I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3027 

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

Act to establish a grant program for predisaster hazard mitigation enhancement, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 24, 2009 

Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to establish a grant program for 

predisaster hazard mitigation enhancement, 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 ‘‘Predisaster Hazard 

5 Mitigation Enhancement Program Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PREDISASTER HAZARD MITIGATION ENHANCE2 MENT. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title II of the Robert T. Stafford 

4 Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 

5 5131 et seq.) is amended— 

6 (1) by redesignating section 204 as section 205; 

7 and 

8 (2) by inserting after section 203 the following: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 204. PREDISASTER HAZARD MITIGATION ENHANCE10 MENT. 

11 ‘‘(a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to 

12 provide grants to eligible entities to assist hazard mitiga13 tion strategies that save lives, improve the structural in14 tegrity of property affected by natural disasters, and pro15 vide hazard mitigation cost savings to the Federal Govern16 ment and States. 

17 ‘‘(b) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—The President may 

18 make grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible entities 

19 in accordance with this section. 

20 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION.—To be eligible for a grant under 

21 this section, an eligible entity shall submit an application 

22 to the President in accordance with regulations issued by 

23 the President not later than 180 days after the date of 

24 enactment of the Predisaster Hazard Mitigation Enhance25 ment Program Act of 2009. 


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1 ‘‘(d) GRANT USES.—A grant made under this section 

2 may be used only for the following: 

3 ‘‘(1) To assist predisaster hazard mitigation im4 provements to residential property that is valued at 

5 an amount not exceeding $250,000. 

6 ‘‘(2) To assist predisaster hazard mitigation im7 provements to business property that is owned or 

8 leased and operated by a small business concern and 

9 that is valued at an amount not exceeding $500,000. 

10 ‘‘(3) To assist predisaster hazard mitigation im11 provements to residential rental property that is val12 ued at an amount not exceeding the product of the 

13 total number of residential rental dwelling units in 

14 such property and $250,000. 

15 ‘‘(e) ANNUAL ADJUSTMENT OF AMOUNTS.—The 

16 President shall adjust annually the amounts under sub17 section (d) to account for changes occurring in the pre18 ceding 12-month period in the Consumer Price Index for 

19 All Urban Consumers (United States City Average) pub20 lished by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Depart21 ment of Labor. 

22 ‘‘(f) MINIMUM STANDARDS.—An eligible entity that 

23 receives a grant under this section shall carry out any re24 pair, construction, renovation, or retrofit assisted by such 

25 grant in accordance with the following: 


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1 ‘‘(1) Applicable standards of safety and sanita2 tion. 

3 ‘‘(2) Applicable codes, specifications, and stand4 ards of the International Building Code of the Inter5 national Code Council or the NFPA 5000: Building 

6 Construction and Safety Code of the National Fire 

7 Protection Association. 

8 ‘‘(3) Safe land use and construction practice 

9 standards that may be issued by the President after 

10 consultation with appropriate State officials. 

11 ‘‘(g) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of the 

12 cost of mitigation activities carried out using amounts 

13 from a grant made under this section shall not exceed 75 

14 percent of the cost of the activities. If prior approval by 

15 the President is received, the value of in-kind contribu16 tions may be credited toward the non-Federal share of the 

17 cost of the activities. 

18 ‘‘(h) ALLOCATION OF AMOUNTS.—Of the amounts 

19 appropriated for making grants under this section in a fis20 cal year, the President shall— 

21 ‘‘(1) require eligible entities to allocate— 

22 ‘‘(A) 50 percent of grant amounts to pro23 grams that address the mitigation needs of sin24 gle family housing units; 


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1 ‘‘(B) 30 percent of grant amounts to pro2 grams that address the mitigation needs of 

3 multi-family housing units and residential rent4 al dwelling units; and 

5 ‘‘(C) 20 percent of grant amounts to pro6 grams that address the mitigation needs of 

7 small businesses; and 

8 ‘‘(2) allocate not less than 60 percent of all 

9 such amounts to mitigation programs relating to 

10 hurricanes. 

11 ‘‘(i) COASTAL BARRIER RESOURCES SYSTEM.— 

12 Grants made under this section may not be used for 

13 projects located in the Coastal Barrier Resources System 

14 established under section 4 of the Coastal Barrier Re15 sources Act (16 U.S.C. 3503). 

16 ‘‘(j) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following 

17 definitions apply: 

18 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en19 tity’ means any of the 50 States, the District of Co20 lumbia, any federally recognized Indian tribe, and 

21 any territory or possession of the United States 

22 that— 

23 ‘‘(A) has an approved mitigation plan 

24 under section 322; 


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1 ‘‘(B) implements public awareness cam2 paigns to encourage improvements to structures 

3 to mitigate hazards relating to natural disas4 ters; 

5 ‘‘(C) takes steps to encourage mitigation 

6 actions with respect to repetitive loss structures 

7 within the jurisdiction of such entity; and 

8 ‘‘(D) if such entity has a State residual 

9 market, excludes from such State residual mar10 ket any property located in the Coastal Barrier 

11 Resources System established under section 4 

12 of the Coastal Barrier Resources Act (16 

13 U.S.C. 3503). 

14 ‘‘(2) NATURAL DISASTER.—The term ‘natural 

15 disaster’ has the meaning given such term under 

16 section 602. 

17 ‘‘(3) PRESIDENT.—The term ‘President’ means 

18 the President, acting through the Administrator of 

19 the Federal Emergency Management Agency. 

20 ‘‘(4) REPETITIVE LOSS STRUCTURE.—The term 

21 ‘repetitive loss structure’ has the meaning given 

22 such term under section 1370 of the National Flood 

23 Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4121). 

24 ‘‘(5) STATE RESIDUAL MARKET.—The term 

25 ‘State residual market’ means a State plan that has 


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1 established a reinsurance fund or has authorized the 

2 operation of a State residual insurance market enti3 ty or any State-sponsored provider of natural catas4 trophe insurance. 

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

6 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

7 $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 through 

8 2014.’’. 

9 (b) STATE HOMEOWNER MITIGATION PROGRAM SUP10 PORT.—Section 203(e)(1)(B) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

11 5133(e)(1)(B)) is amended— 

12 (1) at the end of clause (ii) by striking ‘‘or’’; 

13 (2) at the end of clause (iii) by striking the pe14 riod and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

15 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

16 ‘‘(iv) to support State programs that 

17 provide grants or loans to low income 

18 homeowners for use with respect to a pri19 mary residence for wind and flood inspec20 tions and for implementation of hazard 

21 mitigation improvements.’’. 

22 (c) COOPERATIVE STORM BUFFER IMPROVEMENT

23 STUDY.—The Administrator of the Federal Emergency 

24 Management Agency shall enter into appropriate arrange25 ments with the National Academy of Sciences, or a similar 


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1 organization, to examine methods to coordinate the func2 tions of man-made storm buffers and natural storm buff3 ers. The study shall include an examination of large coast4 al communities and smaller, high-priority, natural storm 

5 buffer communities. 

Æ 


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