IIB 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3709 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 15, 2021 

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 assessments and make necessary improvements to processes in the Federal Emergency Management Agency, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preliminary Damage 

3 Assessment Improvement Act of 2021’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) Preliminary damage assessments play a 

7 critical role in assessing and validating the impact 

8 and magnitude of a disaster. 

9 (2) Through the preliminary damage assess10 ment process, representatives from the Federal 

11 Emergency Management Agency validate informa12 tion gathered by State and local officials that serves 

13 as the basis for disaster assistance requests. 

14 (3) Various factors can impact the duration of 

15 a preliminary damage assessment and the cor16 responding submission of a major disaster request, 

17 however, the average time between when a disaster 

18 occurs, and the submission of a corresponding dis19 aster request has been found to be approximately 

20 twenty days longer for flooding disasters. 

21 (4) With communities across the country facing 

22 increased instances of catastrophic flooding and 

23 other extreme weather events, accurate and efficient 

24 preliminary damage assessments have become criti25 cally important to the relief process for impacted 

26 States and municipalities. 


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1 SEC. 3. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 

3 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the 

4 Federal Emergency Management Agency shall submit to 

5 Congress a report describing the preliminary damage as6 sessment process, as supported by the Federal Emergency 

7 Management Agency in the 5 years before the date of en8 actment of this Act. 

9 (b) CONTENTS.—The report described in subsection 

10 (a) shall contain the following: 

11 (1) The process of the Federal Emergency 

12 Management Agency for deploying personnel to sup13 port preliminary damage assessments. 

14 (2) The number of Agency staff participating 

15 on disaster assessment teams. 

16 (3) The training and experience of such staff 

17 described in paragraph (2). 

18 (4) A calculation of the average amount of time 

19 disaster assessment teams described in paragraph 

20 (1) are deployed to a disaster area. 

21 (5) The efforts of the Agency to maintain a 

22 consistent liaison between the Agency and State, 

23 local, tribal, and territorial officials within a disaster 

24 area. 


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1 SEC. 4. PRELIMINARY DAMAGE ASSESSMENT. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the 

3 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the 

4 Federal Emergency Management Agency shall convene an 

5 advisory panel consisting of emergency management per6 sonnel employed by State, local, territorial, or tribal au7 thorities, and the representative organizations of such per8 sonnel to assist the Agency in improving critical compo9 nents of the preliminary damage assessment process. 

10 (b) MEMBERSHIP.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—This advisory panel shall 

12 consist of at least 2 representatives from national 

13 emergency management organizations and at least 1 

14 representative from each of the 10 regions of the 

15 Federal Emergency Management Agency, selected 

16 from emergency management personnel employed by 

17 State, local, territorial, or tribal authorities within 

18 each region. 

19 (2) INCLUSION ON PANEL.—To the furthest ex20 tent practicable, representation on the advisory 

21 panel shall include emergency management per22 sonnel from both rural and urban jurisdictions. 

23 (c) CONSIDERATIONS.—The advisory panel convened 

24 under subsection (a) shall— 

25 (1) consider— 


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1 (A) establishing a training regime to en2 sure preliminary damage assessments are con3 ducted and reviewed under consistent guide4 lines; 

5 (B) utilizing a common technological plat6 form to integrate data collected by State and 

7 local governments with data collected by the 

8 Agency; and 

9 (C) assessing instruction materials pro10 vided by the Agency for omissions of pertinent 

11 information or language that conflicts with 

12 other statutory requirements; and 

13 (2) identify opportunities for streamlining the 

14 consideration of preliminary damage assessments by 

15 the Agency, including eliminating duplicative paper16 work requirements and ensuring consistent commu17 nication and decision making among Agency staff. 

18 (d) INTERIM REPORT.—Not later than 18 months 

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

20 shall submit to Congress a report regarding the findings 

21 of the advisory panel, steps that will be undertaken by the 

22 Agency to implement the findings of the advisory panel, 

23 and additional legislation that may be necessary to imple24 ment the findings of the advisory panel. 


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1 (e) RULEMAKING AND FINAL REPORT.—Not later 

2 than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the 

3 Administrator shall issue such regulations as are nec4 essary to implement the recommendations of the advisory 

5 panel and submit to Congress a report discussing— 

6 (1) the implementation of recommendations 

7 from the advisory panel; 

8 (2) the identification of any additional chal9 lenges to the preliminary damage assessment proc10 ess, including whether specific disasters result in 

11 longer preliminary damage assessments; and 

12 (3) any additional legislative recommendations 

13 necessary to improve the preliminary damage assess14 ment process. 

Passed the House of Representatives November 4, 

2021. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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