110 HR 7329 IH: To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and U.S. House of Representatives 2008-12-10 text/xml EN 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.

I 110th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 7329 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.

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 “),”.

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:

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).

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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:

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).

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