I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4455 

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

Act to improve mitigation assistance, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 21, 2017 

Mr. DENHAM (for himself and Mr. CAPUANO) 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 improve mitigation assistance, 

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 ‘‘Supporting Mitigation 

5 Activities and Resiliency Targets for Rebuilding Act’’ or 

6 the ‘‘SMART Rebuilding Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FEDERAL COST-SHARE ADJUSTMENTS FOR REPAIR, 

2 RESTORATION, AND REPLACEMENT OF DAM3 AGED FACILITIES. 

4 Section 406(b) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re5 lief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5172(b)) 

6 is amended by inserting after paragraph (2) the following: 

7 ‘‘(3) INCREASED FEDERAL SHARE.— 

8 ‘‘(A) INCENTIVE MEASURES.—The Presi9 dent may provide incentives to a State or Tribal 

10 government to invest in measures that increase 

11 readiness for, and resilience from, a major dis12 aster by recognizing such investments through 

13 a sliding scale that increases the minimum Fed14 eral share to not more than 85 percent. Such 

15 measures may include— 

16 ‘‘(i) the adoption of a mitigation plan 

17 approved under section 322; 

18 ‘‘(ii) investments in disaster relief, in19 surance, and emergency management pro20 grams; 

21 ‘‘(iii) encouraging the adoption and 

22 enforcement of nationally recognized de23 sign standards that establish minimum ac24 ceptable criteria for the design, construc25 tion, and maintenance of eligible facilities 

26 for the purpose of protecting the health, 


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1 safety, and general welfare of the build2 ings’ users against disasters; 

3 ‘‘(iv) facilitating participation in the 

4 community rating system; and 

5 ‘‘(v) funding mitigation projects or 

6 granting tax incentives for projects that re7 duce risk. 

8 ‘‘(B) COMPREHENSIVE GUIDANCE.—Not 

9 later than 1 year after the date of enactment of 

10 this paragraph, the President, acting through 

11 the Administrator, shall issue comprehensive 

12 guidance to States and Tribal governments re13 garding the measures and investments that will 

14 be recognized for the purpose of increasing the 

15 Federal share under this section. 

16 ‘‘(C) REPORT.—One year after the 

17 issuance of the guidance required by subpara18 graph (B), the Administrator shall submit to 

19 the Committee on Transportation and Infra20 structure of the House of Representatives and 

21 the Committee on Homeland Security and Gov22 ernmental Affairs of the Senate a report re23 garding the analysis of the Federal cost shares 

24 paid under this section.’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. NATIONAL PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE PREDISAS2 TER HAZARD MITIGATION. 

3 Section 203 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 

4 and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5133) is 

5 amended— 

6 (1) in subsection (c) by inserting ‘‘Public’’ after 

7 ‘‘the National’’; 

8 (2) in subsection (e)(1)(B)— 

9 (A) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of clause 

10 (ii); 

11 (B) by striking the period at the end of 

12 clause (iii) and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

13 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(iv) to establish and carry out en15 forcement activities to implement nation16 ally recognized design standards that es17 tablish minimum acceptable criteria for the 

18 design, construction, and maintenance of 

19 eligible facilities for the purpose of pro20 tecting the health, safety, and general wel21 fare of the buildings’ users against disas22 ters.’’; 

23 (3) in subsection (f)— 

24 (A) in paragraph (1) by inserting ‘‘for 

25 mitigation activities that are cost effective’’ 

26 after ‘‘competitive basis’’; 


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1 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

2 ‘‘(3) REDISTRIBUTION OF UNOBLIGATED

3 AMOUNTS.—The President shall— 

4 ‘‘(A) withdraw amounts of financial assist5 ance made available to a State (including 

6 amounts made available to local governments of 

7 a State) under paragraph (2) that remain unob8 ligated by the end of the third fiscal year after 

9 the fiscal year for which the amounts were allo10 cated; and 

11 ‘‘(B) in the subsequent fiscal year, add the 

12 funds to the financial assistance available to be 

13 awarded on a competitive basis referred to in 

14 paragraph (1).’’; 

15 (4) in subsection (g)— 

16 (A) in paragraph (9) by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

17 the end; 

18 (B) by redesignating paragraph (10) as 

19 paragraph (12); and 

20 (C) by adding after paragraph (9) the fol21 lowing: 

22 ‘‘(10) the extent to which the State or local 

23 government has facilitated the adoption and enforce24 ment of nationally recognized design standards that 

25 establish criteria for the design, construction, and 


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1 maintenance of eligible facilities for the purpose of 

2 protecting the health, safety, and general welfare of 

3 the buildings’ users against disasters; 

4 ‘‘(11) the extent to which the assistance will 

5 fund activities that increase the level of resiliency; 

6 and’’; 

7 (5) by striking subsection (i) and inserting the 

8 following: 

9 ‘‘(i) NATIONAL PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE

10 PREDISASTER MITIGATION FUND.— 

11 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The President may es12 tablish in the Treasury of the United States a sepa13 rate account called the National Public Infrastruc14 ture Predisaster Mitigation Fund (in this section re15 ferred to as the ‘Predisaster Mitigation Fund’), 

16 which shall be used exclusively to carry out this sec17 tion, with amounts in such account to be available 

18 until expended unless otherwise provided. 

19 ‘‘(2) TRANSFERS TO PREDISASTER MITIGATION

20 FUND.— 

21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—There shall be depos22 ited in the Predisaster Mitigation Fund with re23 spect to each disaster declared on or after Au24 gust 1, 2017, an additional amount equal to 6 


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1 percent of the estimated aggregate amount of 

2 grants to be made pursuant to section 406. 

3 ‘‘(B) ESTIMATED AGGREGATE AMOUNT.— 

4 Not later than 180 days after each major dis5 aster declaration, the estimated aggregate 

6 amount of grants to be deposited in such Fund 

7 shall be determined and need not be reduced, 

8 increased, or changed due to variations in esti9 mates.’’; and 

10 (6) by striking subsection (m). 

11 SEC. 4. ELIGIBILITY FOR CODE IMPLEMENTATION AND EN12 FORCEMENT. 

13 Section 406(a)(2) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 

14 Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 

15 5172(a)(2)) is amended— 

16 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara17 graph (B); 

18 (2) by striking the period at the end of sub19 paragraph (C) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

20 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘(D) base and overtime wages for extra 

22 hires to facilitate the implementation and en23 forcement of adopted building codes for a pe24 riod of not more than 180 days after the major 

25 disaster is declared.’’. 


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1 SEC. 5. ADDITIONAL MITIGATION ACTIVITIES. 

2 (a) HAZARD MITIGATION CLARIFICATION.—Section 

3 404(a) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 

4 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170c(a)) is 

5 amended by striking the first sentence and inserting the 

6 following: ‘‘The President may contribute not more than 

7 75 percent of the cost of hazard mitigation measures 

8 which the President has determined are cost-effective and 

9 which substantially reduce the risk of, or increase resil10 ience to, future damage, hardship, loss, or suffering in any 

11 area affected by a major disaster.’’. 

12 (b) ELIGIBLE COST.—Section 406(e)(1)(A) of the 

13 Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist14 ance Act (42 U.S.C. 5172(e)(1)(A)) is amended— 

15 (1) in the matter preceding clause (i), by insert16 ing after ‘‘section’’ the following: ‘‘for disasters de17 clared on or after August 1, 2017, or disasters 

18 where a cost estimate has not yet been finalized for 

19 a project’’; 

20 (2) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and’’; 

21 (3) in clause (ii)— 

22 (A) by striking ‘‘codes, specifications, and 

23 standards’’ and inserting ‘‘the latest nationally 

24 recognized design codes, specifications and 

25 standards that establish minimum acceptable 

26 criteria for the design, construction, and mainVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:07 Nov 25, 2017 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4455.IH H4455

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1 tenance of facilities for the purposes of pro2 tecting the health, safety, and general welfare 

3 of a facility’s users against disasters’’; 

4 (B) by striking ‘‘applicable at the time at 

5 which the disaster occurred’’; and 

6 (C) by striking the period at the end and 

7 inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

8 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘(iii) in a manner that allows the fa10 cility to meet the definition of resilient de11 veloped pursuant this subsection.’’. 

12 (c) NEW RULES.—Section 406(e) of the Robert T. 

13 Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 

14 (42 U.S.C. 5172(e)) is amended by adding at the end the 

15 following: 

16 ‘‘(5) NEW RULES.— 

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 

18 months after the date of enactment of this 

19 paragraph, the President, acting through the 

20 Administrator of the Federal Emergency Man21 agement Agency, shall issue a final rulemaking 

22 that defines the terms ‘resilient’ and ‘resiliency’ 

23 for purposes of this subsection. 

24 ‘‘(B) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 90 days 

25 after the date on which the Administrator 


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1 issues the final rulemaking under this para2 graph, the Administrator shall issue any nec3 essary guidance related to the rulemaking. 

4 ‘‘(C) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years 

5 after the date of enactment of this paragraph, 

6 the Administrator shall submit to Congress a 

7 report summarizing the regulations and guid8 ance issued pursuant to this paragraph.’’. 

Æ 


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