Disaster Management Costs Modernization Act

Disaster Management Costs Modernization Act

This bill authorizes the President to allow recipients of certain disaster relief assistance to use excess management cost funds for (1) building capacity to prepare for, recover from, or mitigate the impacts of a major disaster or emergency; or (2) management costs associated with other major disasters, emergencies, disaster preparedness measures, or mitigation activities. (Management costs cover indirect costs, direct administrative costs, and other administrative expenses associated with a specific project under a major disaster, emergency, disaster preparedness, or disaster mitigation activity. In some cases, the amount provided for management costs may be more than the amount expended, resulting in an excess.)

[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7671 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7671

  To amend section 324 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 
  Emergency Assistance Act to incentivize States, Indian Tribes, and 
Territories to close disaster recovery projects by authorizing the use 
   of excess funds for management costs for other disaster recovery 
                               projects.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 13, 2024

Mr. Neguse (for himself, Mr. D'Esposito, Ms. Titus, Mr. Ezell, and Mr. 
   Stanton) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
             Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend section 324 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 
  Emergency Assistance Act to incentivize States, Indian Tribes, and 
Territories to close disaster recovery projects by authorizing the use 
   of excess funds for management costs for other disaster recovery 
                               projects.

    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 ``Disaster Management Costs 
Modernization Act''.

SEC. 2. USE OF EXCESS FUNDS FOR MANAGEMENT COSTS.

    (a) In General.--Section 324 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5165b) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (b)(2)--
                    (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) and (B) as 
                clauses (i) and (ii), respectively, and adjusting the 
                margins accordingly; and
                    (B) in the matter preceding clause (i), as so 
                redesignated, by striking ``provide the following 
                percentage rates'' and inserting ``provide--
                    ``(A) excess funds for management costs as 
                described in subsection (c); and
                    ``(B) the following percentage rates'';
            (2) by redesignating subsection (c) as subsection (d); and
            (3) by inserting after subsection (b) the following:
    ``(c) Use of Excess Funds for Management Costs.--
            ``(1) Definition.--In this subsection, the term `excess 
        funds for management costs' means the difference between--
                    ``(A) the amount of the applicable specific 
                management costs authorized under subsection (b)(1) and 
                subsection (b)(2)(B); and
                    ``(B) as of the date on which the grant award is 
                closed, the amount of funding for management costs 
                activities expended by the grantee or subgrantee 
                receiving the financial assistance for costs described 
                in subparagraph (A).
            ``(2) Availability of excess funds for management costs.--
        The President may make available to a grantee or subgrantee 
        receiving financial assistance under section 403, 404, 406, 
        407, or 502 any excess funds for management costs.
            ``(3) Use of funds.--Excess funds for management costs made 
        available to a grantee or subgrantee under paragraph (2) may be 
        used for--
                    ``(A) activities associated with building capacity 
                to prepare for, recover from, or mitigate the impacts 
                of a major disaster or emergency declared under section 
                401 or 501, respectively; and
                    ``(B) management costs associated with any--
                            ``(i) major disaster;
                            ``(ii) emergency;
                            ``(iii) disaster preparedness measure; or
                            ``(iv) mitigation activity or measure 
                        authorized under section 203, 204, 205, or 404.
            ``(4) Availability.--Excess funds for management costs made 
        available to a grantee or subgrantee under paragraph (2) shall 
        remain available to the grantee or subgrantee until the date 
        that is 5 years after the date on which the excess funds for 
        management costs are made available under paragraph (2).''.
    (b) Applicability.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall 
apply with respect to any grant award in relation to a major disaster 
or emergency declared under section 401 or 501, respectively, of the 
Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 
U.S.C. 5170, 5191)--
            (1) the declaration of which is made on or after the date 
        of enactment of this Act; and
            (2) that is funded with amounts appropriated on or after 
        the date of enactment of this Act.
    (c) GAO Study.--Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit 
to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 
Senate and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the 
House of Representatives a report--
            (1) on the actual management costs described in section 324 
        of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
        Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5165b) during the period of a major 
        disaster declaration under section 401 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
        5170) to determine whether the amount set aside for those 
        management costs after the date of enactment of this Act is 
        appropriate; and
            (2) that includes the management costs described in section 
        324 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
        Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5165b) for each disaster declared 
        under during the period of a major disaster declaration under 
        section 401 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 5170) during the 5-year 
        period preceding the date of the report, the amount set aside 
        for those management costs, the use of those management costs, 
        the length of each disaster, and the reason for the length of 
        each disaster.
    (d) No Additional Funds.--No additional funds are authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out the amendments made by subsection (a).
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