[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 203 (Monday, December 16, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H10276-H10278]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HAZARD ELIGIBILITY AND LOCAL PROJECTS ACT
Mrs. FLETCHER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 2548) to modify eligibility requirements for certain hazard
mitigation assistance programs, and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 2548
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 ``Hazard Eligibility and Local
Projects Act''.
SEC. 2. AUTHORITY TO BEGIN IMPLEMENTATION OF ACQUISITION OR
RELOCATION PROJECTS.
(a) Eligibility for Assistance for Initiated Projects.--
(1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of
law, an entity seeking assistance under a hazard mitigation
assistance program shall be eligible to receive such
assistance for a covered project if the entity--
(A) complies with all other eligibility requirements of the
hazard mitigation assistance program for acquisition or
relocation projects, including extinguishing all incompatible
encumbrances; and
(B) complies with all Federal requirements for the project.
(2) Costs incurred.--An entity seeking assistance under a
hazard mitigation assistance program shall be responsible for
any project costs incurred by the entity for a covered
project if the covered project is not awarded, or is
determined to be ineligible for, assistance.
(b) Definitions.--In this section, the following
definitions apply:
(1) Covered project.--The term ``covered project'' means--
(A) an acquisition or relocation project for which an
entity began implementation prior to grant award under a
hazard mitigation assistance program; and
(B) a project for which an entity initiated planning or
construction before or after requesting assistance for the
project under a hazard mitigation assistance program
qualifying for a categorical exemption under the National
Environmental Policy Act.
(2) Hazard mitigation assistance program.--The term
``hazard mitigation assistance program'' means--
(A) the predisaster hazard mitigation grant program
authorized under section 203 of the Robert T. Stafford
Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C.
5133);
(B) the hazard mitigation grant program authorized under
section 404 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and
Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170c); and
(C) the flood mitigation assistance program authorized
under section 1366 of the National Flood Insurance Act of
1968 (42 U.S.C. 4104c).
(c) Applicability.--This section shall apply to funds
appropriated on or after the date of enactment of this Act.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from
Texas (Mrs. Fletcher) and the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr.
Meadows) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Texas.
General Leave
Mrs. FLETCHER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their
remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 2548, as amended.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from Texas?
There was no objection.
Mrs. FLETCHER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to bring my bill, H.R. 2548, the Hazard
Eligibility and Local Projects, or HELP, Act to the floor today.
I am proud of the HELP Act and all that it represents. It is
bipartisan, commonsense, meaningful legislation that was born out of
conversations and a partnership with local officials in my home
district that will benefit all Americans.
As many in this body will recall, Hurricane Harvey hit my district
and the Texas Gulf Coast in August 2017, causing great devastation. It
dropped nearly 60 inches of rain, it claimed 68 lives, and it caused an
estimated $125 billion in damage. It was the second most expensive
hurricane in United States history.
Members of this body responded to Harvey's devastation with the speed
and purpose needed for recovery, passing three supplemental
appropriations bills, sending billions of dollars in aid to Texas
through different programs, but recovery was and is still slow, slower
than many expected, and slower than any can afford.
Before I was sworn in this year, I met with our local officials at
home to talk about the impediments to recovery: How could we speed up
recovery? Where was recovery delayed? What could the Federal Government
do?
One impediment that had a significant impact on recovery was the
process for the award of mitigation project funding from FEMA.
As my colleagues may know, section 404 of the Stafford Act provides
that FEMA may grant up to 75 percent of funds for cost-effective
mitigation projects through a Hazard Mitigation Grant Program. Local
municipalities, States, and Tribes are responsible for meeting the
remaining local match. Their projects must be approved through FEMA.
When States or municipalities apply to the grant program, projects,
regardless of size or scope, require a comprehensive review to make
sure all requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act, NEPA,
and other statutory requirements are met.
Importantly, these Hazard Mitigation Grants do not allow for
reimbursement of costs incurred before a grant is approved. As a
result, many areas recovering from disaster must wait for the FEMA
review to go forward for months or years at a critical time for
decisionmaking and recovery.
In the case of natural disasters, local governments need to move
quickly on projects like land acquisition, for example, buyouts of
homes that have been damaged, and other projects.
The chief recovery officer for the city of Houston has told us that
FEMA's pre-award cost policy, that is, not allowing the reimbursement
of costs incurred before grant approval, is a limiting factor in
recovery, especially in these cases of land acquisition.
Homeowners simply cannot afford to wait months or years for decisions
to make their own decisions about whether to repair their homes or
whether to take a buyout of the homes, and the result is not only
inefficiency, but real hardship.
For example, the Harris County Flood Control District received $25
million from the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program to conduct buyouts to
reduce flood damages in areas located deep in the floodplain where
structural projects to reduce flooding are not cost effective or
beneficial.
But that was nearly a year after Hurricane Harvey that that grant
money was awarded. It took a year because of the review period required
at FEMA for all applications.
Most homeowners simply do not have the luxury of waiting a year or
more to begin repairs or to decide what to do.
Many would be open to a buyout, but funds aren't available, so
instead, they take out an SBA loan or other loans to begin repairs. And
if you already owe money on loans or repairs to your house, a buyout is
no longer an attractive option or even an option at all.
Once a property owner has repaired their property, the less likely a
buyout is a viable path forward for that individual and for the
community.
It is not just anecdotal evidence. The data shows that, for
acquisition buyouts, the quicker you can make an offer to buy out
property after a flooding event, the more likely the disaster victim is
to accept it and the more it reduces costs overall.
The quicker local governments are able to move, the more people they
can help, and the more resources can be leveraged for recovery.
Having a one-size-fits-all approach to reviewing projects through the
Hazard Mitigation Grant Program is not efficient or effective. It
needlessly delays critical mitigation work.
So that is where the idea for the HELP Act came in.
The HELP Act will allow land acquisition projects and simple
construction projects that do not require an Environmental Impact
Statement under
[[Page H10277]]
NEPA to commence immediately without risk of losing potential Federal
matching funds.
This will allow State and local governments to respond more quickly
to the needs of their community and to plan disaster mitigation more
efficiently and effectively.
It is simple, it is straightforward, and it is needed.
At home, I hear a consistent concern that Federal disaster money
moves at a glacial pace.
This bill addresses some of that and will be a real improvement for
communities across the country.
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues Mr. Meadows, Mr. Olson, and Mr.
Butterfield, my original cosponsors who worked with me on this bill. I
also want to thank all of the cosponsors of the bill who helped in the
effort, in addition to Chairman DeFazio and Chairwoman Titus, whose
assistance in bringing this bill to the floor was essential.
Disaster mitigation is not and should never be a partisan issue.
I am glad to see the bipartisan consensus in support of this bill and
that we can address these inefficiencies and these real impediments
where they exist.
There is still much work to do when it comes to preparing for future
storms that we know will come, but I am hopeful that the HELP Act will
aid State and local governments when they do.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this important
legislation and help our families, businesses, and communities recover
from disaster.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
House of Representatives,
Committee on Financial Services,
Washington, DC, December 11, 2019.
Hon. Peter A. Defazio,
Chairman, House Committee on Transportation and
Infrastructure, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: I am writing concerning H.R. 2548, the
Hazard Eligibility and Local Projects Act. In order to permit
H.R. 2548 to proceed expeditiously to the House Floor, I
agree to forgo formal consideration of the bill.
The Committee on Financial Services takes this action to
forego formal consideration of H.R. 2548 with our mutual
understanding that, by foregoing formal consideration of H.R.
2548, we do not waive any jurisdiction over the subject
matter contained in this or similar legislation, and that our
Committee will be appropriately consulted and involved as
this or similar legislation moves forward with regard to any
matters in the Committee's jurisdiction. I appreciate your
commitment to work with the Committee to address any
outstanding issues as the bill is considered in the Senate.
The Committee also reserves the right to seek appointment of
an appropriate number of conferees to any House-Senate
conference involving this or similar legislation that
involves the Committee's jurisdiction and request your
support for any such request.
Finally, I would appreciate your response to this letter
confirming this understanding, and I would ask that a copy of
our exchange of letters on this matter be included in the
Congressional Record during Floor consideration of H.R. 2548.
Sincerely,
Maxine Waters,
Chairwoman.
____
House of Representatives, Committee on Transportation and
Infrastructure,
Washington, DC, December 11, 2019.
Hon. Maxine Waters,
Chairwoman, Committee on Financial Services,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairwoman Waters: Thank you for your letter regarding
H.R. 2548, the Hazard Eligibility and Local Projects Act,
which was ordered to be reported out of the Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure on June 26, 2019. I
appreciate your willingness to work cooperatively on this
legislation.
I acknowledge that by foregoing formal consideration on
H.R. 2548, the Committee on Financial Services does not waive
any future jurisdictional claims to provisions in this or
similar legislation, and that your Committee will be
consulted and involved on any matters in your Committee's
jurisdiction should this legislation move forward. In
addition, should a conference on the bill be necessary, I
would support your effort to seek appointment of an
appropriate number of conferees to any House-Senate
conference involving provisions within this legislation on
which the Committee on Financial Services has a valid
jurisdictional claim.
I appreciate your cooperation regarding this legislation,
and I will ensure that our exchange of letters is included in
the Congressional Record during floor consideration of H.R.
2548.
Sincerely,
Peter A. DeFazio,
Chair.
Mr. MEADOWS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be a cosponsor of H.R. 2548, the Hazard
Eligibility and Local Projects Act.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from Texas (Mrs.
Fletcher) for her fine work on this.
And I would like to give her a compliment. It is always interesting
to see how we can name these bills in the most creative ways to
actually let them resonate with the voters back home. So my
congratulations on calling this the HELP Act, and congratulations to
Mrs. Fletcher's staff as well, as they always, as you know, Mr.
Speaker, get very creative on how we can figure out acronyms to make
these bills have more pizzazz.
So this bill is a commonsense approach. It is certainly critical to
communities that have been impacted by disasters, where they can start
recovery in a much more efficient, smarter, and faster way.
Buyouts and relocation projects, in particular, are critical tools
for getting people and property out of harm's way, yet these projects
take time to plan and carry out.
This bill would allow communities to be eligible for mitigation
assistance for those projects commenced prior to their request for
assistance.
The bill ensures such projects must comply with all other eligibility
requirements.
Mr. Speaker, I would encourage the gentlewoman opposite, perhaps we
can even look at going a little bit further. She made mention of the
current NEPA standards and all of those that apply.
As we know, in the gentlewoman's home State of Texas, in my home
State of North Carolina, some of those Federal regulations actually are
part of the impediment of getting some of this disaster relief to the
people that are most affected.
I know that we have billions of dollars--that is billions with a B--
waiting to be deployed in my State of North Carolina, as in the
gentlewoman's State of Texas, so it is critically important that we
come together in a bipartisan fashion.
It doesn't help us to appropriate billions of dollars here on this
floor if it never reaches the ultimate destination, which is our
constituents who have been tragically, and many times horrifically, put
out of their homes and their communities.
This will allow communities to select early on the best mitigation
approach and begin these projects earlier to ensure a faster recovery.
Mr. Speaker, I encourage all of my colleagues to support this
legislation.
If the gentlewoman is prepared to close without any further speakers,
I would ask her to just give me a nod one way or another.
Mr. Speaker, I am going to go ahead and close right here and just
say, I encourage my colleagues to go ahead and vote for this bill.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her leadership, and I yield
back the balance of my time.
{time} 1545
Mrs. FLETCHER. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate Mr. Meadows' partnership on
this, and I look forward to working together on many more projects that
are of real assistance to the people who we represent.
Mr. Speaker, the HELP Act, as we have discussed, is a commonsense,
bipartisan, meaningful piece of legislation. It is exactly what we are
sent here to do, and I am pleased to see it on the House floor today. I
urge all of my colleagues to vote in support of it, and I yield back
the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentlewoman from Texas (Mrs. Fletcher) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 2548, as amended.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mrs. FLETCHER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.
[[Page H10278]]
____________________