[Senate Report 117-145]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                                                      Calendar No. 483
117th Congress      }                                   {       Report
                                 SENATE
 2d Session         }                                   {      117-145
_______________________________________________________________________

                                     



      SMALL PROJECT EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE DISASTER RECOVERY ACT

                               __________

                              R E P O R T

                                 of the

                   COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND

                          GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

                          UNITED STATES SENATE

                              to accompany

                               H.R. 5641

            TO AMEND THE ROBERT T. STAFFORD DISASTER RELIEF
              AND EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE ACT TO INCREASE THE
             THRESHOLD FOR ELIGIBILITY FOR ASSISTANCE UNDER
  SECTIONS 403, 406, 407, AND 502 OF SUCH ACT, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES







[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]








               September 12, 2022.--Ordered to be printed 
               
                             _________
                              
                 U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
                 
29-010                   WASHINGTON : 2022
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
        COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

                   GARY C. PETERS, Michigan, Chairman
THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware           ROB PORTMAN, Ohio
MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire         RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin
KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona              RAND PAUL, Kentucky
JACKY ROSEN, Nevada                  JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma
ALEX PADILLA, California             MITT ROMNEY, Utah
JON OSSOFF, Georgia                  RICK SCOTT, Florida
                                     JOSH HAWLEY, Missouri

                   David M. Weinberg, Staff Director
                    Zachary I. Schram, Chief Counsel
         Christopher J. Mulkins, Director of Homeland Security
           Naveed Jazayeri, Senior Professional Staff Member
                Pamela Thiessen, Minority Staff Director
            Sam J. Mulopulos, Minority Deputy Staff Director
      Clyde E. Hicks, Jr., Minority Director of Homeland Security
                     Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk



















                                                      Calendar No. 483
117th Congress      }                                   {       Report
                                 SENATE
 2d Session         }                                   {      117-145

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



 
      SMALL PROJECT EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE DISASTER RECOVERY ACT

                                _______
                                

               September 12, 2022.--Ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

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

                              R E P O R T

                        [To accompany H.R. 5641]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

    The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
Affairs, to which was referred the bill (H.R. 5641) to amend 
the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 
Act to increase the threshold for eligibility for assistance 
under sections 403, 406, 407, and 502 of such Act, and for 
other purposes, having considered the same, reports favorably 
thereon with amendments and recommends that the bill, as 
amended, do pass.

                                CONTENTS

                                                                     Page
  I. Purpose and Summary.............................................. 1
 II. Background and Need for the Legislation.......................... 2
III. Legislative History.............................................. 2
 IV. Section-by-Section Analysis of the Bill, as Reported............. 3
  V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact.................................. 3
 VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate........................ 4
VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported............ 5

                         I. Purpose and Summary

    H.R. 5641, the SPEED Recovery Act, sets the Federal 
Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) small project threshold to 
$1 million, thereby allowing more projects to proceed under 
simplified procedures for FEMA's Public Assistance (PA) 
response and recovery grant programs. Simplified procedures 
allow FEMA to obligate funding based on cost estimates. The 
Fiscal Year 2022 threshold was $139,800. Analysis provided by 
FEMA shows that when the small project threshold was 
implemented in 1988, it accounted for 95% of PA projects and 
32% of funding. Using the FY 2022 threshold, it covered only 
75% of projects and 2.3% of funding. The FEMA analysis 
indicates that raising the threshold to $1 million would cover 
93% of projects and 8.4% of funding in the current fiscal year, 
which is closer to the original intent. While FEMA recently 
used its own authority provided through the Sandy Recovery 
Improvement Act of 2013 (Division B, Pub. L. 112-3) to increase 
the small project threshold to $1 million, this bill codifies 
that decision and expresses congressional support for the 
change.

              II. Background and Need for the Legislation

    Section 422 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 
Emergency Assistance Act (Stafford Act) was enacted by Congress 
to increase the administrative efficiency of FEMA's PA program, 
which funds emergency response and long-term recovery work for 
certain entities after a presidential disaster declaration.\1\ 
Within this section of the Stafford Act, a threshold is 
established to separate projects into small and large projects, 
while authorizing FEMA to apply ``simplified procedures''' to 
small PA projects.\2\ The simplified procedures apply to 
projects that fall under the small project threshold to 
eliminate much of the administrative burden required for larger 
projects.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ Federal Emergency Management Agency, Public Assistance 
Simplified Procedures Threshold Determination: Fiscal Year 2020 Report 
to Congress (July 28, 2022).
    \2\Id.
    \3\Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Originally, Congress set the small project threshold at 
$35,000, which represented 95% of FEMA's projects under the PA 
grant program at the time, with the threshold increasing over 
time both by adjusting for inflation and by FEMA's own 
authority to change the threshold.\4\ However, according to a 
report from FEMA, the small project threshold has not kept pace 
with the rate of increased spending under the PA program.\5\ 
Analysis by FEMA shows that when the small project threshold 
was implemented, it accounted for 95% PA response and recovery 
projects and 32% of funding. Using the FY 2022 threshold, it 
covered only 75% of projects and 2.3% of funding--much less 
than the original intent when Congress enacted simplified 
procedures. FEMA determined that the small project threshold 
should be increased to $1,000,000, which would cover 93% of 
projects and 8.4% of funding.\6\ This change would allow FEMA 
to process the majority of smaller dollar projects on an 
expedited basis while focusing its limited resources on larger, 
more complex projects that encompass the majority of FEMA PA 
funding and warrant additional review and oversight.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\Id.
    \5\Id.
    \6\Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

                        III. Legislative History

    H.R. 5641 was introduced on October 20, 2021, by 
Representatives Graves (R-MO), DeFazio (D-OR), Webster (R-FL), 
and Titus (D-NV) and referred to the House Committee on 
Transportation and Infrastructure. The House passed the bill 
under suspension of the rules, as amended, by a vote of 414-11, 
on April 5, 2022.
    H.R. 5641 was referred to the Senate Committee on Homeland 
Security and Governmental Affairs on April 6, 2022. The 
Committee considered the bill at a business meeting on August 
3, 2022. During the meeting, Senator Scott offered an amendment 
that included a sunset after 4 years and required the 
Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General 
(OIG) to audit and issue a report to Congress 3 years after 
enactment on whether the new $1 million simplified procedure 
small project threshold resulted in any increased waste and 
abuse. Senator Portman offered a second-degree amendment that 
would strike the sunset required in Scott Amendment 1 but leave 
in place the audit by the OIG.
    The Committee adopted Scott Amendment 1, as amended by the 
Portman Second Degree Amendment, and reported the bill 
favorably by voice vote, as amended. The Senators present were 
Peters, Hassan, Sinema, Rosen, Padilla, Ossoff, Lankford, 
Romney, Scott, and Hawley.

        IV. Section-by-Section Analysis of the Bill, as Reported


Section 1. Short title

    This section designates the name of the bill as the ``Small 
Project Efficient and Effective Disaster Recovery Act, or SPEED 
Recovery Act.''

Section 2. Simplified procedure

    This section updates the threshold to qualify as a ``small 
project'' under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 
Emergency Assistance Act (Stafford Act, P.L. 93-288, as 
amended) to cover projects under $1,000,000.

Section 3. Audit and review

    This section creates new language that requires the 
Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security to 
conduct and submit an audit and submit a report to Congress, 
within three years of enactment, on whether any additional 
waste and abuse occurred as a result of the amendment in 
section 2(a)(1).

                   V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact

    Pursuant to the requirements of paragraph 11(b) of rule 
XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee has 
considered the regulatory impact of this bill and determined 
that the bill will have no regulatory impact within the meaning 
of the rules. The Committee agrees with the Congressional 
Budget Office's statement that the bill contains no 
intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the 
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would impose no costs 
on state, local, or tribal governments.

             VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate

                                     U.S. Congress,
                               Congressional Budget Office,
                                   Washington, DC, August 22, 2022.
Hon. Gary Peters,
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 H.R. 5641, the SPEED 
Recovery Act.
    If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be 
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Jon Sperl.
            Sincerely,
                                         Phillip L. Swagel,
                                                          Director.
    Enclosure.

[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    

    H.R. 5641 would codify a final rule issued by the Federal 
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in August 2022 that allows 
more disaster relief projects to qualify as small projects and 
thus be approved for federal assistance under a simplified 
review process. That rule increased the upper monetary 
threshold for small projects from $139,800 to $1 million.\1\ 
Projects under the threshold are approved for assistance based 
on estimated costs rather than on the actual costs of projects 
and are typically approved for assistance more quickly.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\1. Federal Emergency Management Agency, Public Assistance 
Program's Simplified Procedures Large Project Threshold, 44 C.F.R. 
Sec. 206.203 (2022).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Because H.R. 5641 would codify an existing regulation, CBO 
estimates that enacting the provision related to a higher 
threshold for small projects would not affect the budget, 
relative to current law.
    In addition, within three years of enactment, H.R. 5641 
would require the inspector general of the Department of 
Homeland Security to audit projects that have received 
assistance under the higher threshold for the simplified review 
process to determine whether there has been waste or abuse. 
Using information from FEMA and the Government Accountability 
Office about the cost of similar audits, CBO estimates that 
implementing that requirement would cost about $1 million over 
the 2022-2027 period. Any spending would be subject to the 
availability of appropriated funds.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Jon Sperl. The 
estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Director 
of Budget Analysis.

       VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported

    In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by 
the bill, as reported, are shown as follows: (existing law 
proposed to be omitted is enclosed in brackets, new matter is 
printed in italic, and existing law in which no change is 
proposed is shown in roman):

ROBERT T. STAFFORD DISASTER RELIEF AND EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE ACT

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


TITLE IV--MAJOR DISASTER ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 422. SIMPLIFIED PROCEDURE.

    (a) In General.--If the Federal estimate of the cost of--
          (1) repairing, restoring, reconstructing, or 
        replacing under section 406 any damaged or destroyed 
        public facility or private nonprofit facility,
          (2) emergency assistance under section 403 or 502, or
          (3) debris removed under section 407, is less than 
        [$35,000] $1,000,000 (or, if the Administrator has 
        established a threshold under subsection (b), the 
        amount established under subsection (b)), the President 
        (on application of the State or local government or the 
        owner or operator of the private nonprofit facility) 
        may make the contribution to such State or local 
        government or owner or operator under section 403, 406, 
        407, or 502, as the case may be, on the basis of such 
        Federal estimate. Such [$35,000] $1,000,000 amount or, 
        if applicable, the amount established under subsection 
        (b), shall be adjusted annually to reflect changes in 
        the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers 
        published by the Department of Labor.
    (b) Threshold.--
          (1) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
        enactment of this subsection, the President, acting 
        through the Administrator of the Federal Emergency 
        Management Agency (in this section referred to as the 
        ``Administrator'', shall--
                  (A) complete an analysis to determine whether 
                an increase in the threshold for eligibility 
                under subsection (a) is appropriate, which 
                shall include consideration of cost 
                effectiveness, speed of recovery, capacity of 
                grantees, past performance, and accountability 
                measures; and
                  (B) submit to the Committee on Transportation 
                and Infrastructure of the House of 
                Representatives and the Committee on Homeland 
                Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate 
                a report regarding the analysis conducted under 
                subparagraph (A).
          (2) Amount.--After the Administrator submits the 
        report required under paragraph (1), the President 
        shall direct the Administrator to--
                  (A) immediately establish a threshold for 
                under this section in an appropriate amount, 
                without regard to chapter 5 title 5, United 
                States Code; and
                  (B) adjust the threshold annually to reflect 
                changes in the Consumer Price Index for all 
                Urban Consumers published by the Department of 
                Labor.
          (3) Review and Report.--Not later than 3 years after 
        the date on which the Administrator establishes a 
        threshold under paragraph (2), and every 3 years 
        thereafter, the President, acting through the 
        Administrator, shall review the threshold for 
        eligibility under this section and submit to the 
        Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the 
        House of Representatives and the Committee on Homeland 
        Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate a 
        report regarding such review, including any 
        recommendations developed pursuant to such review.

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