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[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4358 Referred in Senate (RFS)]

<DOC>
116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4358

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           November 18, 2020

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 
                        and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT

 
To direct the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency 
to submit to Congress a report on preliminary damage assessment and to 
 establish damage assessment teams in the Federal Emergency Management 
                    Agency, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Preliminary Damage Assessment 
Improvement Act of 2020''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Preliminary damage assessments play a critical role in 
        assessing and validating the impact and magnitude of a 
        disaster.
            (2) Through the preliminary damage assessment process, 
        representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency 
        validate information gathered by State and local officials that 
        serves as the basis for disaster assistance requests.
            (3) Various factors can impact the duration of a 
        preliminary damage assessment and the corresponding submission 
        of a major disaster request, however, the average time between 
        when a disaster occurs, and the submission of a corresponding 
        disaster request has been found to be approximately twenty days 
        longer for flooding disasters.
            (4) With communities across the country facing increased 
        instances of catastrophic flooding and other extreme weather 
        events, accurate and efficient preliminary damage assessments 
        have become critically important to the relief process for 
        impacted states and municipalities.

SEC. 3. REPORT TO CONGRESS.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management 
Agency shall submit to Congress a report describing the preliminary 
damage assessment process, as supported by the Federal Emergency 
Management Agency in the 5 years before the date of enactment of this 
Act.
    (b) Contents.--The report described in subsection (a) shall contain 
the following:
            (1) The process of the Federal Emergency Management Agency 
        for deploying personnel to support preliminary damage 
        assessments.
            (2) The number of Agency staff participating on disaster 
        assessment teams.
            (3) The training and experience of such staff described in 
        paragraph (2).
            (4) A calculation of the average amount of time disaster 
        assessment teams described in paragraph (1) are deployed to a 
        disaster area.
            (5) The efforts of the Agency to maintain a consistent 
        liaison between the Agency and State, local, Tribal, and 
        territorial officials within a disaster area.

SEC. 4. PRELIMINARY DAMAGE ASSESSMENT.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management 
Agency shall establish a training regime under section 206.33(b) of 
title 44, Code of Federal Regulations, within the Federal Emergency 
Management Agency to ensure preliminary damage assessments are 
conducted and reviewed under consistent guidelines.
    (b) Annual Report.--The Administrator shall annually submit to 
Congress a report on the number and type of instances under which 
Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel have overturned decisions 
made by personnel in the field.
    (c) Report to Congress.--Not later than 2 years after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall submit to Congress a 
report--
            (1) describing the establishment of disaster guidelines 
        from Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel described 
        under subsection (a);
            (2) assessing whether the duration of the deployment of 
        Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel to conduct a 
        preliminary damage assessment is longer based on specific 
        disaster conditions; and
            (3) containing legislative recommendations to improve the 
        operation, deployment, and staffing of disaster personnel.
    (d) Definition of State and Local Government.--For purposes of this 
Act, the terms ``State'' and ``local government'' have the meanings 
given such terms in section 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122).

            Passed the House of Representatives November 17, 2020.

            Attest:

                                             CHERYL L. JOHNSON,

                                                                 Clerk.
```