I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 255 

To amend the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 to develop a study 

regarding streamlining and consolidating information collection and preliminary damage assessments, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 10, 2023 

Miss GONZA ́LEZ-COLO ́N (for herself, Ms. PLASKETT, and Mr. PETERS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To amend the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 to 

develop a study regarding streamlining and consolidating 

information collection and preliminary damage assessments, 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 ‘‘Federal Disaster As5 sistance Coordination Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. STUDY TO STREAMLINE AND CONSOLIDATE INFOR2 MATION COLLECTION AND PRELIMINARY 

3 DAMAGE ASSESSMENTS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1223 of the Disaster Re5 covery Reform Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–254) is 

6 amended to read as follows: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 1223. STUDY TO STREAMLINE AND CONSOLIDATE IN8 FORMATION COLLECTION AND PRELIMINARY 

9 DAMAGE ASSESSMENTS. 

10 ‘‘(a) INFORMATION COLLECTION.—Not later than 2 

11 years after the date of enactment of this section, the Ad12 ministrator, in coordination with the Small Business Ad13 ministration, the Department of Housing and Urban De14 velopment, the Disaster Assistance Working Group of the 

15 Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Effi16 ciency, and other appropriate agencies, shall— 

17 ‘‘(1) conduct a study and develop a plan, con18 sistent with law, under which the collection of infor19 mation from disaster assistance applicants and 

20 grantees will be modified, streamlined, expedited, ef21 ficient, flexible, consolidated, and simplified to be 

22 less burdensome, duplicative, and time consuming 

23 for applicants and grantees; and 

24 ‘‘(2) develop a plan for the regular collection 

25 and reporting of information on Federal disaster as26 sistance awarded, including the establishment and 


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1 maintenance of a website for presenting the informa2 tion to the public. 

3 ‘‘(b) PRELIMINARY DAMAGE ASSESSMENTS.—Not 

4 later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this sec5 tion, the Administrator, in consultation with the Council 

6 of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, 

7 shall convene a working group on a regular basis with the 

8 Secretary of Labor, the Director of the Office of Manage9 ment and Budget, the Secretary of Health and Human 

10 Services, the Administrator of the Small Business Admin11 istration, the Secretary of Transportation, the Assistant 

12 Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development, and 

13 other appropriate agencies as the Administrator considers 

14 necessary, to— 

15 ‘‘(1) identify and describe the potential areas of 

16 duplication or fragmentation in preliminary damage 

17 assessments after disaster declarations; 

18 ‘‘(2) determine the applicability of having one 

19 Federal agency make the assessments for all agen20 cies; and 

21 ‘‘(3) identify potential emerging technologies, 

22 such as unmanned aircraft systems, consistent with 

23 the requirements established in the FEMA Account24 ability, Modernization and Transparency Act of 


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1 2017 (42 U.S.C. 5121 note), to expedite the admin2 istration of preliminary damage assessments. 

3 ‘‘(c) COMPREHENSIVE REPORT.—The Administrator 

4 shall submit one comprehensive report that comprises the 

5 plans developed under subsections (a)(1) and (a)(2) and 

6 a report of the findings of the working group convened 

7 under subsection (b), which may include recommenda8 tions, to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastruc9 ture of the House of Representatives and the Committee 

10 on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 

11 Senate. 

12 ‘‘(d) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The comprehensive re13 port developed under subsection (c) shall be made avail14 able to the public and posted on the website of the Federal 

15 Emergency Management Agency— 

16 ‘‘(1) in pre-compressed, easily downloadable 

17 versions that are made available in all appropriate 

18 formats; and 

19 ‘‘(2) in machine-readable format, if applicable. 

20 ‘‘(e) SOURCES OF INFORMATION.—In preparing the 

21 comprehensive report, any publication, database, or web22 based resource, and any information compiled by any gov23 ernment agency, nongovernmental organization, or other 

24 entity that is made available may be used. 


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1 ‘‘(f) BRIEFING.—Not later than 180 days after sub2 mission of the comprehensive report, the Administrator of 

3 the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or a des4 ignee, and a member of the Council of the Inspectors Gen5 eral on Integrity and Efficiency, or a designee, shall brief, 

6 upon request, the appropriate congressional committees on 

7 the findings and any recommendations made in the com8 prehensive report.’’. 

9 (b) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—The item relating to 

10 section 1223 in the table of contents of the FAA Reau11 thorization Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–254) is amended 

12 to read as follows: 

‘‘Sec. 1223. Study to streamline and consolidate information collection and preliminary damage assessments.’’. 

Æ 


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