[Senate Report 110-453]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



110th Congress 
 2d Session                      SENATE                          Report
                                                                110-453
_______________________________________________________________________

                                     

                                                       Calendar No. 951


                    FEMA ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 2008


                               __________

                              R E P O R T

                                 of the

                   COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND

                          GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

                          UNITED STATES SENATE

                              to accompany

                                S. 2382


TO REQUIRE THE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY 
  TO QUICKLY AND FAIRLY ADDRESS THE ABUNDANCE OF SURPLUS MANUFACTURED 
 HOUSING UNITS STORED BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AROUND THE COUNTRY AT 
                            TAXPAYER EXPENSE






               September 11, 2008.--Ordered to be printed
        COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

               JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut, Chairman
CARL LEVIN, Michigan                 SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine
DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii              TED STEVENS, Alaska
THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware           GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio
MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas              NORM COLEMAN, Minnesota
MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana          TOM COBURN, Oklahoma
BARACK OBAMA, Illinois               PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico
CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri           JOHN WARNER, Virginia
JON TESTER, Montana                  JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire

                  Michael L. Alexander, Staff Director
                     Kevin J. Landy, Chief Counsel
                       Mary Beth Schultz, Counsel
Kristin T. Sharp, Staff Director, Ad Hoc Subcommittee on State, Local, 
            and Private Sector Preparedness and Integration
     Brandon L. Milhorn, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel
                Asha A. Mathew, Minority Senior Counsel
                  Trina Driessnack Tyrer, Chief Clerk


                            C O N T E N T S

                                                                   Page
  I. Purpose and Summary..............................................1
 II. Background and Need for the Legislation..........................1
III. Legislative History..............................................2
 IV. Section by Section Analysis......................................2
  V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact..................................3
 VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate........................3
VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported............4



                                                       Calendar No. 951
110th Congress                                                   Report
                                 SENATE
 2d Session                                                     110-453

======================================================================



 
                    FEMA ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 2008

                                _______
                                

               September 11, 2008.--Ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

Mr. Lieberman, from the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
                    Affairs, submitted the following

                                 REPORT

                         [To accompany S. 2382]

    The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
Affairs, having considered the bill S. 2382 to require the 
Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to 
quickly and fairly address the abundance of surplus 
manufactured housing units stored by the Federal Government 
around the country at taxpayer expense, reports favorably 
thereon with an amendment and recommends that the bill, as 
amended, do pass.

                         I. PURPOSE AND SUMMARY

    The purpose of this legislation is to require FEMA to 
develop a plan for the storage, disposal, transfer, or sale of 
excess temporary housing units in the disaster housing program 
in order to reduce the expense of storing excessive numbers of 
temporary housing units.

              II. BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR THE LEGISLATION

    In response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, FEMA purchased 
approximately 143,000 temporary housing units, including travel 
trailers, park models, and mobile homes. Some were purchased 
from dealer lots and others specially-produced through 
contractors. Prices ranged from $12,000 to $36,000 per unit, 
not including transportation, storage, installation, and other 
operational costs.\1\ They were delivered to hurricane victims 
beginning September 2005. Since that time, FEMA has stored 
temporary housing units for use in future disasters. In 
addition, many units used in response to Hurricanes Katrina and 
Rita have been returned to FEMA as residents have found other 
housing solutions.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\E-mail from Legislative Affairs, FEMA, to Majority Staff, 
Subcommittee on State, Local, and Private Sector Preparedness and 
Integration (October 19, 2007).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    As of June 23, 2008, FEMA stored more than 112,000 
temporary housing units at 21 staging sites across the country. 
Of these units, nearly 108,000 were unusable either because 
they could not be prepared to house disaster victims within 
twenty-four hours or because it was not economically feasible 
to make necessary improvements to the units due to high 
formaldehyde levels or decay.\2\ The three largest storage 
sites are located in Lottie, Louisiana; Hope, Arkansas; and 
Columbus, Mississippi. These sites contain approximately 
25,600, 18,500, and 11,700 unusable temporary housing units, 
respectively.\3\ By FEMA's calculation, each unit costs 
approximately $1,000 per year to store and maintain, resulting 
in an annual federal expenditure of $130 million, $92 million 
of which goes towards the maintenance of the unusable units.\4\ 
Given these expenses, the Committee believes it is important 
that FEMA develop and implement a plan for storing an 
appropriate number of housing units to enable FEMA to be 
prepared for future disasters and for transferring, selling or 
disposing of excess or unusable units in order to save taxpayer 
dollars.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\E-mail from Legislative Affairs, FEMA, to Majority Staff, 
Subcommittee on State, Local, and Private Sector Preparedness and 
Integration (June 24, 2008).
    \3\Id.
    \4\Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

                        III. LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

    S. 2382 was introduced by Senator Mark Pryor on November 
16, 2007 and was referred to the Homeland Security and 
Governmental Affairs Committee.
    On June 25, 2008, the Committee considered S. 2382. The 
Committee adopted one amendment. This amendment in the nature 
of a substitute offered by Senator Pryor made minor 
modifications to the bill. This amendment was adopted by voice 
vote. By a voice vote, the Committee ordered the bill as 
amended favorably reported to the full Senate. The Senators 
present for the voice vote were Senators Lieberman, Akaka, 
Carper, Pryor, McCaskill, Collins, Coleman, Coburn, and Sununu.

                    IV. SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

Section 1. Short title; Definitions

    This section of the bill defines ``Administrator'', 
``FEMA'', and ``major disaster''.

Section 2. Storage, sale, transfer, and disposal of housing units

    Subsection (a) requires FEMA, within three months of 
enactment, to determine the appropriate number of temporary 
housing units FEMA needs to store in order to be prepared for 
future disasters, and to establish criteria for determining 
whether the stored units are in usable condition, which shall 
include establishing appropriate criteria for formaldehyde 
testing.
    Subsection (b) requires FEMA, within six months of 
enactment, to establish a plan for: (1) storing the number of 
housing units the Administrator has determined are necessary 
for FEMA to be prepared for future disasters; (2) transferring, 
selling, or otherwise disposing of excess usable units; and (3) 
disposing of unusable units.
    Subsection (c) requires FEMA to implement this plan within 
nine months of enactment.
    Subsection (d) requires FEMA, within one year of enactment, 
to submit a report to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security 
and Governmental Affairs and to appropriate committees in the 
House of Representatives on the status of the distribution, 
transfer, sale, or other disposal of the unused temporary 
housing units.

                   V. EVALUATION OF REGULATORY IMPACT

    Pursuant to the requirement of paragraph 11(b)(1) of rule 
XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee has 
considered the regulatory impact of this bill. CBO states that 
the bill contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and 
would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.

                   VI. ESTIMATED COST OF LEGISLATION

                                                      July 7, 2008.
Hon. Joseph I. Lieberman,
Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, U.S. 
        Senate, Washington, DC.
    Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has 
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for S. 2382, the FEMA 
Accountability Act of 2008.
    If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be 
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Daniel 
Hoople.
            Sincerely,
                                                   Peter R. Orszag.
    Enclosure.

S. 2382--FEMA Accountability Act of 2008

    CBO estimates that implementing S. 2382 would have no 
significant net cost over the next 10 years. Enacting this 
legislation would not have a significant impact on net direct 
spending and would not affect revenues.
    S. 2382 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and 
would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal 
governments.
    S. 2382 would direct the Federal Emergency Management 
Agency (FEMA) to develop and implement a plan to dispose of 
temporary housing units (for example, mobile homes and travel 
trailers) that are in excess of current and future needs or are 
determined to be unusable. CBO estimates that developing such a 
plan would cost less than $500,000 in 2009, assuming the 
availability of appropriated funds.
    Under current law, FEMA disposes of temporary housing units 
that the agency determines are in excess of its needs through 
the General Services Administration. Units are first offered 
for sale to current occupants. Thereafter, units may be sold to 
the general public or donated to state and local governments 
for the purposes of providing temporary housing to victims of a 
disaster. Sales proceeds may be retained by FEMA if used to 
purchase similar property or deposited in the Treasury as 
miscellaneous receipts. CBO cannot predict whether any 
additional units would be sold or otherwise disposed of as a 
result of this legislation; however, CBO expects that the net 
budgetary effect of any sales would probably be insignificant.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Daniel Hoople. 
This estimate was approved by Peter H. Fontaine, Assistant 
Director for Budget Analysis.

      VIII. CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW MADE BY THE BILL, AS REPORTED

    Because this legislation would not repeal or amend any 
provision of current law, it would make no changes in existing 
law within the meaning of clauses (a) and (b) of paragraph 12 
of rule XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate.

                                  
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