[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3635 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3635

     To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
Assistance Act to improve Federal assistance with respect to disasters, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 23, 2009

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
Assistance Act to improve Federal assistance with respect to 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. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Disaster Relief and Recovery 
Development Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. ABILITY TO PROVIDE DISASTER INFORMATION TO INDIVIDUALS WITH 
              LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENCY.

    (a) Study.--The Comptroller General of the United States shall 
conduct a study on the ability of existing alert and warning systems to 
provide information relating to disasters to individuals with limited 
English proficiency.
    (b) Report.--Not later than one year after the date of enactment of 
this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit to Congress a report on 
the results of the study conducted under subsection (a). The report 
shall include recommendations with respect to any additional resources 
necessary to adequately provide information relating to disasters to 
individuals with limited English proficiency.

SEC. 3. REVIEW OF REGULATIONS AND POLICIES.

    (a) In General.--Not later than one year after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the President shall review regulations and 
policies relating to Federal disaster assistance to eliminate 
regulations the President determines are no longer relevant, to 
harmonize contradictory regulations, and to simplify and expedite 
disaster recovery and assistance.
    (b) Report.--Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the President shall transmit to Congress a report 
describing changes made to regulations as a result of the review 
required under subsection (a), together with any legislative 
recommendations relating thereto.

SEC. 4. ISSUANCE OF REGULATIONS RELATING TO ELIGIBLE COST.

    Not later than six months after the date of enactment of this Act, 
the President shall issue and begin implementation of the regulations 
required under section 406(e)(3)(C) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5172(e)(3)(C)) to 
provide for cost estimation procedures that expedite recovery and to 
reduce the costs and time for completion of recovery projects through 
the creation of financial and performance incentives.

SEC. 5. USE OF FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO DISSEMINATE INFORMATION 
              REGARDING COST-EFFECTIVE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES.

    Section 203(e)(2) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 
Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5133(e)(2)) is amended by striking 
``10 percent'' and inserting ``15 percent''.

SEC. 6. RECOVERY RESPONSIBILITIES.

    (a) Functions of Federal Coordinating Officer.--Section 302(b) of 
the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 
U.S.C. 5143(b)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (3) by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) by redesignating paragraph (4) as paragraph (6); and
            (3) by inserting after paragraph (3) the following:
            ``(4) not later than one month after the date of the 
        declaration of a major disaster or emergency, make an initial 
        appraisal of the types of recovery assistance needed;
            ``(5) coordinate with State government officials the 
        establishment of detailed short-term and long-term recovery 
        plans and methods for implementation of such plans; and''.
    (b) Emergency Support, Response, and Recovery Teams.--Section 303 
of such Act (42 U.S.C. 5144) is amended--
            (1) in the section heading by striking ``support and 
        response'' and inserting ``support, response, and recovery''; 
        and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(c) Emergency Recovery Teams.--
            ``(1) Establishment.--In carrying out subsection (a), the 
        President, acting through the Administrator of the Federal 
        Emergency Management Agency, shall establish--
                    ``(A) at a minimum 3 national recovery teams;
                    ``(B) sufficient regional recovery teams, including 
                Regional Office strike teams under section 507 of the 
                Homeland Security Act of 2002; and
                    ``(C) other recovery teams as may be necessary to 
                meet the incident management responsibilities of the 
                Federal Government.
            ``(2) Target capability level.--The Administrator shall 
        ensure that specific target capability levels, as defined 
        pursuant to the guidelines established under section 646(a) of 
        the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006, are 
        established for Federal emergency recovery teams.
            ``(3) Personnel.--The President, acting through the 
        Administrator, shall ensure that the Federal emergency recovery 
        teams consist of adequate numbers of properly planned, 
        organized, equipped, trained, and exercised personnel to 
        achieve the established target capability levels. Each 
        emergency recovery team shall work in coordination with State 
        and local officials and onsite personnel associated with a 
        particular incident.
            ``(4) Readiness reporting.--The Administrator shall 
        evaluate team readiness on a regular basis and report team 
        readiness levels in the report required under section 652(a) of 
        the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006.''.

SEC. 7. FEDERAL INTERAGENCY DISASTER RECOVERY TASK FORCE.

    Title III of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5141 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 
the following:

``SEC. 327. FEDERAL INTERAGENCY DISASTER RECOVERY TASK FORCE.

    ``(a) Establishment.--The President shall establish a Federal 
interagency disaster recovery task force (hereinafter referred to in 
this section as the `task force') to carry out the following:
            ``(1) Identify, maintain a catalogue of, and submit to 
        Congress at least twice each year a report describing the 
        Federal programs that may be used to assist in recovery efforts 
        after a major disaster or emergency.
            ``(2) Ensure communication, before and after major 
        disasters and emergencies, between the Federal departments and 
        agencies determined by the President to administer the Federal 
        programs referred to in paragraph (1).
    ``(b) Chairperson.--The Administrator of the Federal Emergency 
Management Agency shall serve as the chairperson of the task force.
    ``(c) Membership.--The task force shall include a representative of 
each Federal department and agency determined by the President to 
administer a program that may be used to assist in recovery efforts 
after a major disaster or emergency.
    ``(d) Meeting Frequency.--The task force shall meet at least four 
times each year.''.

SEC. 8. REPAIR, RESTORATION, AND REPLACEMENT OF DAMAGED FACILITIES.

    Section 406(a) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 
Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5172(a)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (4) by striking ``$20,000,000'' and 
        inserting ``$5,000,000''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(5) Contribution status reports.--Not less frequently 
        than every 180 days, the President shall transmit to Congress a 
        report on the status of applications, obligations, and 
        contributions under this section with respect to each major 
        disaster for which, on the date of the transmission of such 
        report, a contribution is eligible to be requested or made 
        under this section.''.

SEC. 9. SPECIAL RULE FOR CERTAIN MAJOR DISASTERS.

    Section 406 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5172) is amended by adding at the end the 
following:
    ``(f) Special Rule for Certain Major Disasters.--
            ``(1) Consolidation of funds.--Notwithstanding subsection 
        (a)(1), if the President determines that there is extensive and 
        widespread damage and destruction resulting from a major 
        disaster, the President may allow a State or local government 
        or a private nonprofit facility, as the case may be, to 
        consolidate contributions received as a lump sum payment to 
        repair, restore, reconstruct, or replace more than one public 
        facility. A State or local government and a private nonprofit 
        facility may choose whether or not to repair, restore, 
        reconstruct, or replace one or more of such facilities after 
        assessing the need for such facilities after such major 
        disaster.
            ``(2) Federal share.--Notwithstanding subsection (c)(1)(A), 
        the Federal share for a public facility shall be an amount 
        equal to 100 percent of the Federal estimate of the cost of 
        repairing, restoring, reconstructing, or replacing the 
        facilities and of management expenses.''.
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