[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 16 (Wednesday, January 25, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H293-H295]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              FEDERAL DISASTER ASSISTANCE COORDINATION ACT

  Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
pass the bill (H.R. 255) to amend the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 
2018 to develop a study regarding streamlining and consolidating 
information collection and preliminary damage assessments, and for 
other purposes.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H. R. 255

       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 ``Federal Disaster Assistance 
     Coordination Act''.

     SEC. 2. STUDY TO STREAMLINE AND CONSOLIDATE INFORMATION 
                   COLLECTION AND PRELIMINARY DAMAGE ASSESSMENTS.

       (a) In General.--Section 1223 of the Disaster Recovery 
     Reform Act of 2018 (Public Law 115-254) is amended to read as 
     follows:

     ``SEC. 1223. STUDY TO STREAMLINE AND CONSOLIDATE INFORMATION 
                   COLLECTION AND PRELIMINARY DAMAGE ASSESSMENTS.

       ``(a) Information Collection.--Not later than 2 years after 
     the date of enactment of this section, the Administrator, in 
     coordination with the Small Business Administration, the 
     Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Disaster 
     Assistance Working Group of the Council of the Inspectors 
     General on Integrity and Efficiency, and other appropriate 
     agencies, shall--
       ``(1) conduct a study and develop a plan, consistent with 
     law, under which the collection of information from disaster 
     assistance applicants and grantees will be modified, 
     streamlined, expedited, efficient, flexible, consolidated, 
     and simplified to be less burdensome, duplicative, and time 
     consuming for applicants and grantees; and

[[Page H294]]

       ``(2) develop a plan for the regular collection and 
     reporting of information on Federal disaster assistance 
     awarded, including the establishment and maintenance of a 
     website for presenting the information to the public.
       ``(b) Preliminary Damage Assessments.--Not later than 2 
     years after the date of enactment of this section, the 
     Administrator, in consultation with the Council of the 
     Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, shall convene 
     a working group on a regular basis with the Secretary of 
     Labor, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, 
     the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Administrator 
     of the Small Business Administration, the Secretary of 
     Transportation, the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for 
     Economic Development, and other appropriate agencies as the 
     Administrator considers necessary, to--
       ``(1) identify and describe the potential areas of 
     duplication or fragmentation in preliminary damage 
     assessments after disaster declarations;
       ``(2) determine the applicability of having one Federal 
     agency make the assessments for all agencies; and
       ``(3) identify potential emerging technologies, such as 
     unmanned aircraft systems, consistent with the requirements 
     established in the FEMA Accountability, Modernization and 
     Transparency Act of 2017 (42 U.S.C. 5121 note), to expedite 
     the administration of preliminary damage assessments.
       ``(c) Comprehensive Report.--The Administrator shall submit 
     one comprehensive report that comprises the plans developed 
     under subsections (a)(1) and (a)(2) and a report of the 
     findings of the working group convened under subsection (b), 
     which may include recommendations, to the Committee on 
     Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of 
     Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Security and 
     Governmental Affairs of the Senate.
       ``(d) Public Availability.--The comprehensive report 
     developed under subsection (c) shall be made available to the 
     public and posted on the website of the Federal Emergency 
     Management Agency--
       ``(1) in pre-compressed, easily downloadable versions that 
     are made available in all appropriate formats; and
       ``(2) in machine-readable format, if applicable.
       ``(e) Sources of Information.--In preparing the 
     comprehensive report, any publication, database, or web-based 
     resource, and any information compiled by any government 
     agency, nongovernmental organization, or other entity that is 
     made available may be used.
       ``(f) Briefing.--Not later than 180 days after submission 
     of the comprehensive report, the Administrator of the Federal 
     Emergency Management Agency, or a designee, and a member of 
     the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and 
     Efficiency, or a designee, shall brief, upon request, the 
     appropriate congressional committees on the findings and any 
     recommendations made in the comprehensive report.''.
       (b) Technical Amendment.--The item relating to section 1223 
     in the table of contents of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 
     2018 (Public Law 115-254) is amended to read as follows:
``Sec. 1223. Study to streamline and consolidate information collection 
              and preliminary damage assessments.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Missouri (Mr. Graves) and the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Larsen) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Missouri.


                             General Leave

  Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their 
remarks and include extraneous material.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Missouri?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Puerto Rico (Mrs. Gonzalez-
Colon) for her leadership on this bill.
  H.R. 255 is commonsense legislation to establish a process that is 
going to identify ways to streamline and consolidate the collection of 
certain disaster information.
  While the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, is the lead 
Federal agency on disasters, there are often many Federal agencies 
involved in the disaster response and recovery process.
  It is critically important that these agencies are all working 
efficiently to minimize overlaps in their assessments and utilize new 
technologies to streamline processes.
  Specifically, the legislation is going to establish a Federal working 
group led by FEMA to coordinate with the Council of the Inspectors 
General on Integrity and Efficiency to identify ways to reduce 
duplication and streamline the Federal damage assessment process.
  This is just a good government bill that will help improve disaster 
recovery efforts which were previously passed by the House in the 116th 
and 117th Congresses.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge support of this legislation, and I reserve the 
balance of my time.
  Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 255, the Federal Disaster 
Assistance Coordination Act, introduced by Representatives Gonzalez-
Colon, Peters, and Plaskett.
  This legislation amends the Disaster Recovery Reform Act to help 
Federal agencies streamline and consolidate information collection and 
Preliminary Damage Assessments following disasters.
  After a major disaster, there is no time to wait for bureaucracy. 
However, Federal recovery assistance following disasters is currently 
hampered by inefficient information collection and assessments 
conducted by multiple agencies.
  This bill will remove information collection barriers that currently 
impede disaster aid. It creates a working group to identify duplicative 
assessments and propose their elimination.
  Further, it would streamline Federal disaster recovery efforts by 
concluding that a single agency is sufficient to conduct damage 
assessments to account for the needs of disaster victims. The Federal 
Government can and should be doing this work smarter.
  Mr. Speaker, I support this bill, and I urge my colleagues to do the 
same.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may 
consume to the gentlewoman from Puerto Rico (Mrs. Gonzalez-Colon).
  Mrs. GONZALEZ-COLON. Mr. Speaker, I would say, first of all, that I 
thank Chairman Graves for his leadership and for acting so swiftly to 
bring this bill to the floor of the House.
  Mr. Speaker, I proudly rise in support of my bill, H.R. 255. I thank 
Representatives Scott Peters of California, Stacey Plaskett of the U.S. 
Virgin Islands, and Neal Dunn of Florida for cosponsoring this 
legislation.
  H.R. 255 would establish a process to identify ways to streamline and 
consolidate the collection of certain disaster information to start the 
recovery process for individuals and families that were devastated by 
any natural disaster.
  Mr. Speaker, I hear about these issues with delays and confusion 
related to requirements and processing of disaster assistance on a 
regular basis. I meet with mayors of the island--and this is just in 
the case of Puerto Rico--but I know we do have the same process and the 
same situation across the Nation. This is a significant source of 
frustration for my mayors and my constituents as well as people all 
over the country.
  While FEMA is the lead Federal agency on disasters, many others are 
also often involved in disaster response and recovery, like, for 
example, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Small 
Business Administration, just to name a few.
  In the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017, and the 
seismic activity in Puerto Rico in 2020, we discovered that Federal 
agency after Federal agency would require the same information in their 
preliminary assessments, which meant tens of thousands of site and 
damage assessments.
  We see some of this repeating itself in the aftermath of last year's 
Hurricane Fiona in Puerto Rico and Hurricane Ian in Florida and with 
other disasters across the Nation.
  This is not just a bill for the islands or the territories. This is a 
bill for the rest of the Nation on how to manage and get expedited help 
and response from Federal agencies.
  Currently, there is no process to share these assessments among 
Federal agencies, which ultimately causes significant delays for 
immediate relief and prolongs recovery. This is compounded by other 
administrative issues like frequent staff changes and constituents and 
mayors having to work with multiple personnel to handle a single 
application or request.

[[Page H295]]

  In 2020, FEMA finally decided to begin consolidating assessments for 
Puerto Rico to speed up the delivery process across multiple Federal 
agencies. Many of these assessments are small, often one part of a 
larger project, which has continuously slowed down the recovery 
process.

  H.R. 255 would establish a Federal working group led by FEMA, in 
collaboration with the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity 
and Efficiency, to identify ways to reduce duplication and modernize 
the Federal management assessment process to make it truly agile and 
efficient. We need to ensure assistance is provided while safeguarding 
taxpayer funds. I think with this bill we can do both.
  Mr. Speaker, I think it is critical that these agencies are working 
together to minimize overlaps in their assessments and consider the use 
of the newest technologies to streamline processes. Very often, we, in 
the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, have these same 
discussions about what happened in Louisiana, what happened in Florida, 
what happened on the East Coast, what happened on the West Coast every 
time we have a natural disaster. It always is the same problem.
  I trust this bill will expedite disaster recovery across the Nation. 
As we have learned in Puerto Rico, it is not if the next disaster will 
occur, it is when it is going to happen and how we are going to face 
it.
  Every 1st of June, another hurricane season begins for the 
territories and the eastern coast. Since the last time this language 
passed the House in the 117th Congress, we had another direct hit with 
Hurricane Fiona.
  I am pleased we are considering this bill so early in this 118th 
Congress, and that is the reason I thanked our chairman for his 
marvelous job bringing this bill to the floor.
  I can, therefore, work quickly to make this proposal the law of the 
land as part of our efforts to better prepare for disaster response.
  Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support this bipartisan 
legislation.

                              {time}  1230

  Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for 
time, and I am prepared to close. I inquire of my colleague if there 
are any remaining speakers on his side.
  Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers.
  Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Speaker, in closing, this bipartisan 
bill passed the House on suspension in the 116th and 117th Congresses. 
It will help disaster survivors by taking a step toward streamlining 
the Federal Government's fragmented approach to disaster assistance.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield 
back the balance of my time.
  Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, in closing, H.R. 255 is just 
good government legislation that is going to help streamline disaster 
recovery efforts by improving the coordination efficiency of Federal 
agencies involved in disaster assistance.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge support of the bill, and I yield back the balance 
of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Graves) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 255.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________