Strengthening The Resiliency of Our Nation on the Ground Act or the STRONG Act - Requires the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy to establish and chair an interagency working group with cabinet-level representation from all relevant federal agencies in order to: (1) provide a strategic vision of extreme weather resilience; (2) conduct a gap and overlap analysis of federal agencies' current and planned activities related to achieving short- and long-term resilience to extreme weather and its impacts on the United States, such as flooding and drought; and (3) develop a National Extreme Weather Resilience Plan.
Requires the Plan to include the establishment of an online, publicly available information clearinghouse to be used by federal agencies and other stakeholders to inform resilience-enhancing efforts and to build off and complement existing federal efforts. Provides for a coordinating entity to establish and maintain such clearinghouse.
Requires such coordinating entity to coordinate the implementation of the Plan and to track its progress.
Requires the submission of specified reports.
[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3691 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
112th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 3691
To minimize the economic and social costs resulting from losses of
life, property, well-being, business activity, and economic growth
associated with extreme weather events by ensuring that the United
States is more resilient to the impacts of extreme weather events in
the short- and long-term, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
December 19, 2012
Mr. Kerry (for himself, Mrs. Gillibrand, and Mr. Lautenberg) introduced
the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee
on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To minimize the economic and social costs resulting from losses of
life, property, well-being, business activity, and economic growth
associated with extreme weather events by ensuring that the United
States is more resilient to the impacts of extreme weather events in
the short- and long-term, 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 ``Strengthening The Resiliency of Our
Nation on the Ground Act'' or the ``STRONG Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.
(a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Extreme weather has serious economic costs for
Americans, American businesses, and State, local, and tribal
governments. Droughts, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, extreme
heat, and extreme cold cause death, result in loss of property
and well-being, especially among the most vulnerable
populations, and negatively impact business activity and
economic growth.
(2) In the past 30 years, there have been more than 130
weather-related disasters in the United States that each
generated at least $1,000,000,000 in damages or more than
$880,000,000,000 in total standardized loss. In addition, there
have been many other extreme weather events that generated less
than $1,000,000,000 in damages, but still caused immeasurable
harm to the Nation's citizens, infrastructure, and economy.
(3) Hurricane Sandy, which devastated the eastern United
States in late October 2012, resulted in more than 100 deaths,
the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people from their
homes, power outages affecting more than 8,500,000 homes,
massive flooding, gasoline shortages, and a crippled regional
energy and transportation infrastructure. The estimated total
economic losses could exceed $70,000,000,000.
(4) Hurricane Katrina led to more than 1,800 deaths,
property damage exceeding $80,000,000,000, more than
$120,000,000,000 in Federal spending, and long-term impacts on
the economy and livelihoods of those living in the Gulf Coast
region.
(5) In 2011, one of the most severe and costly years for
weather and climate on record, extreme weather hit every region
in the United States, resulting in--
(A) prolonged droughts in the South and the West;
(B) deadly floods in the Southeast and Midwest;
(C) hundreds of devastating tornadoes across the
United States;
(D) Hurricane Irene in the Northeast;
(E) more than $50,000,000,000 in weather-related
damages;
(F) 14 extreme weather events, which resulted in
more than $1,000,000,000 in damages each and caused a
combined death toll of hundreds of people; and
(G) many other extreme weather events with lesser,
but still significant, impacts.
(6) There have been many similar extreme weather events in
2012. During the 10-month period ending in October 2012, there
have been--
(A) drought conditions in more than 60 percent of
the contiguous United States at the peak of the
drought, including more than 2,200 counties that have
received disaster designations from the Secretary of
Agriculture due to the drought;
(B) deadly floods in Minnesota, Tropical Storm
Debby in Florida, and Hurricane Isaac in Louisiana;
(C) destructive wildfires on more than 9,000,000
acres across 37 States;
(D) power outages affecting more than 3,400,000
homes due to severe storms during the summer; and
(E) deadly heat waves, highlighted by July as the
warmest month on record for the contiguous United
States and more than 9,600 daily high temperature
records broken during June, July, and August.
(7) These events and natural disaster trends, when combined
with the volatility of weather, ongoing demographic changes,
and development in high risk areas, indicate that the negative
impacts of extreme weather events and natural disasters have
the potential to increase over time. The fact that a
significant number of people and assets continue to be located
in areas prone to volatile and extreme weather indicates that
these events will continue to be expensive and deadly if the
United States fails to enhance its resiliency to such events.
Recent studies show that the intensity and frequency of some
types of, but not all, extreme weather events will likely
increase in the future.
(8) Economic savings can be achieved by considering the
impacts of extreme weather over the short- and long-term in the
planning process. For example, a review of the Federal
Emergency Management Agency's hazard mitigation programs found
that every dollar spent on hazard mitigation yields a savings
of $4 in future losses. Other studies point to even higher
levels of savings.
(9) There are several efforts currently underway at the
Federal, regional, tribal, State, and local levels that have
helped lay the foundation for a federally coordinated effort to
increase the Nation's resiliency to extreme weather events,
such as the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, the
Presidential Policy Directive on National Preparedness
(referred to in this Act as ``PPD-8''), the National
Preparedness System, the whole community approach led by the
Department of Homeland Security, and the Silver Jackets Program
by the Army Corps of Engineers. Other recent reports on this
subject include the National Academies of Sciences' reports
``Disaster Resilience: A National Imperative'' and ``Building
Community Disaster Resilience through Public-Private
Collaboration''.
(b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to minimize the economic
and social costs and future losses of life, property, well-being,
business activity, and economic growth by making the United States more
resilient to the impacts of extreme weather events over the short- and
long-term, thereby creating business and job growth opportunities by--
(1) ensuring that the Federal Government is optimizing its
use of existing resources and funding to support State, local,
and tribal officials, businesses, and the public to become more
resilient, including--
(A) encouraging the consideration of, and ways to
incorporate, extreme weather resilience across Federal
operations, programs, policies, and initiatives;
(B) promoting improved coordination of existing and
planned Federal extreme weather resilience and
adaptation efforts that impact extreme weather
resilience and ensuring their coordination with, and
support of, State, local, regional, and tribal efforts;
(C) minimizing Federal policies that may
unintentionally hinder or reduce resilience, such as
damaging wetlands or other critical green
infrastructure, or lead Federal agencies to operate at
cross purposes in achieving extreme weather resilience;
and
(D) building upon existing related efforts, such as
the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, the PPD-8,
the National Preparedness System, and the whole
community approach;
(2) communicating the latest understanding and likely
short- and long-term human and economic impacts and risks of
extreme weather to businesses and the public;
(3) supporting decisionmaking that improves resilience by
providing forecasts and projections, data decision-support
tools, and other information and mechanisms; and
(4) establishing a consistent vision and strategic plan for
extreme weather resilience across the Federal Government.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Extreme weather.--The term ``extreme weather'' includes
severe and unseasonable weather, heavy precipitation,
hurricanes, storm surges, tornadoes, other windstorms
(including derechos), extreme heat, extreme cold, and other
qualifying weather events as determined by the interagency
group established under section 4(a)(1).
(2) Resilience.--The term ``resilience'' means the ability
to prepare and plan for, absorb, recover from, and more
successfully adapt to adverse events in a timely manner.
SEC. 4. EXTREME WEATHER RESILIENCE GAP AND OVERLAP ANALYSIS.
(a) Interagency Working Group.--
(1) In general.--
(A) Establishment.--The Director of the Office of
Science and Technology Policy (referred to in this
section as the ``Director''), with input from the
Department of Homeland Security, shall establish and
chair an interagency working group with Cabinet-level
representation from all relevant Federal agencies.
(B) Duties.--The working group shall--
(i) come together to provide a strategic
vision of extreme weather resilience;
(ii) conduct a gap and overlap analysis of
Federal agencies' current and planned
activities related to achieving short- and
long-term resilience to extreme weather and its
impacts on the Nation, such as storm surge,
flooding, drought, and wildfires; and
(iii) develop a National Extreme Weather
Resilience Plan in accordance with section
5(a).
(2) Additional representation from executive office of the
president.--The interagency working group established under
paragraph (1) shall include representatives of the relevant
offices and councils within the Executive Office of the
President, including--
(A) the Office of Management and Budget;
(B) the National Security Staff;
(C) the Council of Economic Advisors;
(D) the Council on Environmental Quality; and
(E) the Domestic Policy Council.
(3) Consultation with state, local, and tribal
representatives.--
(A) In general.--The Federal interagency working
group established under paragraph (1) shall work
closely with an advisory group to take into account the
needs of State, local, and tribal entities across all
regions of the United States. The advisory group shall
consist of--
(i) 1 representative from the National
Emergency Management Association;
(ii) 7 representatives from States and
State associations; and
(iii) 8 representatives from local entities
and associations, including representation from
a tribal nation and at least 1 major
metropolitan area.
(B) Key sectors.--The representatives described in
subparagraph (A) shall, in the aggregate, represent all
of the key sectors set forth in subsection (b)(1).
(C) Meetings.--The Director shall meet with the
representatives described in subparagraph (A) not fewer
than 9 times during the development of--
(i) the gap and overlap analysis under this
section; and
(ii) the National Extreme Weather
Resilience Action Plan under section 5.
(4) Cooperation by federal agencies.--In carrying out the
activities described in subsection (b), Federal agency
representatives participating in the working group shall be
forthright and shall fully cooperate with the Office of Science
and Technology Policy.
(5) Detailees.--Upon the request of the Director, each
agency or entity referred to in paragraph (1) shall provide the
working group with a detailee, without reimbursement from the
working group, to support the activities described in
subsection (b), section 5, and section 7(a). Such detailee
shall retain the rights, status, and privileges of his or her
regular employment without interruption.
(6) Volunteer services.--Notwithstanding section 1342 of
title 31, United States Code, the working group may investigate
and use such voluntary services as the working group determines
to be necessary.
(b) Gap and Overlap Analysis.--In conducting the gap and overlap
analysis required under subsection (a)(1), Federal agency
representatives shall--
(1) develop a Federal Government-wide working vision for
resilience to the impacts of extreme weather events in the
short- and long-term, in accordance with the purpose set forth
in section 2(b), through an effort led by the Director and the
interagency working group, which includes goals and objectives
for key sectors. Key sectors shall include--
(A) agriculture;
(B) forestry and natural resources management;
(C) water management, including supply and
treatment;
(D) energy supply and transmission;
(E) infrastructure, including natural and built
forms of water and wastewater, transportation, coastal
infrastructure, and other landscapes and ecosystems
services;
(F) public health and healthcare delivery,
including mental health and hazardous materials
management;
(G) communications, including wireless
communications;
(H) housing and other buildings;
(I) national security;
(J) emergency preparedness;
(K) insurance; and
(L) other sectors that the Director considers
appropriate;
(2) consider and identify the interdependencies among the
key sectors when developing the vision referred to in paragraph
(1);
(3) create summaries of the existing and planned efforts
and programmatic work underway or relevant to supporting State,
local, and tribal stakeholders in achieving greater extreme
weather resilience in the short and long term for each sector
identified under paragraph (1) and across the sectors,
specifically including summaries of--
(A) individual Federal agency programs, policies,
regulations, and initiatives, and research and data
collection and dissemination efforts;
(B) areas of collaboration and coordination across
Federal agencies; and
(C) areas of coordination with State, local, and
tribal agencies, private entities, and regional
cooperation;
(4) identify specific Federal programs, statutes,
regulations, policies, and initiatives which may
unintentionally hinder resilience efforts, including an
analysis of disincentives, barriers, and incompatible programs,
policies, or initiatives across agencies and sectors;
(5) examine how the severity and frequency of extreme
weather events at the local and regional level may change in
the future and communicate these potential risks to
stakeholders;
(6) work together to identify and evaluate existing Federal
tools and data to describe, analyze, forecast, and model the
potential impacts identified under paragraph (5) and develop
recommendations to strengthen their ability to provide reliable
and accurate forecasts at the national, regional, State, and
local levels;
(7) identify gaps and overlaps in Federal agency work,
resources, and authorities that impair the ability of the
United States to meet the vision for short- and long-term
extreme weather resilience, by comparing the goals and
objectives identified for each sector and across sectors with
the summaries identified in paragraph (3), specifically
identifying gaps relating to--
(A) individual Federal agency programs, policies,
and initiatives, and research data collection and
dissemination efforts;
(B) areas of collaboration and coordination across
Federal agencies; and
(C) areas of coordination with State, local, and
tribal agencies and private entities, and regional
cooperation;
(8) determine potential measures to address the issues
referred to in paragraph (4) and to address the gaps and
overlaps referred to in paragraph (7) by--
(A) designating individual or multiple Federal
agencies to address these gaps;
(B) building upon existing delivery mechanisms;
(C) evaluating options for programs, policies, and
initiatives that may particularly benefit extreme
weather resilience efforts, including the role of
ecosystem-based approaches;
(D) recommending modifications to existing Federal
agency programs, statutes, regulations, policies, and
initiatives to better support extreme weather
resiliency;
(E) requesting new authorities and resource
requirements, if needed; and
(F) identifying existing Federal Government
processes that can be built upon to address the purpose
of this Act; and
(9) establish, with the assistance of the General Services
Administration or such other Federal agency as the Director may
designate, a Federal advisory working group to provide ongoing
collective input to the process.
(c) Working Group.--The Federal advisory working group established
pursuant to subsection (b)(9) shall consist of relevant private sector,
academic, State and local government, tribal nation, regional
organization, vulnerable population, and nongovernmental
representatives, with representation from each sector described in
paragraph (1). The Director may designate an existing Federal advisory
committee under which the working group would operate independently,
with the same rights and privileges held by members of the advisory
committee. The members of the working group established pursuant to
subsection (b)(9) may not simultaneously serve as members of the
advisory committee designated pursuant to this subsection. The
activities of the working group should complement and not duplicate the
stakeholder process conducted under PPD-8.
SEC. 5. NATIONAL EXTREME WEATHER RESILIENCE ACTION PLAN.
(a) In General.--Based on the results of the gap and overlap
analysis conducted under section 4, the Director, working with the
interagency working group established under such section, and
considering the efforts described in section 2(a)(9), shall develop a
National Extreme Weather Resilience Action Plan (referred to in this
section as the ``Plan'')--
(1) to build upon existing Federal Government processes
referred to in section 4(b)(8)(F)--
(A) to address the results of the gap and overlap
analysis under section 4; and
(B) to incorporate the activities required under
subsection (c);
(2) to best utilize existing resources and programs through
improved interagency coordination and collaboration;
(3) to improve Federal coordination with existing regional
entities, State, local and tribal governments, networks, and
private stakeholders;
(4) to make data and tools accessible and understandable
and to help facilitate information exchange for tribal, State,
and local officials, businesses, and other stakeholders in a
manner that addresses the needs expressed by these
stakeholders;
(5) to facilitate public-private partnerships;
(6) to improve Federal agencies' economic analytical
capacity to assess--
(A) the likelihood and potential costs of extreme
weather impacts by region and nationally; and
(B) the relative benefits of potential resilience
measures to multiple stakeholders;
(7) to provide tools to stakeholders--
(A) to conduct analyses similar to those described
in paragraph (6); and
(B) to support decisionmaking;
(8) to support resiliency plans developed by State and
local governments, regional entities, and tribal nations, to
the extent possible; and
(9) to request further resources, if necessary, to fill in
gaps to enable national resilience to extreme weather,
including resilience of tribal nations and particularly
vulnerable populations, and the use of green infrastructure and
ecosystem-based solutions.
(b) Cooperation.--Any Federal agency representative contacted by
the Director, in the course of developing the Plan, shall be forthright
and shall fully cooperate with the Office of Science and Technology
Policy, as requested.
(c) Required Activities.--
(1) Responsibilities.--The Plan shall include specific
Federal agency and interagency responsibilities, identify
potential new authorities, if necessary, and employ risk
analysis--
(A) to address the gaps identified through the gap
and overlap analysis; and
(B) to improve Federal interagency coordination and
Federal coordination with State, regional, local, and
tribal partners.
(2) Available funding opportunities.--
(A) Identification.--The Director shall identify--
(i) existing Federal grant programs and
other funding opportunities available to
support State, local, and tribal government
extreme weather resiliency planning efforts; or
(ii) projects to advance extreme weather
resiliency.
(B) Publication.--The Director shall publish the
information described in subparagraph (A) in the
information clearinghouse identified in paragraph (3).
(C) Responsibilities.--Each participating agency
shall--
(i) consider incorporating criteria or
guidance into existing relevant Federal grant
and other funding opportunities to better
support State, local, and tribal efforts to
improve extreme weather resiliency; and
(ii) evaluate and modify existing Federal
funding opportunities, as appropriate, to
maximize the return on investment for pre-
disaster mitigation activities.
(3) Information clearinghouse.--
(A) In general.--The Plan shall--
(i) include the establishment of an online,
publicly available information clearinghouse
for use by Federal agencies, their partners,
and stakeholders to inform resilience-enhancing
efforts; and
(ii) build off and be complementary to
existing Federal efforts, including data.gov.
(B) Maintenance.--The coordinating entity
identified under paragraph (3) shall be responsible for
establishing and maintaining the information
clearinghouse.
(C) Information supplied.--Information shall be
supplied as requested by Federal agencies, their
partners, academia, and private stakeholders, in
coordination with regional, State, local, and tribal
agencies.
(D) Contents.--The information clearinghouse
established under this paragraph shall include
coordinated and systematic information on--
(i) best or model practices;
(ii) data;
(iii) case studies;
(iv) indicators;
(v) scientific reports;
(vi) resilience and vulnerability
assessments;
(vii) guidance documents and design
standards;
(viii) incentives;
(ix) education and communication
initiatives;
(x) decision support tools, including risk
management, short- and long-term economic
analysis, and predictive models;
(xi) planning tools;
(xii) public and private sources of
assistance; and
(xiii) such other information as the
coordinating entity considers appropriate.
(4) Coordinating entity.--The Plan shall include the
identification of a Federal agency, interagency council,
office, or program, which participated in the gap and overlap
analysis and Plan development. Such entity shall--
(A) coordinate the implementation of the Plan;
(B) track the progress of such implementation; and
(C) transfer responsibilities to another Federal
agency, interagency council, office, or program to
serve as the coordinating entity if the entities
participating in the working group agree that
circumstances necessitate such a change.
(5) Resiliency officer.--Each Federal agency that assists
with the gap and overlap analysis required under section 4
shall designate, from among the agency's senior management, a
Senior Resiliency Officer, who shall--
(A) facilitate the implementation of the agency's
responsibilities under paragraph (1);
(B) monitor the agency's progress and performance
in implementing its responsibilities under paragraph
(1);
(C) report the agency's progress and performance to
the head of the agency and the coordinating entity
identified under paragraph (3); and
(D) serve as the agency lead in ongoing
coordination efforts within the Federal agency and
between the coordinating entity, other Federal
agencies, public and private partners, and
stakeholders.
(d) Publication.--
(1) Draft plan.--Not later than 420 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Director shall publish a draft
of the Plan developed under this section in the Federal
Register.
(2) Public comment period.--During the 60-day period
beginning on the date on which the draft Plan is published
under paragraph (1), the Director shall--
(A) solicit comment from the public; and
(B) conduct a briefing for Congress to explain the
provisions contained in the draft Plan.
(3) Final plan.--Not later than 120 days after the end of
the public comment period described in paragraph (2), the
Director shall publish the final Plan in the Federal Register.
(e) Implementation.--Not later than 630 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Director shall begin implementing the final
Plan published under subsection (d)(3).
(f) Financing.--To the extent possible--
(1) Federal funding should be used to leverage private
sector financing for resilience building activities, consistent
with the implementation of the Plan, through public-private
partnerships; and
(2) Federal grant and loan programs of the Federal agencies
participating in the interagency working group for this effort
shall consider extreme weather resilience as a key factor when
awarding funding, including the projected extreme weather risk
to a project over the course of its expected life.
(g) Tribal, State, and Local Responsibilities.--The Plan may not
place new unfunded requirements on State or local governments.
SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF OTHER ACTIVITIES.
(a) In General.--Federal agencies are authorized to develop tools
and disseminate information to improve extreme weather resilience in
the key sectors set forth in section 4(b)(1).
(b) Office of Science and Technology Policy.--In conducting the gap
and overlap analysis under section 4 and developing the National
Extreme Weather Resilience Action Plan under section 5, the Director
may carry out additional activities in support of the purpose of this
Act.
SEC. 7. REPORTS.
(a) Government Accountability Office Report.--Not later than 1 year
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of
the United States shall submit a report to Congress that--
(1) identifies existing Federal Government programs and
policies related to disaster relief, response, and recovery
that impede improving short- and long-term extreme weather
resilience; and
(2) make recommendations for how the programs or policies
could be structured differently to better support short- and
long-term resilience after an extreme weather event.
(b) Initial Report.--Not later than 2 years after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Director shall submit a report to Congress
that contains--
(1) the results of the gap and overlap analysis;
(2) the final National Extreme Weather Resilience Action
Plan;
(3) an update on the implementation of the plan; and
(4) available resources for the sustained implementation of
the plan.
(c) Triennial Reports.--Not later than 2 years after the submission
of the report under subsection (a), and every 3 years thereafter, the
coordinating entity identified under section 5(c)(3), in cooperation
with the interagency working group established under section 4(a),
shall submit a report to Congress that--
(1) contains an update of the National Extreme Weather
Resilience Action Plan;
(2) describes the progress of the plan's implementation;
(3) improves upon the original analysis as more information
and understanding about extreme weather events becomes
available;
(4) establishes criteria for prioritization of activities
described in the plan;
(5) reconsiders and makes changes to the plan based on the
availability of new information described in paragraph (3); and
(6) identifies cost-effective changes to laws, policies, or
regulations that could advance the purpose of this Act.
(d) FEMA Reports on Funding.--
(1) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
(A) The Federal Emergency Management Agency grant
programs are a key vehicle that exists to fund
activities related to resiliency planning and projects.
(B) In order to ensure that the United States
becomes more resilient to extreme weather, it is
important to ensure that sufficient resources are
available to support resiliency activities
(2) Reports.--At the end of each fiscal year, the Director
of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (referred to in this
paragraph as ``FEMA'') shall submit a report to Congress that--
(A) identifies the amounts that were made available
to the FEMA during such fiscal year for State, local,
and tribal entities to use for activities that support
the purposes of this Act;
(B) identifies the amounts disbursed by FEMA to
State, local, and tribal entities during such fiscal
year for such activities;
(C) describes the resources requested by State,
local, and tribal entities for activities that support
the purposes of this Act; and
(D) identifies the difference between the amounts
disbursed by FEMA and the amounts requested from FEMA
by State, local, and tribal entities.
SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
(a) Amounts for Analysis, Plan Development and Implementation, and
Reports.--There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be
necessary for fiscal years 2013 through 2015--
(1) to conduct the gap and overlap analysis required under
section 4;
(2) to conduct the activities required under section 5,
including the creation and maintenance of the information
clearinghouse; and
(3) to prepare the reports to Congress required under
subsections (b) and (c) of section 7.
(b) Availability of Funds.--Amounts appropriated pursuant to
subsection (a) shall remain available for the purposes set forth in
such subsection through December 31, 2015.
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S8204)
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
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