II 

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 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

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

6 SEC. 2. CONTINGENCY PLANS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.— 


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

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

3 et seq.) is amended— 

4 (A) by redesignating sections 304 and 305 

5 as sections 305 and 306, respectively; and 

6 (B) by inserting after section 303 the fol7 lowing new section: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 304. CONTINGENCY PLANS. 

9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Each State shall develop contin10 gency plans to address unexpected emergencies or natural 

11 disasters that may threaten to disrupt the administration 

12 of an election for Federal office in accordance with the 

13 following requirements: 

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

15 plan in consultation with State emergency prepared16 ness organizations (including State and local law en17 forcement agencies, State Offices and Agencies of 

18 Emergency Management, electric companies, and 

19 local fire departments). 

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

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

22 of changes in election procedures; and 

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

24 step of the voting process, including early vot25 ing. 


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

2 needed, the contingency plan not later than 180 

3 days before each regularly scheduled general election 

4 for Federal office. 

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

6 has not filed with the Commission a certification under 

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

8 the Commission a statement certifying that the State is 

9 in compliance with the requirements under this section. 

10 A State may meet the requirement of the previous sen11 tence by filing with the Commission a statement which 

12 reads as follows: ‘llllllllllll hereby cer13 tifies that it is in compliance with the requirements under 

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

15 the blank to be filled in with the name of the State in16 volved). 

17 ‘‘(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Each State shall be re18 quired to comply with the requirements of this section for 

19 the regularly scheduled general election for Federal office 

20 occurring in November 2014 and for any subsequent elec21 tion for Federal office.’’. 

22 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

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

24 15511) is amended by striking ‘‘and 303’’ and 

25 inserting ‘‘303, and 304’’. 


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

2 amended— 

3 (i) by redesignating the items relating 

4 to sections 304 and 305 as relating to sec5 tions 305 and 306, respectively; and 

6 (ii) by inserting after the item relating 

7 to section 303 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 304. Contingency plans.’’. 

8 (b) REQUIREMENTS FOR STATE PLANS.—Section 

9 254(a) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 

10 15404(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following 

11 new paragraph: 

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

13 plans consistent with the requirements of section 

14 304.’’. 

15 (c) FUNDING.—Notwithstanding any other provision 

16 of law, the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Man17 agement Agency may provide financial assistance to 

18 States under the emergency management performance 

19 grants program (as authorized by the National Flood In20 surance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4001 et seq.), the Robert 

21 T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 

22 (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.), the Earthquake Hazards Reduc23 tion Act of 1977 (42 U.S.C. 7701 et seq.), Reorganization 

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

25 the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 


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1 2006 (6 U.S.C. 762)) for the purpose of developing a con2 tingency plan under section 304 of the Help America Vote 

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

Æ 


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