I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8949 

To authorize the President to provide disaster assistance to States and Indian 

Tribes under a major disaster recovery program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 10, 2020 

Mr. ROUZER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To authorize the President to provide disaster assistance 

to States and Indian Tribes under a major disaster recovery program, 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 ‘‘Natural Disaster Re5 covery Program Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. NATURAL DISASTER RECOVERY PROGRAM. 

7 The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer8 gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.) is amended 

9 by adding at the end of title IV the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 431. NATURAL DISASTER RECOVERY PROGRAM. 

2 ‘‘(a) AUTHORITY; USE.—The President may provide 

3 assistance under this section to States and Indian Tribes 

4 for unmet need, including necessary expenses for activities 

5 related to disaster relief, resiliency, long-term recovery, 

6 restoration of infrastructure and housing, mitigation, and 

7 economic revitalization after a major disaster is declared 

8 under section 401. 

9 ‘‘(b) COORDINATION OF DISASTER BENEFITS AND

10 DATA WITH OTHER FEDERAL AGENCIES.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The President shall coordi12 nate with other agencies to obtain data on recovery 

13 needs and unmet need, including the Administrator 

14 of the Small Business Administration and other 

15 agencies when necessary regarding disaster benefits. 

16 Not later than 90 days after a major disaster is de17 clared, the President shall make publicly available all 

18 data collected, possessed, or analyzed during the 

19 course of a disaster recovery for which assistance is 

20 provided under this section, including— 

21 ‘‘(A) all data on damage caused by the dis22 aster; 

23 ‘‘(B) information on how any Federal as24 sistance provided in connection with the dis25 aster is expended; 


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1 ‘‘(C) information regarding the effect of 

2 the disaster on education, transportation capa3 bilities and dependence, housing needs, health 

4 care capacity, and displacement of persons; and 

5 ‘‘(D) the extent of the unmet need. 

6 ‘‘(2) PROTECTION OF PERSONALLY IDENTIFI7 ABLE INFORMATION.—In carrying out this sub8 section, the President and the grantee shall take 

9 such actions as may be necessary to ensure that per10 sonally identifiable information regarding recipients 

11 of assistance provided under this section is not made 

12 publicly available by any agency with which informa13 tion is shared pursuant to this subsection. 

14 ‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.— 

15 ‘‘(1) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.— 

16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A State or Indian 

17 Tribe receiving a grant under this section may 

18 use not more than 13 percent of the amount of 

19 grant funds received, or within such other per20 centage as may be established pursuant to sub21 paragraph (B), for administrative costs, includ22 ing costs related to audits, reviews, oversight, 

23 evaluation, and investigations. 

24 ‘‘(B) DISCRETION TO ESTABLISH SLIDING

25 SCALE.—The President may establish a series 


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1 of percentage limitations on the amount of 

2 grant funds received that may be used by a 

3 grantee for administrative costs, but only if— 

4 ‘‘(i) such percentage limitations are 

5 based on the amount of grant funds re6 ceived by a grantee; and 

7 ‘‘(ii) such series provides that the per8 centage that may be used is lower for 

9 grantees receiving a greater amount of 

10 grant funds and such percentage that may 

11 be used is higher for grantees receiving a 

12 lesser amount of grant funds. 

13 ‘‘(2) CAPACITY BUILDING.—From funds made 

14 available for use under this section, the President 

15 shall provide necessary technical assistance to grant16 ees to ensure grantees are compliant with Federal 

17 law, and capacity building and technical assistance, 

18 including assistance regarding contracting and pro19 curement processes, including providing solicitation 

20 and contractual templates that conform to Federal 

21 requirements for use by grantees. 

22 ‘‘(d) ALLOCATION, PROCESS, AND PROCEDURES; CO23 ORDINATION.— 

24 ‘‘(1) ALLOCATION.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The President shall 

2 allocate funds under this section proportionally 

3 to grantees based on their level of unmet need 

4 as determined pursuant to subsection (b). 

5 ‘‘(B) GRANTEE USE OF FUNDS.—Each 

6 grantee, not the President, shall be responsible 

7 for determining how funds provided under this 

8 section are prioritized and spent and a grantee 

9 shall not be required to provide an action or 

10 spending plan before or after funds are allo11 cated, except that the grantee shall use a por12 tion of these funds for cleaning and removing 

13 debris from rivers, creeks, streams, and ditches. 

14 ‘‘(C) LIMITATION.—Notwithstanding sec15 tion 312, a loan shall not be considered a dupli16 cation of benefits or otherwise impact the level 

17 of unmet need under this section. 

18 ‘‘(2) GRANTEE PROCESSES AND PROCE19 DURES.— 

20 ‘‘(A) INITIAL GRANT FUNDS.—Initially, 

21 grantees shall be awarded 50 percent of their 

22 total allocation under paragraph (1). After ex23 penditure of such amount, a grantee shall sub24 mit a report, detailing how such grant funds 

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1 tions of the House of Representatives and the 

2 Senate, the Committee on Transportation and 

3 Infrastructure of the House of Representatives 

4 and the Committee on Environment and Public 

5 Works of the Senate. Such report shall include 

6 a certification from the State Auditor that none 

7 of the funds were wasted or used inappropri8 ately. 

9 ‘‘(B) CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL.— 

10 ‘‘(i) APPROVAL.—Not later than 60 

11 days after receipt of the report under sub12 paragraph (A), Congress shall approve or 

13 disapprove the report. If the report is ap14 proved, or if 60 days has lapsed and Con15 gress has not commented on the report, 

16 the remaining 50 percent of the allocation 

17 under paragraph (1) shall be released to 

18 the grantee. 

19 ‘‘(ii) DISAPPROVAL.—If Congress dis20 approves the report, the grantee shall work 

21 with Congress to address any and all con22 cerns regarding how the initial 50 percent 

23 of the grant money was expended. Once 

24 these concerns are resolved, the remaining 

25 funds shall be released to the grantee. 


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1 ‘‘(iii) FRAUD OR ABUSE.—If Congress 

2 determines that a grantee committed fraud 

3 or abuse, Congress shall require the Presi4 dent to recover all funds provided to the 

5 grantee under this section. Any amount re6 covered under this clause shall be redistrib7 uted to other grantees with approved re8 ports pursuant to clause (i). 

9 ‘‘(3) REQUIREMENTS.—Each State and Indian 

10 Tribe that receives funds under this section shall es11 tablish or adhere to existing guidelines for procure12 ment processes and procedures and require that sub13 grantees— 

14 ‘‘(A) provide for full and open competition 

15 and require cost or price analysis; 

16 ‘‘(B) specify methods of procurement and 

17 their applicability, but not allow cost-plus-a-per18 centage-of cost or percentage-of-construction19 cost methods of procurement; 

20 ‘‘(C) include standards of conduct gov21 erning employees engaged in the award or ad22 ministration of contracts; and 

23 ‘‘(D) ensure that all purchase orders and 

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1 eral statute, Executive order, or implementing 

2 regulation. 

3 ‘‘(e) ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW.—Recipients of funds 

4 received under this section that use funds to supplement 

5 funds provided under section 402, 403, 404, 406, 407, 

6 408(c)(4), 428, or 502 may adopt, without review or pub7 lic comment, any environmental review, approval, or per8 mit performed by a Federal agency. 

9 ‘‘(f) BEST PRACTICES.—The President shall identify 

10 best practices for grantees on issues including developing 

11 action plans, establishing financial controls, building 

12 grantee technical and administrative capacity, procure13 ment, and use of grant funds as local match for other 

14 sources of Federal funding. Not later than 1 year after 

15 the date of enactment of this section, the President shall 

16 publish a compilation of such identified best practices and 

17 share with all relevant grantees to facilitate a more effi18 cient and effective disaster recovery process. 

19 ‘‘(g) NATURAL DISASTER RECOVERY RESERVE

20 FUND.— 

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is established in the 

22 Treasury of the United States an account to be 

23 known as the Natural Disaster Recovery Reserve 

24 Fund (in this section referred to as the ‘Fund’). 


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1 ‘‘(2) AMOUNTS.—The Fund shall consist of any 

2 amounts appropriated to or deposited into the Fund, 

3 including amounts deposited into the Fund pursuant 

4 to paragraph (4). 

5 ‘‘(3) USE OF FUNDS.—Amounts in the Fund 

6 shall be available, pursuant to a declaration of a 

7 major disaster, only for providing technical assist8 ance and capacity building in connection with sub9 section (c)(4) for grantees that have been allocated 

10 assistance under this section in connection with such 

11 disaster to facilitate planning and increase capacity 

12 to administer assistance under this section. 

13 ‘‘(4) UNUSED AMOUNTS.—If any amounts made 

14 available for assistance under this section to grant15 ees remain unexpended on the earlier of— 

16 ‘‘(A) the date that the grantee of such 

17 amounts notifies the President that the grantee 

18 has completed all activities; or 

19 ‘‘(B) except as provided in paragraph (5), 

20 the expiration of the 6-year period beginning 

21 when the President obligates such amounts to 

22 the grantee, the President shall transfer such 

23 unexpended amounts to the Secretary of the 

24 Treasury for deposit into the Fund, except that 


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1 the President may permit the grantee to retain 

2 amounts needed to close out the grant. 

3 ‘‘(5) EXTENSION OF PERIOD FOR USE OF

4 FUNDS.—The period under paragraph (4)(B) may 

5 be extended by not more than 4 years if, before the 

6 expiration of such 6-year period, the President 

7 waives this requirement and submits a written jus8 tification for such waiver to the Committees on Ap9 propriations of the House of Representatives and the 

10 Senate that specifies the period of such extension. 

11 ‘‘(h) WAIVER AUTHORITY.—Until such time as the 

12 President issues regulations to implement this section, the 

13 President may— 

14 ‘‘(1) waive notice and comment rulemaking, if 

15 the President determines the waiver is necessary to 

16 expeditiously implement the provisions of this sec17 tion; and 

18 ‘‘(2) carry out the grant program under this 

19 section as a pilot program. 

20 ‘‘(i) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the 

21 following terms shall apply: 

22 ‘‘(1) STATE AUDITOR.—The term ‘State audi23 tor’ means the individual selected by each State or 

24 the Chief Executive to submit information pursuant 


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1 to subsection (c)(3) and a certification in accordance 

2 with subsection (d)(2)(A). 

3 ‘‘(2) UNMET NEED.—The term ‘unmet need’ 

4 means any un-resourced item, support, or assistance 

5 that has been assessed and verified as necessary for 

6 a survivor to recover from a major disaster, includ7 ing food, clothing, shelter, first aid, emotional and 

8 spiritual care, household items, home repair, or re9 building.’’. 

Æ 


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