II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3691 

To minimize the economic and social costs resulting from losses of life, 

property, well-being, business activity, and economic growth associated 

with extreme weather events by ensuring that the United States is 

more resilient to the impacts of extreme weather events in the shortand long-term, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 19, 2012 

Mr. KERRY (for himself, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, and Mr. LAUTENBERG) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To minimize the economic and social costs resulting from 

losses of life, property, well-being, business activity, and 

economic growth associated with extreme weather events 

by ensuring that the United States is more resilient 

to the impacts of extreme weather events in the shortand long-term, 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 ‘‘Strengthening The Re3 siliency of Our Nation on the Ground Act’’ or the 

4 ‘‘STRONG Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

6 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find7 ings: 

8 (1) Extreme weather has serious economic costs 

9 for Americans, American businesses, and State, 

10 local, and tribal governments. Droughts, floods, hur11 ricanes, tornadoes, extreme heat, and extreme cold 

12 cause death, result in loss of property and well13 being, especially among the most vulnerable popu14 lations, and negatively impact business activity and 

15 economic growth. 

16 (2) In the past 30 years, there have been more 

17 than 130 weather-related disasters in the United 

18 States that each generated at least $1,000,000,000 

19 in damages or more than $880,000,000,000 in total 

20 standardized loss. In addition, there have been many 

21 other extreme weather events that generated less 

22 than $1,000,000,000 in damages, but still caused 

23 immeasurable harm to the Nation’s citizens, infra24 structure, and economy. 

25 (3) Hurricane Sandy, which devastated the 

26 eastern United States in late October 2012, resulted 


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1 in more than 100 deaths, the evacuation of hundreds 

2 of thousands of people from their homes, power out3 ages affecting more than 8,500,000 homes, massive 

4 flooding, gasoline shortages, and a crippled regional 

5 energy and transportation infrastructure. The esti6 mated total economic losses could exceed 

7 $70,000,000,000. 

8 (4) Hurricane Katrina led to more than 1,800 

9 deaths, property damage exceeding 

10 $80,000,000,000, more than $120,000,000,000 in 

11 Federal spending, and long-term impacts on the 

12 economy and livelihoods of those living in the Gulf 

13 Coast region. 

14 (5) In 2011, one of the most severe and costly 

15 years for weather and climate on record, extreme 

16 weather hit every region in the United States, result17 ing in— 

18 (A) prolonged droughts in the South and 

19 the West; 

20 (B) deadly floods in the Southeast and 

21 Midwest; 

22 (C) hundreds of devastating tornadoes 

23 across the United States; 

24 (D) Hurricane Irene in the Northeast; 


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1 (E) more than $50,000,000,000 in weath2 er-related damages; 

3 (F) 14 extreme weather events, which re4 sulted in more than $1,000,000,000 in damages 

5 each and caused a combined death toll of hun6 dreds of people; and 

7 (G) many other extreme weather events 

8 with lesser, but still significant, impacts. 

9 (6) There have been many similar extreme 

10 weather events in 2012. During the 10-month period 

11 ending in October 2012, there have been— 

12 (A) drought conditions in more than 60 

13 percent of the contiguous United States at the 

14 peak of the drought, including more than 2,200 

15 counties that have received disaster designa16 tions from the Secretary of Agriculture due to 

17 the drought; 

18 (B) deadly floods in Minnesota, Tropical 

19 Storm Debby in Florida, and Hurricane Isaac 

20 in Louisiana; 

21 (C) destructive wildfires on more than 

22 9,000,000 acres across 37 States; 

23 (D) power outages affecting more than 

24 3,400,000 homes due to severe storms during 

25 the summer; and 


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1 (E) deadly heat waves, highlighted by July 

2 as the warmest month on record for the contig3 uous United States and more than 9,600 daily 

4 high temperature records broken during June, 

5 July, and August. 

6 (7) These events and natural disaster trends, 

7 when combined with the volatility of weather, ongo8 ing demographic changes, and development in high 

9 risk areas, indicate that the negative impacts of ex10 treme weather events and natural disasters have the 

11 potential to increase over time. The fact that a sig12 nificant number of people and assets continue to be 

13 located in areas prone to volatile and extreme weath14 er indicates that these events will continue to be ex15 pensive and deadly if the United States fails to en16 hance its resiliency to such events. Recent studies 

17 show that the intensity and frequency of some types 

18 of, but not all, extreme weather events will likely in19 crease in the future. 

20 (8) Economic savings can be achieved by con21 sidering the impacts of extreme weather over the 

22 short- and long-term in the planning process. For 

23 example, a review of the Federal Emergency Man24 agement Agency’s hazard mitigation programs found 

25 that every dollar spent on hazard mitigation yields 


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1 a savings of $4 in future losses. Other studies point 

2 to even higher levels of savings. 

3 (9) There are several efforts currently under4 way at the Federal, regional, tribal, State, and local 

5 levels that have helped lay the foundation for a fed6 erally coordinated effort to increase the Nation’s re7 siliency to extreme weather events, such as the Hur8 ricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, the Presi9 dential Policy Directive on National Preparedness 

10 (referred to in this Act as ‘‘PPD–8’’), the National 

11 Preparedness System, the whole community ap12 proach led by the Department of Homeland Secu13 rity, and the Silver Jackets Program by the Army 

14 Corps of Engineers. Other recent reports on this 

15 subject include the National Academies of Sciences’ 

16 reports ‘‘Disaster Resilience: A National Imperative’’ 

17 and ‘‘Building Community Disaster Resilience 

18 through Public-Private Collaboration’’. 

19 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to mini20 mize the economic and social costs and future losses of 

21 life, property, well-being, business activity, and economic 

22 growth by making the United States more resilient to the 

23 impacts of extreme weather events over the short- and 

24 long-term, thereby creating business and job growth op25 portunities by— 


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1 (1) ensuring that the Federal Government is 

2 optimizing its use of existing resources and funding 

3 to support State, local, and tribal officials, busi4 nesses, and the public to become more resilient, in5 cluding— 

6 (A) encouraging the consideration of, and 

7 ways to incorporate, extreme weather resilience 

8 across Federal operations, programs, policies, 

9 and initiatives; 

10 (B) promoting improved coordination of 

11 existing and planned Federal extreme weather 

12 resilience and adaptation efforts that impact ex13 treme weather resilience and ensuring their co14 ordination with, and support of, State, local, re15 gional, and tribal efforts; 

16 (C) minimizing Federal policies that may 

17 unintentionally hinder or reduce resilience, such 

18 as damaging wetlands or other critical green in19 frastructure, or lead Federal agencies to oper20 ate at cross purposes in achieving extreme 

21 weather resilience; and 

22 (D) building upon existing related efforts, 

23 such as the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task 

24 Force, the PPD–8, the National Preparedness 

25 System, and the whole community approach; 


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1 (2) communicating the latest understanding 

2 and likely short- and long-term human and economic 

3 impacts and risks of extreme weather to businesses 

4 and the public; 

5 (3) supporting decisionmaking that improves 

6 resilience by providing forecasts and projections, 

7 data decision-support tools, and other information 

8 and mechanisms; and 

9 (4) establishing a consistent vision and strategic 

10 plan for extreme weather resilience across the Fed11 eral Government. 

12 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

13 In this Act: 

14 (1) EXTREME WEATHER.—The term ‘‘extreme 

15 weather’’ includes severe and unseasonable weather, 

16 heavy precipitation, hurricanes, storm surges, torna17 does, other windstorms (including derechos), extreme 

18 heat, extreme cold, and other qualifying weather 

19 events as determined by the interagency group es20 tablished under section 4(a)(1). 

21 (2) RESILIENCE.—The term ‘‘resilience’’ means 

22 the ability to prepare and plan for, absorb, recover 

23 from, and more successfully adapt to adverse events 

24 in a timely manner. 


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1 SEC. 4. EXTREME WEATHER RESILIENCE GAP AND OVER2 LAP ANALYSIS. 

3 (a) INTERAGENCY WORKING GROUP.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.— 

5 (A) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director of 

6 the Office of Science and Technology Policy (re7 ferred to in this section as the ‘‘Director’’), 

8 with input from the Department of Homeland 

9 Security, shall establish and chair an inter10 agency working group with Cabinet-level rep11 resentation from all relevant Federal agencies. 

12 (B) DUTIES.—The working group shall— 

13 (i) come together to provide a stra14 tegic vision of extreme weather resilience; 

15 (ii) conduct a gap and overlap anal16 ysis of Federal agencies’ current and 

17 planned activities related to achieving 

18 short- and long-term resilience to extreme 

19 weather and its impacts on the Nation, 

20 such as storm surge, flooding, drought, 

21 and wildfires; and 

22 (iii) develop a National Extreme 

23 Weather Resilience Plan in accordance 

24 with section 5(a). 

25 (2) ADDITIONAL REPRESENTATION FROM EXEC26 UTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT.—The interVerDate Mar 15 2010 05:25 Dec 27, 2012 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3691.IS S3691

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1 agency working group established under paragraph 

2 (1) shall include representatives of the relevant of3 fices and councils within the Executive Office of the 

4 President, including— 

5 (A) the Office of Management and Budget; 

6 (B) the National Security Staff; 

7 (C) the Council of Economic Advisors; 

8 (D) the Council on Environmental Quality; 

9 and 

10 (E) the Domestic Policy Council. 

11 (3) CONSULTATION WITH STATE, LOCAL, AND

12 TRIBAL REPRESENTATIVES.— 

13 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Federal inter14 agency working group established under para15 graph (1) shall work closely with an advisory 

16 group to take into account the needs of State, 

17 local, and tribal entities across all regions of the 

18 United States. The advisory group shall consist 

19 of— 

20 (i) 1 representative from the National 

21 Emergency Management Association; 

22 (ii) 7 representatives from States and 

23 State associations; and 

24 (iii) 8 representatives from local enti25 ties and associations, including representaVerDate Mar 15 2010 05:25 Dec 27, 2012 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3691.IS S3691

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1 tion from a tribal nation and at least 1 

2 major metropolitan area. 

3 (B) KEY SECTORS.—The representatives 

4 described in subparagraph (A) shall, in the ag5 gregate, represent all of the key sectors set 

6 forth in subsection (b)(1). 

7 (C) MEETINGS.—The Director shall meet 

8 with the representatives described in subpara9 graph (A) not fewer than 9 times during the 

10 development of— 

11 (i) the gap and overlap analysis under 

12 this section; and 

13 (ii) the National Extreme Weather 

14 Resilience Action Plan under section 5. 

15 (4) COOPERATION BY FEDERAL AGENCIES.—In 

16 carrying out the activities described in subsection 

17 (b), Federal agency representatives participating in 

18 the working group shall be forthright and shall fully 

19 cooperate with the Office of Science and Technology 

20 Policy. 

21 (5) DETAILEES.—Upon the request of the Di22 rector, each agency or entity referred to in para23 graph (1) shall provide the working group with a 

24 detailee, without reimbursement from the working 

25 group, to support the activities described in subVerDate Mar 15 2010 05:25 Dec 27, 2012 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3691.IS S3691

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1 section (b), section 5, and section 7(a). Such detailee 

2 shall retain the rights, status, and privileges of his 

3 or her regular employment without interruption. 

4 (6) VOLUNTEER SERVICES.—Notwithstanding 

5 section 1342 of title 31, United States Code, the 

6 working group may investigate and use such vol7 untary services as the working group determines to 

8 be necessary. 

9 (b) GAP AND OVERLAP ANALYSIS.—In conducting 

10 the gap and overlap analysis required under subsection 

11 (a)(1), Federal agency representatives shall— 

12 (1) develop a Federal Government-wide working 

13 vision for resilience to the impacts of extreme weath14 er events in the short- and long-term, in accordance 

15 with the purpose set forth in section 2(b), through 

16 an effort led by the Director and the interagency 

17 working group, which includes goals and objectives 

18 for key sectors. Key sectors shall include— 

19 (A) agriculture; 

20 (B) forestry and natural resources man21 agement; 

22 (C) water management, including supply 

23 and treatment; 

24 (D) energy supply and transmission; 


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1 (E) infrastructure, including natural and 

2 built forms of water and wastewater, transpor3 tation, coastal infrastructure, and other land4 scapes and ecosystems services; 

5 (F) public health and healthcare delivery, 

6 including mental health and hazardous mate7 rials management; 

8 (G) communications, including wireless 

9 communications; 

10 (H) housing and other buildings; 

11 (I) national security; 

12 (J) emergency preparedness; 

13 (K) insurance; and 

14 (L) other sectors that the Director con15 siders appropriate; 

16 (2) consider and identify the interdependencies 

17 among the key sectors when developing the vision re18 ferred to in paragraph (1); 

19 (3) create summaries of the existing and 

20 planned efforts and programmatic work underway or 

21 relevant to supporting State, local, and tribal stake22 holders in achieving greater extreme weather resil23 ience in the short and long term for each sector 

24 identified under paragraph (1) and across the sec25 tors, specifically including summaries of— 


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1 (A) individual Federal agency programs, 

2 policies, regulations, and initiatives, and re3 search and data collection and dissemination ef4 forts; 

5 (B) areas of collaboration and coordination 

6 across Federal agencies; and 

7 (C) areas of coordination with State, local, 

8 and tribal agencies, private entities, and re9 gional cooperation; 

10 (4) identify specific Federal programs, statutes, 

11 regulations, policies, and initiatives which may unin12 tentionally hinder resilience efforts, including an 

13 analysis of disincentives, barriers, and incompatible 

14 programs, policies, or initiatives across agencies and 

15 sectors; 

16 (5) examine how the severity and frequency of 

17 extreme weather events at the local and regional 

18 level may change in the future and communicate 

19 these potential risks to stakeholders; 

20 (6) work together to identify and evaluate exist21 ing Federal tools and data to describe, analyze, fore22 cast, and model the potential impacts identified 

23 under paragraph (5) and develop recommendations 

24 to strengthen their ability to provide reliable and acVerDate Mar 15 2010 05:25 Dec 27, 2012 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3691.IS S3691

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1 curate forecasts at the national, regional, State, and 

2 local levels; 

3 (7) identify gaps and overlaps in Federal agen4 cy work, resources, and authorities that impair the 

5 ability of the United States to meet the vision for 

6 short- and long-term extreme weather resilience, by 

7 comparing the goals and objectives identified for 

8 each sector and across sectors with the summaries 

9 identified in paragraph (3), specifically identifying 

10 gaps relating to— 

11 (A) individual Federal agency programs, 

12 policies, and initiatives, and research data col13 lection and dissemination efforts; 

14 (B) areas of collaboration and coordination 

15 across Federal agencies; and 

16 (C) areas of coordination with State, local, 

17 and tribal agencies and private entities, and re18 gional cooperation; 

19 (8) determine potential measures to address the 

20 issues referred to in paragraph (4) and to address 

21 the gaps and overlaps referred to in paragraph (7) 

22 by— 

23 (A) designating individual or multiple Fed24 eral agencies to address these gaps; 


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1 (B) building upon existing delivery mecha2 nisms; 

3 (C) evaluating options for programs, poli4 cies, and initiatives that may particularly ben5 efit extreme weather resilience efforts, including 

6 the role of ecosystem-based approaches; 

7 (D) recommending modifications to exist8 ing Federal agency programs, statutes, regula9 tions, policies, and initiatives to better support 

10 extreme weather resiliency; 

11 (E) requesting new authorities and re12 source requirements, if needed; and 

13 (F) identifying existing Federal Govern14 ment processes that can be built upon to ad15 dress the purpose of this Act; and 

16 (9) establish, with the assistance of the General 

17 Services Administration or such other Federal agen18 cy as the Director may designate, a Federal advisory 

19 working group to provide ongoing collective input to 

20 the process. 

21 (c) WORKING GROUP.—The Federal advisory work22 ing group established pursuant to subsection (b)(9) shall 

23 consist of relevant private sector, academic, State and 

24 local government, tribal nation, regional organization, vul25 nerable population, and nongovernmental representatives, 


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1 with representation from each sector described in para2 graph (1). The Director may designate an existing Federal 

3 advisory committee under which the working group would 

4 operate independently, with the same rights and privileges 

5 held by members of the advisory committee. The members 

6 of the working group established pursuant to subsection 

7 (b)(9) may not simultaneously serve as members of the 

8 advisory committee designated pursuant to this sub9 section. The activities of the working group should com10 plement and not duplicate the stakeholder process con11 ducted under PPD–8. 

12 SEC. 5. NATIONAL EXTREME WEATHER RESILIENCE AC13 TION PLAN. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Based on the results of the gap 

15 and overlap analysis conducted under section 4, the Direc16 tor, working with the interagency working group estab17 lished under such section, and considering the efforts de18 scribed in section 2(a)(9), shall develop a National Ex19 treme Weather Resilience Action Plan (referred to in this 

20 section as the ‘‘Plan’’)— 

21 (1) to build upon existing Federal Government 

22 processes referred to in section 4(b)(8)(F)— 

23 (A) to address the results of the gap and 

24 overlap analysis under section 4; and 


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1 (B) to incorporate the activities required 

2 under subsection (c); 

3 (2) to best utilize existing resources and pro4 grams through improved interagency coordination 

5 and collaboration; 

6 (3) to improve Federal coordination with exist7 ing regional entities, State, local and tribal govern8 ments, networks, and private stakeholders; 

9 (4) to make data and tools accessible and un10 derstandable and to help facilitate information ex11 change for tribal, State, and local officials, busi12 nesses, and other stakeholders in a manner that ad13 dresses the needs expressed by these stakeholders; 

14 (5) to facilitate public-private partnerships; 

15 (6) to improve Federal agencies’ economic ana16 lytical capacity to assess— 

17 (A) the likelihood and potential costs of ex18 treme weather impacts by region and nation19 ally; and 

20 (B) the relative benefits of potential resil21 ience measures to multiple stakeholders; 

22 (7) to provide tools to stakeholders— 

23 (A) to conduct analyses similar to those 

24 described in paragraph (6); and 

25 (B) to support decisionmaking; 


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1 (8) to support resiliency plans developed by 

2 State and local governments, regional entities, and 

3 tribal nations, to the extent possible; and 

4 (9) to request further resources, if necessary, to 

5 fill in gaps to enable national resilience to extreme 

6 weather, including resilience of tribal nations and 

7 particularly vulnerable populations, and the use of 

8 green infrastructure and ecosystem-based solutions. 

9 (b) COOPERATION.—Any Federal agency representa10 tive contacted by the Director, in the course of developing 

11 the Plan, shall be forthright and shall fully cooperate with 

12 the Office of Science and Technology Policy, as requested. 

13 (c) REQUIRED ACTIVITIES.— 

14 (1) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The Plan shall include 

15 specific Federal agency and interagency responsibil16 ities, identify potential new authorities, if necessary, 

17 and employ risk analysis— 

18 (A) to address the gaps identified through 

19 the gap and overlap analysis; and 

20 (B) to improve Federal interagency coordi21 nation and Federal coordination with State, re22 gional, local, and tribal partners. 

23 (2) AVAILABLE FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES.— 

24 (A) IDENTIFICATION.—The Director shall 

25 identify— 


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1 (i) existing Federal grant programs 

2 and other funding opportunities available 

3 to support State, local, and tribal govern4 ment extreme weather resiliency planning 

5 efforts; or 

6 (ii) projects to advance extreme 

7 weather resiliency. 

8 (B) PUBLICATION.—The Director shall 

9 publish the information described in subpara10 graph (A) in the information clearinghouse 

11 identified in paragraph (3). 

12 (C) RESPONSIBILITIES.—Each partici13 pating agency shall— 

14 (i) consider incorporating criteria or 

15 guidance into existing relevant Federal 

16 grant and other funding opportunities to 

17 better support State, local, and tribal ef18 forts to improve extreme weather resil19 iency; and 

20 (ii) evaluate and modify existing Fed21 eral funding opportunities, as appropriate, 

22 to maximize the return on investment for 

23 pre-disaster mitigation activities. 

24 (3) INFORMATION CLEARINGHOUSE.— 

25 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Plan shall— 


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1 (i) include the establishment of an on2 line, publicly available information clear3 inghouse for use by Federal agencies, their 

4 partners, and stakeholders to inform resil5 ience-enhancing efforts; and 

6 (ii) build off and be complementary to 

7 existing Federal efforts, including 

8 data.gov. 

9 (B) MAINTENANCE.—The coordinating en10 tity identified under paragraph (3) shall be re11 sponsible for establishing and maintaining the 

12 information clearinghouse. 

13 (C) INFORMATION SUPPLIED.—Informa14 tion shall be supplied as requested by Federal 

15 agencies, their partners, academia, and private 

16 stakeholders, in coordination with regional, 

17 State, local, and tribal agencies. 

18 (D) CONTENTS.—The information clear19 inghouse established under this paragraph shall 

20 include coordinated and systematic information 

21 on— 

22 (i) best or model practices; 

23 (ii) data; 

24 (iii) case studies; 

25 (iv) indicators; 


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1 (v) scientific reports; 

2 (vi) resilience and vulnerability assess3 ments; 

4 (vii) guidance documents and design 

5 standards; 

6 (viii) incentives; 

7 (ix) education and communication ini8 tiatives; 

9 (x) decision support tools, including 

10 risk management, short- and long-term 

11 economic analysis, and predictive models; 

12 (xi) planning tools; 

13 (xii) public and private sources of as14 sistance; and 

15 (xiii) such other information as the 

16 coordinating entity considers appropriate. 

17 (4) COORDINATING ENTITY.—The Plan shall 

18 include the identification of a Federal agency, inter19 agency council, office, or program, which partici20 pated in the gap and overlap analysis and Plan de21 velopment. Such entity shall— 

22 (A) coordinate the implementation of the 

23 Plan; 

24 (B) track the progress of such implementa25 tion; and 


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1 (C) transfer responsibilities to another 

2 Federal agency, interagency council, office, or 

3 program to serve as the coordinating entity if 

4 the entities participating in the working group 

5 agree that circumstances necessitate such a 

6 change. 

7 (5) RESILIENCY OFFICER.—Each Federal agen8 cy that assists with the gap and overlap analysis re9 quired under section 4 shall designate, from among 

10 the agency’s senior management, a Senior Resiliency 

11 Officer, who shall— 

12 (A) facilitate the implementation of the 

13 agency’s responsibilities under paragraph (1); 

14 (B) monitor the agency’s progress and per15 formance in implementing its responsibilities 

16 under paragraph (1); 

17 (C) report the agency’s progress and per18 formance to the head of the agency and the co19 ordinating entity identified under paragraph 

20 (3); and 

21 (D) serve as the agency lead in ongoing co22 ordination efforts within the Federal agency 

23 and between the coordinating entity, other Fed24 eral agencies, public and private partners, and 

25 stakeholders. 


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1 (d) PUBLICATION.— 

2 (1) DRAFT PLAN.—Not later than 420 days 

3 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Di4 rector shall publish a draft of the Plan developed 

5 under this section in the Federal Register. 

6 (2) PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD.—During the 

7 60-day period beginning on the date on which the 

8 draft Plan is published under paragraph (1), the Di9 rector shall— 

10 (A) solicit comment from the public; and 

11 (B) conduct a briefing for Congress to ex12 plain the provisions contained in the draft Plan. 

13 (3) FINAL PLAN.—Not later than 120 days 

14 after the end of the public comment period described 

15 in paragraph (2), the Director shall publish the final 

16 Plan in the Federal Register. 

17 (e) IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 630 days 

18 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director 

19 shall begin implementing the final Plan published under 

20 subsection (d)(3). 

21 (f) FINANCING.—To the extent possible— 

22 (1) Federal funding should be used to leverage 

23 private sector financing for resilience building activi24 ties, consistent with the implementation of the Plan, 

25 through public-private partnerships; and 


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1 (2) Federal grant and loan programs of the 

2 Federal agencies participating in the interagency 

3 working group for this effort shall consider extreme 

4 weather resilience as a key factor when awarding 

5 funding, including the projected extreme weather 

6 risk to a project over the course of its expected life. 

7 (g) TRIBAL, STATE, AND LOCAL RESPONSIBIL8 ITIES.—The Plan may not place new unfunded require9 ments on State or local governments. 

10 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF OTHER ACTIVITIES. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Federal agencies are authorized 

12 to develop tools and disseminate information to improve 

13 extreme weather resilience in the key sectors set forth in 

14 section 4(b)(1). 

15 (b) OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POL16 ICY.—In conducting the gap and overlap analysis under 

17 section 4 and developing the National Extreme Weather 

18 Resilience Action Plan under section 5, the Director may 

19 carry out additional activities in support of the purpose 

20 of this Act. 

21 SEC. 7. REPORTS. 

22 (a) GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE RE23 PORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date of the enact24 ment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United 

25 States shall submit a report to Congress that— 


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1 (1) identifies existing Federal Government pro2 grams and policies related to disaster relief, re3 sponse, and recovery that impede improving short4 and long-term extreme weather resilience; and 

5 (2) make recommendations for how the pro6 grams or policies could be structured differently to 

7 better support short- and long-term resilience after 

8 an extreme weather event. 

9 (b) INITIAL REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after 

10 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director shall 

11 submit a report to Congress that contains— 

12 (1) the results of the gap and overlap analysis; 

13 (2) the final National Extreme Weather Resil14 ience Action Plan; 

15 (3) an update on the implementation of the 

16 plan; and 

17 (4) available resources for the sustained imple18 mentation of the plan. 

19 (c) TRIENNIAL REPORTS.—Not later than 2 years 

20 after the submission of the report under subsection (a), 

21 and every 3 years thereafter, the coordinating entity iden22 tified under section 5(c)(3), in cooperation with the inter23 agency working group established under section 4(a), shall 

24 submit a report to Congress that— 


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•S 3691 IS

1 (1) contains an update of the National Extreme 

2 Weather Resilience Action Plan; 

3 (2) describes the progress of the plan’s imple4 mentation; 

5 (3) improves upon the original analysis as more 

6 information and understanding about extreme 

7 weather events becomes available; 

8 (4) establishes criteria for prioritization of ac9 tivities described in the plan; 

10 (5) reconsiders and makes changes to the plan 

11 based on the availability of new information de12 scribed in paragraph (3); and 

13 (6) identifies cost-effective changes to laws, 

14 policies, or regulations that could advance the pur15 pose of this Act. 

16 (d) FEMA REPORTS ON FUNDING.— 

17 (1) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

18 (A) The Federal Emergency Management 

19 Agency grant programs are a key vehicle that 

20 exists to fund activities related to resiliency 

21 planning and projects. 

22 (B) In order to ensure that the United 

23 States becomes more resilient to extreme weath24 er, it is important to ensure that sufficient reVerDate Mar 15 2010 05:25 Dec 27, 2012 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00027 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3691.IS S3691

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•S 3691 IS

1 sources are available to support resiliency ac2 tivities 

3 (2) REPORTS.—At the end of each fiscal year, 

4 the Director of the Federal Emergency Management 

5 Agency (referred to in this paragraph as ‘‘FEMA’’) 

6 shall submit a report to Congress that— 

7 (A) identifies the amounts that were made 

8 available to the FEMA during such fiscal year 

9 for State, local, and tribal entities to use for ac10 tivities that support the purposes of this Act; 

11 (B) identifies the amounts disbursed by 

12 FEMA to State, local, and tribal entities during 

13 such fiscal year for such activities; 

14 (C) describes the resources requested by 

15 State, local, and tribal entities for activities 

16 that support the purposes of this Act; and 

17 (D) identifies the difference between the 

18 amounts disbursed by FEMA and the amounts 

19 requested from FEMA by State, local, and trib20 al entities. 

21 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

22 (a) AMOUNTS FOR ANALYSIS, PLAN DEVELOPMENT

23 AND IMPLEMENTATION, AND REPORTS.—There are au24 thorized to be appropriated such sums as may be nec25 essary for fiscal years 2013 through 2015— 


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•S 3691 IS

1 (1) to conduct the gap and overlap analysis re2 quired under section 4; 

3 (2) to conduct the activities required under sec4 tion 5, including the creation and maintenance of 

5 the information clearinghouse; and 

6 (3) to prepare the reports to Congress required 

7 under subsections (b) and (c) of section 7. 

8 (b) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Amounts appro9 priated pursuant to subsection (a) shall remain available 

10 for the purposes set forth in such subsection through De11 cember 31, 2015. 

Æ 


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