II 

Calendar No. 356 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 1937 

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require States to develop 

contingency plans to address unexpected emergencies or natural disasters 

that may threaten to disrupt the administration of an election for Federal 

office, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 16, 2014 

Mr. SCHUMER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Rules and Administration 

APRIL 10, 2014 

Reported by Mr. SCHUMER, without amendment 

A BILL 

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require 

States to develop contingency plans to address unexpected emergencies or natural disasters that may threaten to disrupt the administration of an election for Federal office, and for other purposes. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Elections Preparedness 

3 Requires Early Planning (Elections PREP) Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. CONTINGENCY PLANS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

6 (1) CONTINGENCY PLANS.—Title III of the 

7 Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15481 

8 et seq.) is amended— 

9 (A) by redesignating sections 304 and 305 

10 as sections 305 and 306, respectively; and 

11 (B) by inserting after section 303 the fol12 lowing new section: 

13 ‘‘SEC. 304. CONTINGENCY PLANS. 

14 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Each State shall develop contin15 gency plans to address unexpected emergencies or natural 

16 disasters that may threaten to disrupt the administration 

17 of an election for Federal office in accordance with the 

18 following requirements: 

19 ‘‘(1) The State shall develop the contingency 

20 plan in consultation with State emergency prepared21 ness organizations (including State and local law en22 forcement agencies, State Offices and Agencies of 

23 Emergency Management, electric companies, and 

24 local fire departments). 

25 ‘‘(2) The contingency plan shall contain— 


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1 ‘‘(A) alternative ways to notify the public 

2 of changes in election procedures; and 

3 ‘‘(B) plans to address disruptions at every 

4 step of the voting process, including early vot5 ing. 

6 ‘‘(3) The State shall review and update, as 

7 needed, the contingency plan not later than 180 

8 days before each regularly scheduled general election 

9 for Federal office. 

10 ‘‘(b) CERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE.—If the State 

11 has not filed with the Commission a certification under 

12 section 253(a) for the fiscal year, the State shall file with 

13 the Commission a statement certifying that the State is 

14 in compliance with the requirements under this section. 

15 A State may meet the requirement of the previous sen16 tence by filing with the Commission a statement which 

17 reads as follows: ‘llllllllllll hereby cer18 tifies that it is in compliance with the requirements under 

19 section 304 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002.’ (with 

20 the blank to be filled in with the name of the State in21 volved). 

22 ‘‘(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Each State shall be re23 quired to comply with the requirements of this section for 

24 the regularly scheduled general election for Federal office 


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1 occurring in November 2014 and for any subsequent elec2 tion for Federal office.’’. 

3 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

4 (A) Section 401 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

5 15511) is amended by striking ‘‘and 303’’ and 

6 inserting ‘‘303, and 304’’. 

7 (B) The table of contents of such Act is 

8 amended— 

9 (i) by redesignating the items relating 

10 to sections 304 and 305 as relating to sec11 tions 305 and 306, respectively; and 

12 (ii) by inserting after the item relating 

13 to section 303 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 304. Contingency plans.’’. 

14 (b) REQUIREMENTS FOR STATE PLANS.—Section 

15 254(a) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 

16 15404(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following 

17 new paragraph: 

18 ‘‘(15) How the State will develop contingency 

19 plans consistent with the requirements of section 

20 304.’’. 

21 (c) FUNDING.—Notwithstanding any other provision 

22 of law, the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Man23 agement Agency may provide financial assistance to 

24 States under the emergency management performance 

25 grants program (as authorized by the National Flood InVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:17 Apr 10, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1937.RS S1937

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1 surance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4001 et seq.), the Robert 

2 T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 

3 (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.), the Earthquake Hazards Reduc4 tion Act of 1977 (42 U.S.C. 7701 et seq.), Reorganization 

5 Plan No. 3 of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.), and section 662 of 

6 the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 

7 2006 (6 U.S.C. 762)) for the purpose of developing a con8 tingency plan under section 304 of the Help America Vote 

9 Act of 2002, as added by subsection (a). 


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Calendar No. 356 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 1937 

A BILL 

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to 

other purposes. tion of an election for Federal office, and for ters that may threaten to disrupt the administraaddress unexpected emergencies or natural disasrequire States to develop contingency plans to 

APRIL 10, 2014 

Reported without amendment 


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