IB 

Union Calendar No. 389 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3779 

[Report No. 116–486] 

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

Act to allow the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management 

Agency to provide capitalization grants to eligible entities to establish 

revolving funds to provide assistance to reduce disaster risks, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 16, 2019 

Ms. CRAIG (for herself, Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. 

CRAWFORD, Mr. KIND, and Mr. SMITH of Missouri) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and 

Infrastructure 

SEPTEMBER 4, 2020 

Additional sponsors: Mr. RICHMOND, Ms. TITUS, Ms. FINKENAUER, Mr. 

PAPPAS, Miss GONZA ́LEZ-COLO ́N of Puerto Rico, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mr. 

GRAVES of Louisiana, and Mr. LIPINSKI

SEPTEMBER 4, 2020 

Reported with an amendment; committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on July 16, 2019] 


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A BILL 

To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to allow the Administrator of the 

Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide capitalization grants to eligible entities to establish revolving 

funds to provide assistance to reduce disaster risks, and 

for other purposes. 


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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 ‘‘Resilience Revolving 

5 Loan Fund Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. GRANTS TO ENTITIES FOR ESTABLISHMENT OF 

7 HAZARD MITIGATION REVOLVING LOAN 

8 FUNDS. 

9 Title II of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 

10 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5131 et seq.) is 

11 amended by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘SEC. 205 GRANTS TO ENTITIES FOR ESTABLISHMENT OF 

13 HAZARD MITIGATION REVOLVING LOAN 

14 FUNDS. 

15 ‘‘(a) GENERAL AUTHORITY.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator may 

17 enter into agreements with eligible entities to make 

18 capitalization grants to such entities for the establish19 ment of hazard mitigation revolving loan funds (re20 ferred to in this section as ‘entity loan funds’) for 

21 providing funding assistance to local governments to 

22 carry out eligible projects under this section to reduce 

23 disaster risks for homeowners, businesses, nonprofit 

24 organizations, and communities in order to de25 crease— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the loss of life and property; 

2 ‘‘(B) the cost of insurance claims; and 

3 ‘‘(C) Federal disaster payments. 

4 ‘‘(2) AGREEMENTS.—Any agreement entered into 

5 under this section shall require the participating enti6 ty to— 

7 ‘‘(A) comply with the requirements of this 

8 section; and 

9 ‘‘(B) use accounting, audit, and fiscal pro10 cedures conforming to generally accepted ac11 counting standards. 

12 ‘‘(b) APPLICATION.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive a 

14 capitalization grant under this section, an eligible en15 tity shall submit to the Administrator an application 

16 that includes the following: 

17 ‘‘(A) Project proposals comprised of local 

18 government hazard mitigation projects, on the 

19 condition that the entity provides public notice 

20 not less than 6 weeks prior to the submission of 

21 an application. 

22 ‘‘(B) An assessment of recurring major dis23 aster vulnerabilities impacting the entity that 

24 demonstrates an escalating risk to life and prop25 erty. 


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1 ‘‘(C) A description of how the hazard miti2 gation plan of the entity has or has not taken the 

3 vulnerabilities described in paragraph (2) into 

4 account. 

5 ‘‘(D) A description about how the projects 

6 described in paragraph (1) could conform with 

7 the hazard mitigation plans of the entity and 

8 local governments. 

9 ‘‘(E) A proposal of the systematic and re10 gional approach to achieve resilience in a vul11 nerable area, including impacts to river basins, 

12 river corridors, watersheds, estuaries, bays, coast13 al regions, micro-basins, micro-watersheds, eco14 systems, and areas at risk of earthquakes, 

15 tsunamis, droughts, and wildfires, including the 

16 wildland-urban interface. 

17 ‘‘(2) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Adminis18 trator shall provide technical assistance to eligible en19 tities for applications under this section. 

20 ‘‘(c) ENTITY LOAN FUND.— 

21 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT OF FUND.—An entity that 

22 receives a capitalization grant under this section shall 

23 establish an entity loan fund that complies with the 

24 requirements of this subsection. 


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1 ‘‘(2) FUND MANAGEMENT.—Except as provided 

2 in paragraph (3), an entity loan fund shall be ad3 ministered by the agency responsible for emergency 

4 management for such entity and shall include only— 

5 ‘‘(A) funds provided by a capitalization 

6 grant under this section; 

7 ‘‘(B) repayments of loans under this section 

8 to the entity loan fund; and 

9 ‘‘(C) interest earned on amounts in the en10 tity loan fund. 

11 ‘‘(3) ADMINISTRATION.—A participating entity 

12 may combine the financial administration of the enti13 ty loan fund of such entity with the financial admin14 istration of any other revolving fund established by 

15 such entity if the Administrator determines that— 

16 ‘‘(A) the capitalization grant, entity share, 

17 repayments of loans, and interest earned on 

18 amounts in the entity loan fund are accounted 

19 for separately from other amounts in the revolv20 ing fund; and 

21 ‘‘(B) the authority to establish assistance 

22 priorities and carry out oversight activities re23 mains in the control of the agency responsible for 

24 emergency management for the entity. 


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1 ‘‘(4) ENTITY SHARE OF FUNDS.—On or before 

2 the date on which a participating entity receives a 

3 capitalization grant under this section, the entity 

4 shall deposit into the entity loan fund of such entity, 

5 an amount equal to not less than 10 percent of the 

6 amount of the capitalization grant. 

7 ‘‘(d) APPORTIONMENT.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise provided 

9 by this subsection, the Administrator shall apportion 

10 funds made available to carry out this section to enti11 ties that have entered into an agreement under sub12 section (a)(2) in amounts as determined by the Ad13 ministrator. 

14 ‘‘(2) RESERVATION OF FUNDS.—The Adminis15 trator shall reserve not more than 2.5 percent of the 

16 amount made available to carry out this section for— 

17 ‘‘(A) administrative costs incurred in car18 rying out this section; and 

19 ‘‘(B) providing technical assistance to par20 ticipating entities under subsection (b)(2). 

21 ‘‘(3) PRIORITY.—In the apportionment of cap22 italization grants under this subsection, the Adminis23 trator shall give priority to entity applications under 

24 subsection (b) that— 


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1 ‘‘(A) propose projects increasing resilience 

2 and reducing risk of harm to natural and built 

3 infrastructure; 

4 ‘‘(B) involve a partnership between 2 or 

5 more eligible entities to carry out a project or 

6 similar projects; 

7 ‘‘(C) take into account regional impacts of 

8 hazards on river basins, river corridors, micro9 watersheds, macro-watersheds, estuaries, bays, 

10 coastal regions, and areas vulnerable to earth11 quake, drought, tsunamis and wildfire, including 

12 the wildland-urban interface; or 

13 ‘‘(D) propose projects for the resilience of 

14 major economic sectors or critical national infra15 structure, including ports, global commodity 

16 supply chain assets (located within an entity or 

17 within the jurisdiction of local governments and 

18 tribal governments), capacity, power and water 

19 production and distribution centers, and bridges 

20 and waterways essential to interstate commerce. 

21 ‘‘(e) USE OF FUNDS.— 

22 ‘‘(1) TYPES OF ASSISTANCE.—Amounts deposited 

23 in an entity loan fund, including loan repayments 

24 and interest earned on such amounts, may be used— 

25 ‘‘(A) to make loans, on the condition that— 


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1 ‘‘(i) such loans are made at an interest 

2 rate of not more than 1.5 percent; 

3 ‘‘(ii) annual principal and interest 

4 payments will commence not later than 1 

5 year after completion of any project and all 

6 loans will be fully amortized— 

7 ‘‘(I) not later than 20 years after 

8 the date on which the project is com9 pleted; or 

10 ‘‘(II) for projects in a low-income 

11 geographic area, not later than 30 

12 years after the date on which the 

13 projects is completed and not longer 

14 than the expected design life of the 

15 project; 

16 ‘‘(iii) the local government receiving a 

17 loan establishes a dedicated source of rev18 enue for repayment of the loan; 

19 ‘‘(iv) the local government receiving a 

20 loan has a hazard mitigation plan that has 

21 been approved by the participating entity; 

22 and 

23 ‘‘(v) the entity loan fund will be cred24 ited with all payments of principal and in25 terest on all loans; 


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1 ‘‘(B) for mitigation planning, not to exceed 

2 10 percent of the capitalization grants made to 

3 the participating entity in a fiscal year; 

4 ‘‘(C) for the reasonable costs of admin5 istering the fund and conducting activities under 

6 this section, except that such amounts shall not 

7 exceed $100,000 per year, 2 percent of the cap8 italization grants made to the participating en9 tity in a fiscal year, or 1 percent of the value 

10 of the entity loan fund, whichever amount is 

11 greatest, plus the amount of any fees collected by 

12 the entity for such purpose regardless of the 

13 source; and 

14 ‘‘(D) to earn interest on the entity loan 

15 fund. 

16 ‘‘(2) PROHIBITION ON DETERMINATION THAT

17 LOAN IS A DUPLICATION.—In carrying out this sec18 tion, Administrator may not determine that a loan is 

19 a duplication of assistance or a duplication of pro20 grams. 

21 ‘‘(3) PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES ELIGIBLE FOR

22 ASSISTANCE.—Except as provided in this subsection, 

23 a participating entity may use funds in the entity 

24 loan fund to provide financial assistance for projects 


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1 or activities that mitigate the impacts of hazards, in2 cluding— 

3 ‘‘(A) drought and prolonged episodes of in4 tense heat; 

5 ‘‘(B) severe storms, including tornados, 

6 wind storms, cyclones, and severe winter storms; 

7 ‘‘(C) wildfires; 

8 ‘‘(D) earthquakes; 

9 ‘‘(E) flooding, including the construction, 

10 repair, or replacement of a non-Federal levee or 

11 other flood control structure, provided the Ad12 ministrator, in consultation with the Corps of 

13 Engineers (if appropriate), requires an eligible 

14 entity to determine that such levee or structure 

15 is designed, constructed, and maintained in ac16 cordance with sound engineering practices and 

17 standards equivalent to the purpose for which 

18 such levee or structure is intended; 

19 ‘‘(F) storm surges; 

20 ‘‘(G) chemical spills that present an immi21 nent threat to life and property; 

22 ‘‘(H) seepage resulting from chemical spills 

23 and flooding; and 

24 ‘‘(I) any catastrophic event that the entity 

25 determines appropriate. 


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1 ‘‘(4) ZONING AND LAND USE PLANNING

2 CHANGES.—A participating entity may use not more 

3 than 10 percent of the entity loan fund in a fiscal 

4 year to provide financial assistance for zoning and 

5 land use planning changes focused on— 

6 ‘‘(A) the development and improvement of 

7 zoning and land use codes that incentivize and 

8 encourage low-impact development, resilient 

9 wildland-urban interface land management and 

10 development, natural infrastructure, green 

11 stormwater management, conservation areas ad12 jacent to floodplains, implementation of water13 shed or greenway master plans, and reconnection 

14 of floodplains; 

15 ‘‘(B) the study and creation of land use in16 centives that reward developers for greater reli17 ance on low impact development stormwater best 

18 management practices, exchange density in19 creases for increased open space and improve20 ment of neighborhood catch basins to mitigate 

21 urban flooding, reward developers for including 

22 and augmenting natural infrastructure adjacent 

23 to and around building projects without reliance 

24 on increased sprawl, and reward developers for 

25 addressing wildfire ignition; and 


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1 ‘‘(C) the study and creation of an erosion 

2 response plan that accommodates river, lake, for3 est, plains, and ocean shoreline retreating or 

4 bluff stabilization due to increased flooding and 

5 disaster impacts. 

6 ‘‘(5) ADMINISTRATIVE AND TECHNICAL COSTS.— 

7 For each fiscal year, a participating entity may use 

8 the amount described in paragraph (1)(C) to— 

9 ‘‘(A) pay the reasonable costs of admin10 istering the programs under this section, includ11 ing the cost of establishing an entity loan fund; 

12 ‘‘(B) provide technical assistance to recipi13 ents of financial assistance from the entity loan 

14 fund, on the condition that such technical assist15 ance does not exceed 5 percent of the capitaliza16 tion grant made to such entity. 

17 ‘‘(6) LIMITATION FOR SINGLE PROJECTS.—A 

18 participating entity may not provide an amount 

19 equal to or more than $5,000,000 to a single hazard 

20 mitigation project. 

21 ‘‘(f) INTENDED USE PLANS.— 

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—After providing for public 

23 comment and review, and consultation with appro24 priate agencies in an entity, Federal agencies, and 

25 interest groups, each participating entity shall annuVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:18 Sep 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3779.RH H3779

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1 ally prepare and submit to the Administrator a plan 

2 identifying the intended uses of the entity loan fund. 

3 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS OF PLAN.—An entity intended 

4 use plan prepared under paragraph (1) shall in5 clude— 

6 ‘‘(A) the integration of entity planning ef7 forts, including entity hazard mitigation plans 

8 and other programs and initiatives relating to 

9 mitigation of major disasters carried out by such 

10 entity; 

11 ‘‘(B) an explanation of the mitigation and 

12 resiliency benefits the entity intends to achieve 

13 by— 

14 ‘‘(i) reducing future damage and loss 

15 associated with hazards; 

16 ‘‘(ii) reducing the number of severe re17 petitive loss structures and repetitive loss 

18 structures in the entity; 

19 ‘‘(iii) decreasing the number of insur20 ance claims in the entity from injuries re21 sulting from major disasters or other haz22 ards; and 

23 ‘‘(iv) increasing the rating under the 

24 community rating system under section 

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1 ment Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4022(b)) for 

2 communities in the entity; 

3 ‘‘(C) information on the availability of, and 

4 application process for, financial assistance from 

5 the entity loan fund of such entity; 

6 ‘‘(D) the criteria and methods established 

7 for the distribution of funds; 

8 ‘‘(E) the amount of financial assistance that 

9 the entity anticipates apportioning; 

10 ‘‘(F) the expected terms of the assistance 

11 provided from the entity loan fund; and 

12 ‘‘(G) a description of the financial status of 

13 the entity loan fund, including short-term and 

14 long-term goals for the fund. 

15 ‘‘(g) AUDITS, REPORTS, PUBLICATIONS, AND OVER16 SIGHT.— 

17 ‘‘(1) BIENNIAL ENTITY AUDIT AND REPORT.—Be18 ginning not later than the last day of the second fis19 cal year after the receipt of payments under this sec20 tion, and biennially thereafter, any participating en21 tity shall— 

22 ‘‘(A) conduct an audit of such fund estab23 lished under subsection (b); and 

24 ‘‘(B) provide to the Administrator a report 

25 including— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the result of any such audit; and 

2 ‘‘(ii) a review of the effectiveness of the 

3 entity loan fund of the entity with respect 

4 to meeting the goals and intended benefits 

5 described in the intended use plan sub6 mitted by the entity under subsection (e). 

7 ‘‘(2) PUBLICATION.—A participating entity shall 

8 publish and periodically update information about all 

9 projects receiving funding from the entity loan fund 

10 of such entity, including— 

11 ‘‘(A) the location of the project; 

12 ‘‘(B) the type and amount of assistance pro13 vided from the entity loan fund; 

14 ‘‘(C) the expected funding schedule; and 

15 ‘‘(D) the anticipated date of completion of 

16 the project. 

17 ‘‘(3) OVERSIGHT.— 

18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator 

19 shall, at least every 4 years, conduct reviews and 

20 audits as may be determined necessary or appro21 priate by the Administrator to carry out the ob22 jectives of this section and determine the effec23 tiveness of the fund in reducing hazard risk. 

24 ‘‘(B) GAO REQUIREMENTS.—The entity 

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1 cordance with the auditing procedures of the 

2 Government Accountability Office, including 

3 chapter 75 of title 31. 

4 ‘‘(C) RECOMMENDATIONS BY ADMINIS5 TRATOR.—The Administrator may at any time 

6 make recommendations for or require specific 

7 changes to an entity’s loan fund in order to im8 prove the effectiveness of the fund. 

9 ‘‘(h) REGULATIONS OR GUIDANCE.—The Adminis10 trator shall issue such regulations or guidance as are nec11 essary to— 

12 ‘‘(1) ensure that each participating entity uses 

13 funds as efficiently as possible; and 

14 ‘‘(2) reduce waste, fraud, and abuse to the max15 imum extent possible. 

16 ‘‘(i) WAIVER AUTHORITY.—Until such time as the Ad17 ministrator issues regulations to implement this section, the 

18 Administrator may— 

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

20 the Administrator determines the waiver is necessary 

21 to expeditiously implement this section; and 

22 ‘‘(2) provide capitalization grants under this sec23 tion as a pilot program. 

24 ‘‘(j) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following defi25 nitions apply: 


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1 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible enti2 ty’ means a State or an Indian tribal government (as 

3 such terms are defined in section 102 of this Act (42 

4 U.S.C. 5122)). 

5 ‘‘(2) HAZARD MITIGATION PLAN.—The term ‘haz6 ard mitigation plan’ means a mitigation plan sub7 mitted under section 322 and approved by the Ad8 ministrator. 

9 ‘‘(3) LOW-INCOME GEOGRAPHIC AREA.—The term 

10 ‘low-income geographic area’ means an area described 

11 in paragraph (1) or (2) of section 301(a) of the Pub12 lic Works and Economic Development Act of 1965 (42 

13 U.S.C. 3161(a)). 

14 ‘‘(4) PARTICIPATING ENTITY.—The term ‘partici15 pating entity’ means an eligible entity that has en16 tered into an agreement under this section. 

17 ‘‘(5) REPETITIVE LOSS STRUCTURE.—The term 

18 ‘repetitive loss structure’ has the meaning given the 

19 term in section 1370 of the National Flood Insurance 

20 Act (42 U.S.C. 4121). 

21 ‘‘(6) SEVERE REPETITIVE LOSS STRUCTURE.— 

22 The term ‘severe repetitive loss structure’ has the 

23 meaning given the term in section 1366(h) of the Na24 tional Flood Insurance Act (42 U.S.C. 4104c(h). 


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1 ‘‘(7) WILDLAND-URBAN INTERFACE.—The term 

2 ‘wildland-urban interface’ has the meaning given the 

3 term in section 101 of the Healthy Forests Restora4 tion Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6511). 

5 ‘‘(k) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

6 authorized to be appropriated $100,000,000 for each of fis7 cal years 2020 and 2021.’’. 


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Union Calendar No. 389 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3779 

[Report No. 116–486] 

A BILL 

To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 

for other purposes. provide assistance to reduce disaster risks, and eligible entities to establish revolving funds to ment Agency to provide capitalization grants to ministrator of the Federal Emergency Manageand Emergency Assistance Act to allow the AdSEPTEMBER 4, 2020 

Reported with an amendment; committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union 


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