.--With respect to such fiscal year, the 
        Administrator shall apportion the remainder of such amounts in 
        the ratio that the population of each State bears to the 
        population of all States.
    ``(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out the program $535,000,000 for fiscal year 
2009, $680,000,000 for fiscal year 2010, and $815,000,000 for fiscal 
year 2011. Such sums shall remain available until expended.
    ``(e) Major Disaster.--The term `major disaster' has the meaning 
given such term in section 102(2).''.

SEC. 3. CONSTRUCTION OF EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTERS.

    Section 614 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5196c) is amended to read as follows:

``SEC. 614. CONSTRUCTION OF EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTERS.

    ``(a) Grants.--The Administrator of the Federal Emergency 
Management Agency may make grants to States under this title for 
equipping, upgrading, and constructing emergency operations centers for 
domestic preparedness and collective response to a major disaster.
    ``(b) Federal Share.--Notwithstanding any other provision of this 
title, the Federal share of the cost of an activity carried out using 
amounts from grants made under this section shall not exceed 75 
percent.
    ``(c) Major Disaster Defined.--In this section the term `major 
disaster' has the meaning given such term in section 102(2).''.
                                 <all>