I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 6138 

To enhance predisaster mitigation to prevent future natural disasters, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 2, 2021 

Mr. SWALWELL (for himself, Miss GONZA ́LEZ-COLO ́N, and Mr. BLUMENAUER) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 

Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To enhance predisaster mitigation to prevent future natural 

disasters, 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preventing Our Next 

5 Natural Disaster Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 Section 203(a) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re8 lief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5133(a)) 

9 is amended to read as follows: 


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1 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following 

2 definitions apply: 

3 ‘‘(1) HIGH HAZARD RISK.—The term ‘high haz4 ard risk’ means high rating of a natural hazard risk 

5 according to a tool such as the National Risk Index 

6 or another tool developed by the Federal Emergency 

7 Management Agency. 

8 ‘‘(2) ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE COMMUNITY.— 

9 The term ‘environmental justice community’ means 

10 a community primarily composed of communities of 

11 color, low-income communities, or Tribal and indige12 nous communities, that experiences, or is at risk of 

13 experiencing, higher or more adverse human health 

14 or environmental effects than most communities. 

15 ‘‘(3) SMALL IMPOVERISHED COMMUNITY.—The 

16 term ‘small impoverished community’ means a com17 munity that is comprised of 50,000 or fewer individ18 uals and that is economically disadvantaged, as de19 termined by the State in which the community is lo20 cated and based on criteria established by the Presi21 dent.’’. 

22 SEC. 3. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE. 

23 Section 203(e) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re24 lief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5133(e)) 

25 is amended by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(3) GUIDANCE.—The Administrator may de2 velop guidance regarding how to incorporate climate 

3 change into— 

4 ‘‘(A) the National Risk Index; 

5 ‘‘(B) cost-benefit analyses; and 

6 ‘‘(C) adopting improved relevant con7 sensus-based codes, specifications, and stand8 ards to address natural hazards. 

9 ‘‘(4) BUILDING, RESTORATION, OR REHABILITA10 TION.—The Administrator may issue guidance to en11 sure that funds provided under this section are used 

12 to support the building, restoration, or rehabilitation 

13 of hazard mitigation projects that are— 

14 ‘‘(A) planned and designed around the fu15 ture projections of climate change over the life 

16 cycle of the project; and 

17 ‘‘(B) built to withstand future flooding.’’. 

18 SEC. 4. CRITERIA FOR ASSISTANCE AWARDS. 

19 Section 203(g) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re20 lief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5133(g)) 

21 is amended— 

22 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 

23 (11); 

24 (2) by redesignating paragraph (12) as para25 graph (13); and 


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1 (3) by inserting after paragraph (11) the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(12) and prioritize communities that are in 

4 high hazard risk communities, environmental justice 

5 communities, communities with low tax revenue base 

6 per capita, and communities with a low rate of code 

7 adoption and enforcement and infrastructure main8 tenance expenditures (the Administrator of the Fed9 eral Emergency Management Agency shall establish 

10 guidelines to develop measurable criteria to deter11 mine such priority for high hazard risk communities 

12 and integrate the data into a tool such as the Na13 tional Risk Index and use the Resilience Analysis 

14 and Planning Tool to help target the communities 

15 with the greatest need of assistance); and’’. 

16 SEC. 5. FEDERAL SHARE. 

17 Section 203(h)(2) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 

18 Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 

19 5133(h)(2) is amended to read as follows: 

20 ‘‘(2) SMALL IMPOVERISHED COMMUNITIES AND

21 ENVIRONMENT JUSTICE COMMUNITIES.—Notwith22 standing paragraph (1), the President may con23 tribute up to 90 percent of the total cost of a miti24 gation activity carried out in a small impoverished 


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1 community or an environmental justice commu2 nity.’’. 

3 SEC. 6. NATIONAL PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE 

4 PREDISASTER MITIGATION ASSISTANCE. 

5 Section 203(i)(1) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 

6 Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 

7 5133(i)(1)) is amended— 

8 (1) by striking ‘‘6 percent’’ and inserting ‘‘15 

9 percent’’; and 

10 (2) by adding at the end the following: ‘‘From 

11 such total amount made available from the Disaster 

12 Relief Fund, with respect to each major disaster, the 

13 President may set aside 2 percent of the estimated 

14 aggregate amount of the grants to be made pursu15 ant to sections 403, 406, 407, 408, 410, 416, and 

16 428 for the major disaster for community planning 

17 and capacity building assistance.’’. 

18 SEC. 7. COMMUNITY OUTREACH. 

19 Section 203 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 

20 and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5133) is 

21 amended by adding at the end the following: 

22 ‘‘(n) COMMUNITY OUTREACH ASSISTANCE.—The Ad23 ministrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agen24 cy, in collaboration with organizations, such as the United 

25 States Cooperative Extension System and the Extension 


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1 Disaster Education Network, shall provide community 

2 outreach to communities under this section, with a goal 

3 of increasing applications from communities with high 

4 hazard risk, environmental justice communities, commu5 nities with low tax revenue base per capita, and commu6 nities with a low rate of code adoption and enforcement 

7 and infrastructure maintenance expenditures, regarding 

8 how to plan and prioritize projects based on current cli9 mate conditions, future hazard risk, and social vulner10 ability assessments as well as how to successfully develop, 

11 submit, and administer a grant under this section.’’. 

12 SEC. 8. IMPROVED DATA COLLECTION. 

13 Not later than 3 years after the date of enactment 

14 of this Act, the Administrator of the Federal Emergency 

15 Management Agency shall establish a central Federal 

16 database at the Agency, in coordination with the Depart17 ment of Housing and Urban Development, the Environ18 ment Protection Agency, the Economic Development Ad19 ministration, the Small Business Administration, the 

20 Army Corps of Engineers, and any other relevant agencies 

21 the Administrator chooses to include, to consolidate fund22 ing data collected by all local, State, and Federal agencies 

23 involved in post-disaster response and predisaster mitiga24 tion spending and categorize the data by type of project, 

25 funding source, and hazard types using an user friendly 


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1 database and interactive map. Such database shall also in2 clude— 

3 (1) the collection and posting of census track 

4 data and post aggregate demographic data, pursuant 

5 to the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et 

6 seq.) as well as any future guidance by such office 

7 on data equity on the impact of natural disaster and 

8 Federal recovery efforts to better allocate and trace 

9 funds; and 

10 (2) post-project evaluations by the Agency to 

11 analyze disaster spending and report findings on 

12 what may have been saved by proper predisaster 

13 mitigation. 

Æ 


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