I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3709 

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. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 4, 2021 

Mr. KATKO (for himself and Mr. DELGADO) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

5 Assessment Improvement Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Preliminary damage assessments play a 

2 critical role in assessing and validating the impact 

3 and magnitude of a disaster. 

4 (2) Through the preliminary damage assess5 ment process, representatives from the Federal 

6 Emergency Management Agency validate informa7 tion gathered by State and local officials that serves 

8 as the basis for disaster assistance requests. 

9 (3) Various factors can impact the duration of 

10 a preliminary damage assessment and the cor11 responding submission of a major disaster request, 

12 however, the average time between when a disaster 

13 occurs, and the submission of a corresponding dis14 aster request has been found to be approximately 

15 twenty days longer for flooding disasters. 

16 (4) With communities across the country facing 

17 increased instances of catastrophic flooding and 

18 other extreme weather events, accurate and efficient 

19 preliminary damage assessments have become criti20 cally important to the relief process for impacted 

21 States and municipalities. 

22 SEC. 3. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

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

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

25 Federal Emergency Management Agency shall submit to 


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1 Congress a report describing the preliminary damage as2 sessment process, as supported by the Federal Emergency 

3 Management Agency in the 5 years before the date of en4 actment of this Act. 

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

6 (a) shall contain the following: 

7 (1) The process of the Federal Emergency 

8 Management Agency for deploying personnel to sup9 port preliminary damage assessments. 

10 (2) The number of Agency staff participating 

11 on disaster assessment teams. 

12 (3) The training and experience of such staff 

13 described in paragraph (2). 

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

15 disaster assessment teams described in paragraph 

16 (1) are deployed to a disaster area. 

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

18 consistent liaison between the Agency and State, 

19 local, tribal, and territorial officials within a disaster 

20 area. 

21 SEC. 4. PRELIMINARY DAMAGE ASSESSMENT. 

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

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

24 Federal Emergency Management Agency shall convene an 

25 advisory panel consisting of emergency management perVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:49 Jul 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3709.IH H3709

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1 sonnel employed by State, local, territorial, or tribal au2 thorities, and the representative organizations of such per3 sonnel to assist the Agency in improving critical compo4 nents of the preliminary damage assessment process. 

5 (b) MEMBERSHIP.— 

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

7 consist of at least 2 representatives from national 

8 emergency management organizations and at least 1 

9 representative from each of the 10 regions of the 

10 Federal Emergency Management Agency, selected 

11 from emergency management personnel employed by 

12 State, local, territorial, or tribal authorities within 

13 each region. 

14 (2) INCLUSION ON PANEL.—To the furthest ex15 tent practicable, representation on the advisory 

16 panel shall include emergency management per17 sonnel from both rural and urban jurisdictions. 

18 (c) CONSIDERATIONS.—The advisory panel convened 

19 under subsection (a) shall— 

20 (1) consider— 

21 (A) establishing a training regime to en22 sure preliminary damage assessments are con23 ducted and reviewed under consistent guide24 lines; 


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1 (B) utilizing a common technological plat2 form to integrate data collected by State and 

3 local governments with data collected by the 

4 Agency; and 

5 (C) assessing instruction materials pro6 vided by the Agency for omissions of pertinent 

7 information or language that conflicts with 

8 other statutory requirements; and 

9 (2) identify opportunities for streamlining the 

10 consideration of preliminary damage assessments by 

11 the Agency, including eliminating duplicative paper12 work requirements and ensuring consistent commu13 nication and decision making among Agency staff. 

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

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

16 shall submit to Congress a report regarding the findings 

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

18 Agency to implement the findings of the advisory panel, 

19 and additional legislation that may be necessary to imple20 ment the findings of the advisory panel. 

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

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

23 Administrator shall issue such regulations as are nec24 essary to implement the recommendations of the advisory 

25 panel and submit to Congress a report discussing— 


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1 (1) the implementation of recommendations 

2 from the advisory panel; 

3 (2) the identification of any additional chal4 lenges to the preliminary damage assessment proc5 ess, including whether specific disasters result in 

6 longer preliminary damage assessments; and 

7 (3) any additional legislative recommendations 

8 necessary to improve the preliminary damage assess9 ment process. 

Æ 


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