I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3495

To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 

Act to modify eligibility requirements under an emergency preparedness 

demonstration program to assist disadvantaged communities. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 17, 2003

Mr. BISHOP of Georgia introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL

To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to modify eligibility requirements 

under an emergency preparedness demonstration program to assist disadvantaged communities.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS DEMONSTRA4 TION PROGRAM TO ASSIST DISADVANTAGED 

5 COMMUNITIES. 

6 Section 629 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 

7 and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5197h) is 

8 amended to read as follows: 
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1 ‘‘SEC. 629. EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS DEMONSTRATION 

2 PROGRAM TO ASSIST DISADVANTAGED COM3 MUNITIES. 

4 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall establish an 

5 emergency preparedness demonstration program to re6 search and promote the capacity of disadvantaged commu7 nities to carry out programs to provide data, information, 

8 and awareness education by providing grants to or exe9 cuting contracts or cooperative agreements with eligible 

10 nonprofit organizations to establish and conduct such pro11 grams. 

12 ‘‘(b) ACTIVITIES SUPPORTED.—An eligible nonprofit 

13 organization may use a grant, contract, or cooperative 

14 agreement awarded under this section—

15 ‘‘(1) to conduct research into the status of 

16 emergency preparedness and disaster response 

17 awareness in households of disadvantaged individ18 uals located in urban and rural communities, par19 ticularly in those States and regions most impacted 

20 by natural and manmade disasters and emergencies; 

21 and 

22 ‘‘(2) to develop and promote awareness of emer23 gency preparedness education programs within dis24 advantaged communities, including development and 

25 preparation of culturally competent educational and 

26 awareness materials that can be used to disseminate 
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1 information to organizations and institutions serving 

2 disadvantaged individuals. 

3 ‘‘(c) ELIGIBLE ORGANIZATIONS.—An organization 

4 shall be eligible to be awarded a grant, contract, or cooper5 ative agreement under this section with respect to a pro6 gram if the organization is a nonprofit organization that 

7 is described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue 

8 Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 501(c)(3)) and exempt from tax 

9 under section 501(a) of such Code, whose primary mission 

10 is to provide services to disadvantaged communities, and 

11 that can demonstrate a partnership with a disadvantaged 

12 business enterprise, including enterprises located in a 

13 HUBZone, with respect to the program. 

14 ‘‘(d) USE OF FUNDS.—A recipient of a grant, con15 tract, or cooperative agreement awarded under this section 

16 may only use the proceeds of the grant, contract, or agree17 ment to—

18 ‘‘(1) acquire expert professional services nec19 essary to conduct research in disadvantaged commu20 nities, including African American and Hispanic 

21 communities; 

22 ‘‘(2) develop and prepare informational mate23 rials to promote awareness among disadvantaged 

24 communities about emergency preparedness and how 
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1 to protect their households and communities in ad2 vance of disasters; 

3 ‘‘(3) establish consortia with national organiza4 tions serving disadvantaged individuals, institutions 

5 of higher education serving disadvantaged individ6 uals, and faith-based institutions to disseminate in7 formation about emergency preparedness to dis8 advantaged communities; and 

9 ‘‘(4) implement a joint project with an institu10 tion serving disadvantaged individuals, including a 

11 part B institution (as defined in section 322(2) of 

12 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

13 1061(2))), an institution described in subparagraph 

14 (A), (B), or (C) of section 326(e)(1) of that Act (20 

15 U.S.C. 1063b(e)(1)(A), (B), or (C)), and a His16 panic-serving institution (as defined in section 

17 502(a)(5) of that Act (20 U.S.C. 1101a(a)(5))). 

18 ‘‘(e) APPLICATION AND REVIEW PROCEDURE.—To 

19 be eligible to receive a grant, contract, or cooperative 

20 agreement under this section, an organization must sub21 mit an application to the Director at such time, in such 

22 manner, and accompanied by such information as the Di23 rector may reasonably require. The Director shall estab24 lish a procedure by which to accept such applications. 
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1 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following 

2 definitions apply: 

3 ‘‘(1) DISADVANTAGED BUSINESS ENTER4 PRISE.—The term ‘disadvantaged business enter5 prise’ means a business enterprise owned and con6 trolled by disadvantaged individuals. 

7 ‘‘(2) DISADVANTAGED COMMUNITY.—The term 

8 ‘disadvantaged community’ means a community pre9 dominately populated by disadvantaged individuals. 

10 ‘‘(3) DISADVANTAGED INDIVIDUAL.—The term 

11 ‘disadvantaged individual’ means a socially or eco12 nomically disadvantaged individual as defined by 

13 section 8(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

14 637(a)). 

15 ‘‘(4) HUBZONE.—The term ‘HUBZone’ has 

16 the meaning given such term in section 3(p) of the 

17 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632(p)). 

18 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATION.—There is 

19 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

20 such sums as may be necessary for fiscal years 2004 

21 through 2007. Such sums shall remain available until ex22 pended.’’.

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