I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3635 

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

Act to improve Federal assistance with respect to disasters, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 23, 2009 

Mr. CAO 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 Federal assistance with 

respect to disasters, 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 ‘‘Disaster Relief and 

5 Recovery Development Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ABILITY TO PROVIDE DISASTER INFORMATION TO 

2 INDIVIDUALS WITH LIMITED ENGLISH PRO3 FICIENCY. 

4 (a) STUDY.—The Comptroller General of the United 

5 States shall conduct a study on the ability of existing alert 

6 and warning systems to provide information relating to 

7 disasters to individuals with limited English proficiency. 

8 (b) REPORT.—Not later than one year after the date 

9 of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall 

10 submit to Congress a report on the results of the study 

11 conducted under subsection (a). The report shall include 

12 recommendations with respect to any additional resources 

13 necessary to adequately provide information relating to 

14 disasters to individuals with limited English proficiency. 

15 SEC. 3. REVIEW OF REGULATIONS AND POLICIES. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year after the 

17 date of enactment of this Act, the President shall review 

18 regulations and policies relating to Federal disaster assist19 ance to eliminate regulations the President determines are 

20 no longer relevant, to harmonize contradictory regulations, 

21 and to simplify and expedite disaster recovery and assist22 ance. 

23 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 18 months after the 

24 date of enactment of this Act, the President shall transmit 

25 to Congress a report describing changes made to regula26 tions as a result of the review required under subsection 


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1 (a), together with any legislative recommendations relat2 ing thereto. 

3 SEC. 4. ISSUANCE OF REGULATIONS RELATING TO ELIGI4 BLE COST. 

5 Not later than six months after the date of enactment 

6 of this Act, the President shall issue and begin implemen7 tation of the regulations required under section 

8 406(e)(3)(C) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 

9 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5172(e)(3)(C)) to 

10 provide for cost estimation procedures that expedite recov11 ery and to reduce the costs and time for completion of 

12 recovery projects through the creation of financial and 

13 performance incentives. 

14 SEC. 5. USE OF FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO DISSEMINATE 

15 INFORMATION REGARDING COST-EFFECTIVE 

16 MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES. 

17 Section 203(e)(2) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 

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

19 5133(e)(2)) is amended by striking ‘‘10 percent’’ and in20 serting ‘‘15 percent’’. 

21 SEC. 6. RECOVERY RESPONSIBILITIES. 

22 (a) FUNCTIONS OF FEDERAL COORDINATING OFFI23 CER.—Section 302(b) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 

24 Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5143(b)) 

25 is amended— 


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1 (1) in paragraph (3) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

2 end; 

3 (2) by redesignating paragraph (4) as para4 graph (6); and 

5 (3) by inserting after paragraph (3) the fol6 lowing: 

7 ‘‘(4) not later than one month after the date of 

8 the declaration of a major disaster or emergency, 

9 make an initial appraisal of the types of recovery as10 sistance needed; 

11 ‘‘(5) coordinate with State government officials 

12 the establishment of detailed short-term and long13 term recovery plans and methods for implementation 

14 of such plans; and’’. 

15 (b) EMERGENCY SUPPORT, RESPONSE, AND RECOV16 ERY TEAMS.—Section 303 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 5144) 

17 is amended— 

18 (1) in the section heading by striking ‘‘SUP19 PORT AND RESPONSE’’ and inserting ‘‘SUPPORT, 

20 RESPONSE, AND RECOVERY’’; and 

21 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

22 ‘‘(c) EMERGENCY RECOVERY TEAMS.— 

23 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—In carrying out sub24 section (a), the President, acting through the AdVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:18 Sep 24, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3635.IH H3635

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1 ministrator of the Federal Emergency Management 

2 Agency, shall establish— 

3 ‘‘(A) at a minimum 3 national recovery 

4 teams; 

5 ‘‘(B) sufficient regional recovery teams, in6 cluding Regional Office strike teams under sec7 tion 507 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002; 

8 and 

9 ‘‘(C) other recovery teams as may be nec10 essary to meet the incident management re11 sponsibilities of the Federal Government. 

12 ‘‘(2) TARGET CAPABILITY LEVEL.—The Admin13 istrator shall ensure that specific target capability 

14 levels, as defined pursuant to the guidelines estab15 lished under section 646(a) of the Post-Katrina 

16 Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006, are 

17 established for Federal emergency recovery teams. 

18 ‘‘(3) PERSONNEL.—The President, acting 

19 through the Administrator, shall ensure that the 

20 Federal emergency recovery teams consist of ade21 quate numbers of properly planned, organized, 

22 equipped, trained, and exercised personnel to achieve 

23 the established target capability levels. Each emer24 gency recovery team shall work in coordination with 


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1 State and local officials and onsite personnel associ2 ated with a particular incident. 

3 ‘‘(4) READINESS REPORTING.—The Adminis4 trator shall evaluate team readiness on a regular 

5 basis and report team readiness levels in the report 

6 required under section 652(a) of the Post-Katrina 

7 Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006.’’. 

8 SEC. 7. FEDERAL INTERAGENCY DISASTER RECOVERY 

9 TASK FORCE. 

10 Title III of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 

11 and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5141 et seq.) 

12 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘SEC. 327. FEDERAL INTERAGENCY DISASTER RECOVERY 

14 TASK FORCE. 

15 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The President shall estab16 lish a Federal interagency disaster recovery task force 

17 (hereinafter referred to in this section as the ‘task force’) 

18 to carry out the following: 

19 ‘‘(1) Identify, maintain a catalogue of, and sub20 mit to Congress at least twice each year a report de21 scribing the Federal programs that may be used to 

22 assist in recovery efforts after a major disaster or 

23 emergency. 

24 ‘‘(2) Ensure communication, before and after 

25 major disasters and emergencies, between the FedVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:18 Sep 24, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3635.IH H3635

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1 eral departments and agencies determined by the 

2 President to administer the Federal programs re3 ferred to in paragraph (1). 

4 ‘‘(b) CHAIRPERSON.—The Administrator of the Fed5 eral Emergency Management Agency shall serve as the 

6 chairperson of the task force. 

7 ‘‘(c) MEMBERSHIP.—The task force shall include a 

8 representative of each Federal department and agency de9 termined by the President to administer a program that 

10 may be used to assist in recovery efforts after a major 

11 disaster or emergency. 

12 ‘‘(d) MEETING FREQUENCY.—The task force shall 

13 meet at least four times each year.’’. 

14 SEC. 8. REPAIR, RESTORATION, AND REPLACEMENT OF 

15 DAMAGED FACILITIES. 

16 Section 406(a) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re17 lief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5172(a)) 

18 is amended— 

19 (1) in paragraph (4) by striking ‘‘$20,000,000’’ 

20 and inserting ‘‘$5,000,000’’; and 

21 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

22 ‘‘(5) CONTRIBUTION STATUS REPORTS.—Not 

23 less frequently than every 180 days, the President 

24 shall transmit to Congress a report on the status of 

25 applications, obligations, and contributions under 


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1 this section with respect to each major disaster for 

2 which, on the date of the transmission of such re3 port, a contribution is eligible to be requested or 

4 made under this section.’’. 

5 SEC. 9. SPECIAL RULE FOR CERTAIN MAJOR DISASTERS. 

6 Section 406 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 

7 and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5172) is 

8 amended by adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘(f) SPECIAL RULE FOR CERTAIN MAJOR DISAS10 TERS.— 

11 ‘‘(1) CONSOLIDATION OF FUNDS.—Notwith12 standing subsection (a)(1), if the President deter13 mines that there is extensive and widespread damage 

14 and destruction resulting from a major disaster, the 

15 President may allow a State or local government or 

16 a private nonprofit facility, as the case may be, to 

17 consolidate contributions received as a lump sum 

18 payment to repair, restore, reconstruct, or replace 

19 more than one public facility. A State or local gov20 ernment and a private nonprofit facility may choose 

21 whether or not to repair, restore, reconstruct, or re22 place one or more of such facilities after assessing 

23 the need for such facilities after such major disaster. 

24 ‘‘(2) FEDERAL SHARE.—Notwithstanding sub25 section (c)(1)(A), the Federal share for a public faVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:18 Sep 24, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3635.IH H3635

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1 cility shall be an amount equal to 100 percent of the 

2 Federal estimate of the cost of repairing, restoring, 

3 reconstructing, or replacing the facilities and of 

4 management expenses.’’. 

Æ 


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