Federal Disaster Assistance Coordination Act

Federal Disaster Assistance Coordination Act

This bill extends the deadline by which the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) must (1) conduct a study and develop a plan under which the collection of information from disaster assistance applicants and grantees will be made less burdensome, duplicative, and time consuming for applicants and grantees; and (2) develop a plan for the regular collection and reporting of information on federal disaster assistance awarded.

Not later than two years after enactment of this bill, FEMA shall convene a working group on a regular basis to identify (1) potential areas of duplication or fragmentation in preliminary damage assessments after disaster declarations; and (2) potential emerging technologies, such as Unmanned Aircraft Systems (i.e., drones), to expedite the administration of preliminary damage assessments.

FEMA must submit a comprehensive report on the plans for streamlining and consolidating information collection and preliminary damage assessments and the findings and recommendations of the working group to Congress with a briefing. The report must be made available to the public and posted on FEMA's website.

[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 255 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                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.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 10, 2023

    Miss Gonzalez-Colon (for herself, Ms. Plaskett, and Mr. Peters) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                   Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 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.

    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
            ``(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.''.
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