I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2227 

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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 1, 2015 

Mr. PETERS (for himself, Mr. MURPHY of Florida, Mr. CARTWRIGHT, Mrs. 

CAPPS, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. POCAN, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. POLIS, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. HECK of Washington, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. HUFFMAN, Ms. 

SINEMA, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. TONKO, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. RENACCI, and 

Mr. THOMPSON of California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

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 and 

10 local governments. Hurricanes, droughts, floods, tor11 nadoes, extreme heat, and extreme cold cause death, 

12 result in loss of property and well-being, especially 

13 among the most vulnerable populations, and nega14 tively impact business activity and economic growth. 

15 (2) Superstorm Sandy, which devastated the 

16 Eastern United States in late October 2012, re17 sulted in more than 100 deaths, the evacuation of 

18 hundreds of thousands of people from their homes, 

19 power outages affecting more than 8,500,000 homes, 

20 massive flooding, gasoline shortages, and a crippled 

21 regional energy and transportation infrastructure. 

22 As a result of this storm, Congress passed the Dis23 aster Relief Appropriations Act, 2013, which appro24 priated $50,500,000,000 for post-Sandy recovery ef25 forts. 


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1 (3) In the past 30 years, there have been more 

2 than 130 weather-related disasters in the United 

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

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

5 standardized loss. In addition, there have been many 

6 other extreme weather events that generated less 

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

8 immeasurable harm to the Nation’s citizens, infra9 structure, and economy. 

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

11 deaths, property damage exceeding 

12 $80,000,000,000, more than $120,000,000,000 in 

13 Federal spending, and long-term impacts on the 

14 economy and livelihoods of those living in the Gulf 

15 Coast region. 

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

17 years for weather and climate on record, extreme 

18 weather hit every region in the United States, result19 ing in— 

20 (A) prolonged droughts in the South and 

21 the West; 

22 (B) deadly floods in the Southeast and 

23 Midwest; 

24 (C) hundreds of devastating tornadoes 

25 across the United States; 


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1 (D) Hurricane Irene in the Northeast; 

2 (E) more than $50,000,000,000 in weath3 er-related damages; 

4 (F) 14 extreme weather events, which re5 sulted in more than $1,000,000,000 in damages 

6 each and caused a combined death toll of hun7 dreds of people; and 

8 (G) many other extreme weather events 

9 with lesser, but still significant, impacts. 

10 (6) In 2012, in addition to Superstorm Sandy, 

11 the United States experienced— 

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 2005 review of the Federal Emergency 

24 Management Agency’s hazard mitigation programs, 

25 conducted by the National Institute of Building 


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1 Sciences’ Multi-Hazard Mitigation Council, found 

2 that every dollar spent on hazard mitigation yields 

3 a savings of $4 in future losses. 

4 (9) There are several efforts currently under5 way at the Federal, regional, tribal, State, and local 

6 levels that have helped lay the foundation for a fed7 erally coordinated effort to increase the Nation’s re8 siliency to extreme weather events, such as the Hur9 ricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, the Presi10 dential Policy Directive on National Preparedness 

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

12 Preparedness System, the whole community ap13 proach led by the Department of Homeland Secu14 rity, and the Silver Jackets Program by the Army 

15 Corps of Engineers. Other recent reports on this 

16 subject include the National Academies of Sciences’ 

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

18 and ‘‘Building Community Disaster Resilience 

19 through Public-Private Collaboration’’. 

20 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to mini21 mize the economic and social costs and future losses of 

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

23 growth by making the United States more resilient to the 

24 impacts of extreme weather events over the short- and 


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1 long-term, thereby creating business and job growth op2 portunities by— 

3 (1) ensuring that the Federal Government is 

4 optimizing its use of existing resources and funding 

5 to support State and local officials, businesses, tribal 

6 nations, and the public to become more resilient, in7 cluding— 

8 (A) encouraging the consideration of, and 

9 ways to incorporate, extreme weather resilience 

10 across Federal operations, programs, policies, 

11 and initiatives; 

12 (B) promoting improved coordination of 

13 existing and planned Federal extreme weather 

14 resilience and adaptation efforts that impact ex15 treme weather resilience and ensuring their co16 ordination with, and support of, State, local, re17 gional, and tribal efforts; 

18 (C) minimizing Federal policies that may 

19 unintentionally hinder or reduce resilience, such 

20 as damaging wetlands or other critical green in21 frastructure, or lead Federal agencies to oper22 ate at cross-purposes in achieving extreme 

23 weather resilience; and 

24 (D) building upon existing related efforts, 

25 such as the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task 


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1 Force, the PPD–8, the National Preparedness 

2 System, and the whole community approach; 

3 (2) communicating the latest understanding 

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

5 impacts and risks of extreme weather to businesses 

6 and the public; 

7 (3) supporting decisionmaking that improves 

8 resilience by providing forecasts and projections, 

9 data decision-support tools, and other information 

10 and mechanisms; and 

11 (4) establishing a consistent vision and strategic 

12 plan for extreme weather resilience across the Fed13 eral Government. 

14 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

15 In this Act: 

16 (1) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

17 the Director of the Office of Science and Technology 

18 Policy. 

19 (2) EXTREME WEATHER.—The term ‘‘extreme 

20 weather’’ includes severe and unseasonable weather, 

21 heavy precipitation, hurricanes, storm surges, torna22 does, other windstorms (including derechos), extreme 

23 heat, extreme cold, and other qualifying weather 

24 events as determined by the interagency group es25 tablished under section 4(a)(1). 


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1 (3) RESILIENCE.—The term ‘‘resilience’’ means 

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

3 from, and more successfully adapt to adverse events 

4 in a timely manner. 

5 SEC. 4. EXTREME WEATHER RESILIENCE GAP AND OVER6 LAP ANALYSIS. 

7 (a) INTERAGENCY WORKING GROUP.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.— 

9 (A) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director, with 

10 input from the Department of Homeland Secu11 rity, shall establish and chair an interagency 

12 working group with Cabinet-level representation 

13 from all relevant Federal agencies. 

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

15 (i) come together to provide a stra16 tegic vision of extreme weather resilience; 

17 (ii) conduct a gap and overlap anal18 ysis of Federal agencies’ current and 

19 planned activities related to achieving 

20 short- and long-term resilience to extreme 

21 weather and its impacts on the Nation, 

22 such as storm surge, flooding, drought, 

23 and wildfires; and 


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1 (iii) develop a National Extreme 

2 Weather Resilience Plan in accordance 

3 with section 5(a). 

4 (2) ADDITIONAL REPRESENTATION FROM EXEC5 UTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT.—The inter6 agency working group established under paragraph 

7 (1) shall include representatives of the relevant of8 fices and councils within the Executive Office of the 

9 President, including— 

10 (A) the Office of Management and Budget; 

11 (B) the National Security Staff; 

12 (C) the Council of Economic Advisors; 

13 (D) the Council on Environmental Quality; 

14 and 

15 (E) the Domestic Policy Council. 

16 (3) CONSULTATION WITH TRIBAL, STATE, AND

17 LOCAL REPRESENTATIVES.— 

18 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Federal inter19 agency working group established under para20 graph (1) shall work closely with an advisory 

21 group to take into account the needs of State 

22 and local entities across all regions of the 

23 United States. The advisory group shall consist 

24 of— 


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1 (i) 1 representative from the National 

2 Emergency Management Association; 

3 (ii) 7 representatives from States and 

4 State associations; and 

5 (iii) 8 representatives from local enti6 ties and associations, including representa7 tion from a tribal nation and at least 1 

8 major metropolitan area. 

9 (B) KEY SECTORS.—The representatives 

10 described in subparagraph (A) shall, in the ag11 gregate, represent all of the key sectors set 

12 forth in subsection (b)(1). 

13 (C) MEETINGS.—The Director shall meet 

14 with the representatives described in subpara15 graph (A) not fewer than 9 times during the 

16 development of— 

17 (i) the gap and overlap analysis under 

18 this section; and 

19 (ii) the National Extreme Weather 

20 Resilience Action Plan under section 5. 

21 (4) COOPERATION BY FEDERAL AGENCIES.—In 

22 carrying out the activities described in subsection 

23 (b), Federal agency representatives participating in 

24 the working group shall be forthright and shall fully 


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1 cooperate with the Office of Science and Technology 

2 Policy. 

3 (5) DETAILEES.—Upon the request of the Di4 rector, each agency or entity referred to in para5 graph (1) shall provide the working group with a 

6 detailee, without reimbursement from the working 

7 group, to support the activities described in sub8 section (b), section 5, and section 7(a). Such detailee 

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

10 or her regular employment without interruption. 

11 (6) VOLUNTEER SERVICES.—Notwithstanding 

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

13 working group may investigate and use such vol14 untary services as the working group determines to 

15 be necessary. 

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

17 the gap and overlap analysis required under subsection 

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

19 (1) develop a Federal Government-wide working 

20 vision for resilience to the impacts of extreme weath21 er events in the short- and long-term, in accordance 

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

23 an effort led by the Director and the interagency 

24 working group, which includes goals and objectives 

25 for key sectors. Key sectors shall include— 


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1 (A) agriculture; 

2 (B) forestry and natural resources man3 agement; 

4 (C) water management, including supply 

5 and treatment; 

6 (D) energy supply and transmission; 

7 (E) infrastructure, including natural and 

8 built forms of water and wastewater, transpor9 tation, coastal infrastructure, and other land10 scapes and ecosystems services; 

11 (F) public health and healthcare delivery, 

12 including mental health and hazardous mate13 rials management; 

14 (G) communications, including wireless 

15 communications; 

16 (H) housing and other buildings; 

17 (I) national security; 

18 (J) emergency preparedness; 

19 (K) insurance; and 

20 (L) other sectors that the Director con21 siders appropriate; 

22 (2) consider and identify the interdependencies 

23 among the key sectors when developing the vision re24 ferred to in paragraph (1); 


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1 (3) create summaries of the existing and 

2 planned efforts and programmatic work underway or 

3 relevant to supporting State and local stakeholders 

4 in achieving greater extreme weather resilience in 

5 the short- and long-term for each sector identified 

6 under paragraph (1) and across the sectors, specifi7 cally including summaries of— 

8 (A) individual Federal agency programs, 

9 policies, regulations, and initiatives, and re10 search and data collection and dissemination ef11 forts; 

12 (B) areas of collaboration and coordination 

13 across Federal agencies; and 

14 (C) areas of coordination with State and 

15 local agencies, private entities, and regional co16 operation; 

17 (4) identify specific Federal programs, statutes, 

18 regulations, policies, and initiatives which may unin19 tentionally hinder resilience efforts, including an 

20 analysis of disincentives, barriers, and incompatible 

21 programs, policies, or initiatives across agencies and 

22 sectors; 

23 (5) examine how the severity and frequency of 

24 extreme weather events at the local and regional 


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1 level may change in the future and communicate 

2 these potential risks to stakeholders; 

3 (6) work together to identify and evaluate exist4 ing Federal tools and data to describe, analyze, fore5 cast, and model the potential impacts identified 

6 under paragraph (5) and develop recommendations 

7 to strengthen their ability to provide reliable and ac8 curate forecasts at the national, regional, State, and 

9 local levels; 

10 (7) identify gaps and overlaps in Federal agen11 cy work, resources, and authorities that impair the 

12 ability of the United States to meet the vision for 

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

14 comparing the goals and objectives identified for 

15 each sector and across sectors with the summaries 

16 identified in paragraph (3), specifically identifying 

17 gaps relating to— 

18 (A) individual Federal agency programs, 

19 policies, and initiatives, and research data col20 lection and dissemination efforts; 

21 (B) areas of collaboration and coordination 

22 across Federal agencies; and 

23 (C) areas of coordination with State and 

24 local agencies and private entities, and regional 

25 cooperation; 


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1 (8) determine potential measures to address the 

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

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

4 by— 

5 (A) designating individual or multiple Fed6 eral agencies to address these gaps; 

7 (B) building upon existing delivery mecha8 nisms; 

9 (C) evaluating options for programs, poli10 cies, and initiatives that may particularly ben11 efit extreme weather resilience efforts, including 

12 the role of ecosystem-based approaches; 

13 (D) recommending modifications to exist14 ing Federal agency programs, statutes, regula15 tions, policies, and initiatives to better support 

16 extreme weather resiliency; 

17 (E) requesting new authorities and re18 source requirements, if needed; and 

19 (F) identifying existing Federal govern20 ment processes that can be built upon to ad21 dress the purpose of this Act; and 

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

23 Services Administration or such other Federal agen24 cy as the Director may designate, a Federal advisory 


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1 working group to provide ongoing collective input to 

2 the process. 

3 (c) WORKING GROUP.—The Federal advisory work4 ing group established pursuant to subsection (b)(9) shall 

5 consist of relevant private sector, academic, State and 

6 local government, tribal nation, regional organization, vul7 nerable population, and nongovernmental representatives, 

8 with representation from each sector described in para9 graph (1). The Director may designate an existing Federal 

10 advisory committee under which the working group would 

11 operate independently, with the same rights and privileges 

12 held by members of the advisory committee. The members 

13 of the working group established pursuant to subsection 

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

15 advisory committee designated pursuant to this sub16 section. The activities of the working group should com17 plement and not duplicate the stakeholder process con18 ducted under PPD–8. 

19 SEC. 5. NATIONAL EXTREME WEATHER RESILIENCE AC20 TION PLAN. 

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

22 and overlap analysis conducted under section 4, the Direc23 tor, working with the interagency working group estab24 lished under such section, and considering the efforts de25 scribed in section 2(a)(9), shall develop a National ExVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:49 May 12, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00017 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2227.IH H2227

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1 treme Weather Resilience Action Plan (referred to in this 

2 section as the ‘‘Plan’’)— 

3 (1) to build upon existing Federal Government 

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

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

6 overlap analysis under section 4; and 

7 (B) to incorporate the activities required 

8 under subsection (c); 

9 (2) to best utilize existing resources and pro10 grams through improved interagency coordination 

11 and collaboration; 

12 (3) to improve Federal coordination with exist13 ing regional entities, State and local governments, 

14 networks, and private stakeholders; 

15 (4) to make data and tools accessible and un16 derstandable and to help facilitate information ex17 change for tribal, State, and local officials, busi18 nesses, and other stakeholders in a manner that ad19 dresses the needs expressed by these stakeholders; 

20 (5) to facilitate public-private partnerships; 

21 (6) to improve Federal agencies’ economic ana22 lytical capacity to assess— 

23 (A) the likelihood and potential costs of ex24 treme weather impacts by region and nation25 ally; and 


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1 (B) the relative benefits of potential resil2 ience measures to multiple stakeholders; 

3 (7) to provide tools to stakeholders— 

4 (A) to conduct analyses similar to those 

5 described in paragraph (6); and 

6 (B) to support decisionmaking; 

7 (8) to support resiliency plans developed by 

8 State and local governments, regional entities, and 

9 tribal nations, to the extent possible; and 

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

11 fill in gaps to enable national resilience to extreme 

12 weather, including resilience of tribal nations, and 

13 particularly vulnerable populations, and the use of 

14 green infrastructure and ecosystem-based solutions. 

15 (b) COOPERATION.—Any Federal agency representa16 tive contacted by the Director, in the course of developing 

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

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

19 (c) REQUIRED ACTIVITIES.— 

20 (1) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The Plan shall include 

21 specific Federal agency and interagency responsibil22 ities, identify potential new authorities, if necessary, 

23 and employ risk analysis— 

24 (A) to address the gaps identified through 

25 the gap and overlap analysis; and 


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1 (B) to improve Federal interagency coordi2 nation and Federal coordination with State, re3 gional, local, and tribal partners. 

4 (2) AVAILABLE FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES.— 

5 (A) IDENTIFICATION.—The Director shall 

6 identify— 

7 (i) existing Federal grant programs 

8 and other funding opportunities available 

9 to support State and local government ex10 treme weather resiliency planning efforts; 

11 or 

12 (ii) projects to advance extreme 

13 weather resiliency. 

14 (B) PUBLICATION.—The Director shall 

15 publish the information described in subpara16 graph (A) in the information portal identified in 

17 paragraph (3). 

18 (C) RESPONSIBILITIES.—Each partici19 pating agency shall— 

20 (i) consider incorporating criteria or 

21 guidance into existing relevant Federal 

22 grant and other funding opportunities to 

23 better support State and local efforts to 

24 improve extreme weather resiliency; and 


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1 (ii) evaluate and modify existing Fed2 eral funding opportunities, as appropriate, 

3 to maximize the return on investment for 

4 pre-disaster mitigation activities. 

5 (3) INFORMATION PORTAL.— 

6 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Plan shall— 

7 (i) include the establishment of an on8 line, publicly available information portal 

9 for use by Federal agencies, their partners, 

10 and stakeholders, that directs users to key 

11 data and tools to inform resilience-enhanc12 ing efforts; and 

13 (ii) build off and be complementary to 

14 existing Federal efforts, including 

15 data.gov. 

16 (B) MAINTENANCE.—The coordinating en17 tity identified under paragraph (4) shall be re18 sponsible for establishing and maintaining the 

19 information portal. 

20 (C) INFORMATION SUPPLIED.—Informa21 tion shall be supplied as requested by Federal 

22 agencies, their partners, academia, and private 

23 stakeholders, in coordination with regional, 

24 State, local, and tribal agencies. 


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1 (D) CONTENTS.—The information portal 

2 established under this paragraph shall direct 

3 users to coordinated and systematic information 

4 on— 

5 (i) best or model practices; 

6 (ii) data; 

7 (iii) case studies; 

8 (iv) indicators; 

9 (v) scientific reports; 

10 (vi) resilience and vulnerability assess11 ments; 

12 (vii) guidance documents and design 

13 standards; 

14 (viii) incentives; 

15 (ix) education and communication ini16 tiatives; 

17 (x) decision support tools, including 

18 risk management, short- and long-term 

19 economic analysis, and predictive models; 

20 (xi) planning tools; 

21 (xii) public and private sources of as22 sistance; and 

23 (xiii) such other information as the 

24 coordinating entity considers appropriate. 


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1 (4) COORDINATING ENTITY.—The Plan shall 

2 include the identification of a Federal agency, inter3 agency council, office, or program, which partici4 pated in the gap and overlap analysis and Plan de5 velopment. Such entity shall— 

6 (A) coordinate the implementation of the 

7 Plan; 

8 (B) track the progress of such implementa9 tion; and 

10 (C) transfer responsibilities to another 

11 Federal agency, interagency council, office, or 

12 program to serve as the coordinating entity if 

13 the entities participating in the working group 

14 agree that circumstances necessitate such a 

15 change. 

16 (5) RESILIENCY OFFICER.—Each Federal agen17 cy that assists with the gap and overlap analysis re18 quired under section 4 shall designate, from among 

19 the agency’s senior management, a Senior Resiliency 

20 Officer, who shall— 

21 (A) facilitate the implementation of the 

22 agency’s responsibilities under paragraph (1); 

23 (B) monitor the agency’s progress and per24 formance in implementing its responsibilities 

25 under paragraph (1); 


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1 (C) report the agency’s progress and per2 formance to the head of the agency and the co3 ordinating entity identified under paragraph 

4 (4); and 

5 (D) serve as the agency lead in ongoing co6 ordination efforts within the Federal agency 

7 and between the coordinating entity, other Fed8 eral agencies, public and private partners, and 

9 stakeholders. 

10 (d) PUBLICATION.— 

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

12 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Di13 rector shall publish a draft of the Plan developed 

14 under this section in the Federal Register. 

15 (2) PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD.—During the 

16 60-day period beginning on the date on which the 

17 draft Plan is published under paragraph (1), the Di18 rector shall— 

19 (A) solicit comment from the public; and 

20 (B) conduct a briefing for Congress to ex21 plain the provisions contained in the draft Plan. 

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

23 after the end of the public comment period described 

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

25 Plan in the Federal Register. 


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

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

3 shall begin implementing the final Plan published under 

4 subsection (d)(3). 

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

6 (1) Federal funding should be used to leverage 

7 private sector financing for resilience building activi8 ties, consistent with the implementation of the Plan, 

9 through public-private partnerships; and 

10 (2) Federal grant and loan programs of the 

11 Federal agencies participating in the interagency 

12 working group for this effort shall consider extreme 

13 weather resilience as a key factor when awarding 

14 funding, including the projected extreme weather 

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

16 (g) TRIBAL, STATE, AND LOCAL RESPONSIBIL17 ITIES.—The Plan may not place new unfunded require18 ments on State or local governments. 

19 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF OTHER ACTIVITIES. 

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

21 to develop tools and disseminate information to improve 

22 extreme weather resilience in the key sectors set forth in 

23 section 4(b)(1). 

24 (b) OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POL25 ICY.—In conducting the gap and overlap analysis under 


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1 section 4 and developing the National Extreme Weather 

2 Resilience Action Plan under section 5, the Director may 

3 carry out additional activities in support of the purpose 

4 of this Act. 

5 SEC. 7. REPORTS. 

6 (a) GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE RE7 PORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date of the enact8 ment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United 

9 States shall submit a report to Congress that— 

10 (1) identifies existing Federal Government pro11 grams and policies related to disaster relief, re12 sponse, and recovery that impede improving short13 and long-term extreme weather resilience; and 

14 (2) make recommendations for how the pro15 grams or policies could be structured differently to 

16 better support short- and long-term resilience after 

17 an extreme weather event. 

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

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

20 submit a report to Congress that contains— 

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

22 (2) the final National Extreme Weather Resil23 ience Action Plan; 

24 (3) an update on the implementation of the 

25 plan; and 


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1 (4) available resources for the sustained imple2 mentation of the plan. 

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

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

5 and every 3 years thereafter, the coordinating entity iden6 tified under section 5(c)(4), in cooperation with the inter7 agency working group established under section 4(a), shall 

8 submit a report to Congress that— 

9 (1) contains an update of the National Extreme 

10 Weather Resilience Action Plan; 

11 (2) describes the progress of the plan’s imple12 mentation; 

13 (3) improves upon the original analysis as more 

14 information and understanding about extreme 

15 weather events becomes available; 

16 (4) establishes criteria for prioritization of ac17 tivities described in the plan; 

18 (5) reconsiders and makes changes to the plan 

19 based on the availability of new information de20 scribed in paragraph (3); and 

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

22 policies, or regulations that could advance the pur23 pose of this Act. 

24 (d) FEMA REPORTS ON FUNDING.— 

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


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1 (A) The Federal Emergency Management 

2 Agency grant programs are a key vehicle that 

3 exists to fund activities related to resiliency 

4 planning and projects. 

5 (B) In order to ensure that the United 

6 States becomes more resilient to extreme weath7 er, it is important to ensure that sufficient re8 sources are available to support resiliency ac9 tivities. 

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

11 the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Man12 agement Agency (in this paragraph referred to as 

13 ‘‘FEMA’’) shall submit a report to Congress that— 

14 (A) identifies the amounts that were made 

15 available to FEMA during such fiscal year for 

16 State and local entities to use for activities that 

17 support the purposes of this Act; 

18 (B) identifies the amounts disbursed by 

19 FEMA to State and local entities during such 

20 fiscal year for such activities; 

21 (C) describes the resources requested by 

22 State and local entities for activities that sup23 port the purposes of this Act; and 

24 (D) identifies the difference between the 

25 amounts disbursed by FEMA and the amounts 


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1 requested from FEMA by State and local enti2 ties. 

3 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

4 (a) AMOUNTS FOR ANALYSIS, PLAN DEVELOPMENT

5 AND IMPLEMENTATION, AND REPORTS.—There are au6 thorized to be appropriated such sums as may be nec7 essary for fiscal years 2016 through 2018— 

8 (1) to conduct the gap and overlap analysis re9 quired under section 4; 

10 (2) to conduct the activities required under sec11 tion 5, including the creation and maintenance of 

12 the information portal; and 

13 (3) to prepare the reports to Congress required 

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

15 (b) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Amounts appro16 priated pursuant to subsection (a) shall remain available 

17 for the purposes set forth in such subsection through De18 cember 31, 2018. 

Æ 


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