I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4830 

To require the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency 

to quickly and fairly address the abundance of surplus temporary housing 

units stored by the Federal Government across the Nation at taxpayer 

expense. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 18, 2007 

Mr. ROSS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To require the Administrator of the Federal Emergency 

Management Agency to quickly and fairly address the 

abundance of surplus temporary housing units stored 

by the Federal Government across the Nation at taxpayer expense. 

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; DEFINITIONS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘FEMA Accountability Act of 2007’’. 

6 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act, the following defini7 tions apply: 


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1 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis2 trator’’ means the Administrator of FEMA. 

3 (2) FEMA.—The term ‘‘FEMA’’ means the 

4 Federal Emergency Management Agency. 

5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

6 Congress finds that— 

7 (1) more than 19,000 temporary housing units 

8 purchased by FEMA sit unused at a storage site lo9 cated in Hope, Arkansas, and FEMA spends 

10 $25,000 each month to store these temporary hous11 ing units; 

12 (2) FEMA purchased these temporary housing 

13 units to aid disaster victims during the 2005 hurri14 cane season; 

15 (3) FEMA spends in excess of $3,000,000 each 

16 year to store, secure, and maintain temporary hous17 ing units at 17 storage sites across the Nation; 

18 (4) it is anticipated that the number of tem19 porary housing units in FEMA inventory will con20 tinue to increase as disaster victims find permanent 

21 housing; 

22 (5) many of the unused temporary housing 

23 units currently in the FEMA inventory are not mis24 sion-ready or may contain elevated levels of form25 aldehyde; and 


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1 (6) FEMA has had ample time to assess the 

2 need for on-hand temporary housing units. 

3 SEC. 3. STORAGE, SALE, TRANSFER, AND DISPOSAL OF 

4 HOUSING UNITS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 months after the 

6 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall 

7 complete an assessment of the number of temporary hous8 ing units purchased by FEMA that the Administrator 

9 finds necessary to stock to respond to major disasters oc10 curring after the date of enactment of this Act. 

11 (b) PLAN.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months 

13 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Adminis14 trator shall establish a plan for— 

15 (A) permanently storing the temporary 

16 housing units that the Administrator finds nec17 essary to stock under subsection (a); 

18 (B) selling, transferring, or otherwise dis19 posing of the temporary housing units that the 

20 Administrator finds are in excess of the number 

21 that the Administrator finds necessary to stock 

22 under subsection (a) and are in usable condi23 tion; and 


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1 (C) disposing of the temporary housing 

2 units that the Administrator finds are not in 

3 usable condition. 

4 (2) EXCEPTION.— 

5 (A) IN GENERAL.—If the Administrator 

6 submits to Congress a written certification that 

7 the Administrator is unable to determine the 

8 safe level of exposure to formaldehyde for pur9 poses of travel trailers, the Administrator may 

10 exclude from the plan established under para11 graph (1) any travel trailer that the Adminis12 trator determines may contain formaldehyde. 

13 (B) DURATION.—The authority to exclude 

14 travel trailers under this paragraph shall termi15 nate on the date on which the Environmental 

16 Protection Agency or other appropriate depart17 ment or agency promulgates regulations regard18 ing exposure levels for formaldehyde that are 

19 applicable to travel trailers. 

20 (3) APPLICABILITY OF DISPOSAL REQUIRE21 MENTS.—The plan established under paragraph (1) 

22 shall be subject to the requirements of section 

23 408(d)(2) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 

24 and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 

25 5174(d)(2)) and other applicable provisions of law. 


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1 (c) IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 9 months 

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

3 shall implement the plan described in subsection (b). 

4 (d) REPORT.—Not later than one year after the date 

5 of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall submit 

6 to Congress a report on the status of the distribution, sale, 

7 transfer, or other disposal of the unused temporary hous8 ing units purchased by FEMA. 

Æ 


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