I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 855 
To minimize the economic and social costs resulting from losses of life, 
property, well-being, business activity, and economic growth associated 
with extreme weather events by ensuring that the United States is 
more resilient to the impacts of extreme weather events in the short- 
and long-term, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 29, 2019 
Mr. PETERS (for himself, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. TONKO, Ms. 
STEFANIK, and Mr. QUIGLEY) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 
A BILL 
To minimize the economic and social costs resulting from 
losses of life, property, well-being, business activity, and 
economic growth associated with extreme weather events 
by ensuring that the United States is more resilient 
to the impacts of extreme weather events in the short- 
and long-term, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Strengthening The Re-
siliency of Our Nation on the Ground Act’’ or the 
‘‘STRONG Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find-
ings: 
(1) Extreme weather has serious economic costs 
for Americans, American businesses, and State and 
local governments. Hurricanes, droughts, floods, tor-
nadoes, extreme heat, and extreme cold cause death, 
result in loss of property and well-being, especially 
among the most vulnerable populations, and nega-
tively impact business activity and economic growth. 
(2) In the past 10 years, there have been more 
than 109 weather-related disasters in the United 
States, generating $715.8 billion in total losses. 
(3) According to NOAA, in 2018 there were 11 
weather and climate disaster events that each caused 
$1 billion in damage across the United States. 
(4) These events and natural disaster trends, 
when combined with the volatility of weather, ongo-
ing demographic changes, and development in high 
risk areas, indicate that the negative impacts of ex-
treme weather events and natural disasters have the 
potential to increase over time. The fact that a sig-
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nificant number of people and assets continue to be 
located in areas prone to volatile and extreme weath-
er indicates that these events will continue to be ex-
pensive and deadly if the United States fails to en-
hance its resiliency to such events. Recent studies 
show that the intensity and frequency of some types 
of, but not all, extreme weather events will likely in-
crease in the future. 
(5) Economic savings can be achieved by con-
sidering the impacts of extreme weather over the 
short- and long-term in the planning process. For 
example, a 2017 review of the Federal Emergency 
Management Agency’s hazard mitigation programs, 
conducted by the National Institute of Building 
Sciences’ Multi-Hazard Mitigation Council, found 
that on average, society saves $6 for every $1 spent 
on mitigation projects, such as elevating floodprone 
buildings, improving stormwater management sys-
tems, following practices to reduce fire hazards, and 
building earthquake-resistant structures. 
(6) There are several efforts currently under-
way at the Federal, regional, tribal, State, and local 
levels that have helped lay the foundation for a fed-
erally coordinated effort to increase the Nation’s re-
siliency to extreme weather events, such as the Hur-
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ricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, the Presi-
dential Policy Directive on National Preparedness 
(referred to in this Act as ‘‘PPD–8’’), the National 
Preparedness System, the whole community ap-
proach led by the Department of Homeland Secu-
rity, and the Silver Jackets Program by the Army 
Corps of Engineers. Other recent reports on this 
subject include the National Academies of Sciences’ 
reports ‘‘Disaster Resilience: A National Imperative’’ 
and ‘‘Building Community Disaster Resilience 
through Public-Private Collaboration’’. 
(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to mini-
mize the economic and social costs and future losses of 
life, property, well-being, business activity, and economic 
growth by making the United States more resilient to the 
impacts of extreme weather events over the short- and 
long-term, thereby creating business and job growth op-
portunities by— 
(1) ensuring that the Federal Government is 
optimizing its use of existing resources and funding 
to support State and local officials, businesses, tribal 
nations, and the public to become more resilient, in-
cluding— 
(A) encouraging the consideration of, and 
ways to incorporate, extreme weather resilience 
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across Federal operations, programs, policies, 
and initiatives; 
(B) promoting improved coordination of 
existing and planned Federal extreme weather 
resilience and adaptation efforts that impact ex-
treme weather resilience and ensuring their co-
ordination with, and support of, State, local, re-
gional, and tribal efforts; 
(C) minimizing Federal policies that may 
unintentionally hinder or reduce resilience, such 
as damaging wetlands or other critical green in-
frastructure, or lead Federal agencies to oper-
ate at cross-purposes in achieving extreme 
weather resilience; and 
(D) building upon existing related efforts, 
such as the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task 
Force, the PPD–8, the National Preparedness 
System, and the whole community approach; 
(2) communicating the latest understanding 
and likely short- and long-term human and economic 
impacts and risks of extreme weather to businesses 
and the public; 
(3) supporting decisionmaking that improves 
resilience by providing forecasts and projections, 
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data decision-support tools, and other information 
and mechanisms; and 
(4) establishing a consistent vision and strategic 
plan for extreme weather resilience across the Fed-
eral Government. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 
the Director of the Office of Science and Technology 
Policy. 
(2) EXTREME WEATHER.—The term ‘‘extreme 
weather’’ includes severe and unseasonable weather, 
heavy precipitation, hurricanes, storm surges, torna-
does, other windstorms (including derechos), extreme 
heat, extreme cold, and other qualifying weather 
events as determined by the interagency group es-
tablished under section 4(a)(1). 
(3) RESILIENCE.—The term ‘‘resilience’’ means 
the ability to prepare and plan for, absorb, recover 
from, and more successfully adapt to adverse events 
in a timely manner. 
SEC. 4. EXTREME WEATHER RESILIENCE GAP AND OVER-
LAP ANALYSIS. 
(a) INTERAGENCY WORKING GROUP.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.— 
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gregate, represent all of the key sectors set 
forth in subsection (b)(1). 
(C) MEETINGS.—The Director shall meet 
with the representatives described in subpara-
graph (A) not fewer than 9 times during the 
development of— 
(i) the gap and overlap analysis under 
this section; and 
(ii) the National Extreme Weather 
Resilience Action Plan under section 5. 
(4) COOPERATION BY FEDERAL AGENCIES.—In 
carrying out the activities described in subsection 
(b), Federal agency representatives participating in 
the working group shall be forthright and shall fully 
cooperate with the Office of Science and Technology 
Policy. 
(5) DETAILEES.—Upon the request of the Di-
rector, each agency or entity referred to in para-
graph (1) shall provide the working group with a 
detailee, without reimbursement from the working 
group, to support the activities described in sub-
section (b), section 5, and section 7(a). Such detailee 
shall retain the rights, status, and privileges of his 
or her regular employment without interruption. 
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(6) VOLUNTEER
SERVICES.—Notwithstanding 
section 1342 of title 31, United States Code, the 
working group may investigate and use such vol-
untary services as the working group determines to 
be necessary. 
(b) GAP AND OVERLAP ANALYSIS.—In conducting 
the gap and overlap analysis required under subsection 
(a)(1), Federal agency representatives shall— 
(1) develop a Federal Government-wide working 
vision for resilience to the impacts of extreme weath-
er events in the short- and long-term, in accordance 
with the purpose set forth in section 2(b), through 
an effort led by the Director and the interagency 
working group, which includes goals and objectives 
for key sectors. Key sectors shall include— 
(A) agriculture; 
(B) forestry and natural resources man-
agement; 
(C) water management, including supply 
and treatment; 
(D) energy supply and transmission; 
(E) infrastructure, including natural and 
built forms of water and wastewater, transpor-
tation, coastal infrastructure, and other land-
scapes and ecosystems services; 
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(F) public health and healthcare delivery, 
including mental health and hazardous mate-
rials management; 
(G) communications, including wireless 
communications; 
(H) housing and other buildings; 
(I) national security; 
(J) emergency preparedness; 
(K) insurance; and 
(L) other sectors that the Director con-
siders appropriate; 
(2) consider and identify the interdependencies 
among the key sectors when developing the vision re-
ferred to in paragraph (1); 
(3) create summaries of the existing and 
planned efforts and programmatic work underway or 
relevant to supporting State and local stakeholders 
in achieving greater extreme weather resilience in 
the short- and long-term for each sector identified 
under paragraph (1) and across the sectors, specifi-
cally including summaries of— 
(A) individual Federal agency programs, 
policies, regulations, and initiatives, and re-
search and data collection and dissemination ef-
forts; 
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(B) areas of collaboration and coordination 
across Federal agencies; and 
(C) areas of coordination with State and 
local agencies, private entities, and regional co-
operation; 
(4) identify specific Federal programs, statutes, 
regulations, policies, and initiatives which may unin-
tentionally hinder resilience efforts, including an 
analysis of disincentives, barriers, and incompatible 
programs, policies, or initiatives across agencies and 
sectors; 
(5) examine how the severity and frequency of 
extreme weather events at the local and regional 
level may change in the future and communicate 
these potential risks to stakeholders; 
(6) work together to identify and evaluate exist-
ing Federal tools and data to describe, analyze, fore-
cast, and model the potential impacts identified 
under paragraph (5) and develop recommendations 
to strengthen their ability to provide reliable and ac-
curate forecasts at the national, regional, State, and 
local levels; 
(7) identify gaps and overlaps in Federal agen-
cy work, resources, and authorities that impair the 
ability of the United States to meet the vision for 
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short- and long-term extreme weather resilience, by 
comparing the goals and objectives identified for 
each sector and across sectors with the summaries 
identified in paragraph (3), specifically identifying 
gaps relating to— 
(A) individual Federal agency programs, 
policies, and initiatives, and research data col-
lection and dissemination efforts; 
(B) areas of collaboration and coordination 
across Federal agencies; and 
(C) areas of coordination with State and 
local agencies and private entities, and regional 
cooperation; 
(8) determine potential measures to address the 
issues referred to in paragraph (4) and to address 
the gaps and overlaps referred to in paragraph (7) 
by— 
(A) designating individual or multiple Fed-
eral agencies to address these gaps; 
(B) building upon existing delivery mecha-
nisms; 
(C) evaluating options for programs, poli-
cies, and initiatives that may particularly ben-
efit extreme weather resilience efforts, including 
the role of ecosystem-based approaches; 
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(D) recommending modifications to exist-
ing Federal agency programs, statutes, regula-
tions, policies, and initiatives to better support 
extreme weather resiliency; 
(E) requesting new authorities and re-
source requirements, if needed; and 
(F) identifying existing Federal Govern-
ment processes that can be built upon to ad-
dress the purpose of this Act; and 
(9) establish, with the assistance of the General 
Services Administration or such other Federal agen-
cy as the Director may designate, a Federal advisory 
working group to provide ongoing collective input to 
the process. 
(c) WORKING GROUP.—The Federal advisory work-
ing group established pursuant to subsection (b)(9) shall 
consist of relevant private sector, academic, State and 
local government, tribal nation, regional organization, vul-
nerable population, and nongovernmental representatives, 
with representation from each sector described in para-
graph (1). The Director may designate an existing Federal 
advisory committee under which the working group would 
operate independently, with the same rights and privileges 
held by members of the advisory committee. The members 
of the working group established pursuant to subsection 
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(b)(9) may not simultaneously serve as members of the 
advisory committee designated pursuant to this sub-
section. The activities of the working group should com-
plement and not duplicate the stakeholder process con-
ducted under PPD–8. 
SEC. 5. NATIONAL EXTREME WEATHER RESILIENCE AC-
TION PLAN. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Based on the results of the gap 
and overlap analysis conducted under section 4, the Direc-
tor, working with the interagency working group estab-
lished under such section, and considering the efforts de-
scribed in section 2(a)(9), shall develop a National Ex-
treme Weather Resilience Action Plan (referred to in this 
section as the ‘‘Plan’’)— 
(1) to build upon existing Federal Government 
processes referred to in section 4(b)(8)(F)— 
(A) to address the results of the gap and 
overlap analysis under section 4; and 
(B) to incorporate the activities required 
under subsection (c); 
(2) to best utilize existing resources and pro-
grams through improved interagency coordination 
and collaboration; 
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(3) to improve Federal coordination with exist-
ing regional entities, State and local governments, 
networks, and private stakeholders; 
(4) to make data and tools accessible and un-
derstandable and to help facilitate information ex-
change for tribal, State, and local officials, busi-
nesses, and other stakeholders in a manner that ad-
dresses the needs expressed by these stakeholders; 
(5) to facilitate public-private partnerships; 
(6) to improve Federal agencies’ economic ana-
lytical capacity to assess— 
(A) the likelihood and potential costs of ex-
treme weather impacts by region and nation-
ally; and 
(B) the relative benefits of potential resil-
ience measures to multiple stakeholders; 
(7) to provide tools to stakeholders— 
(A) to conduct analyses similar to those 
described in paragraph (6); and 
(B) to support decisionmaking; 
(8) to support resiliency plans developed by 
State and local governments, regional entities, and 
tribal nations, to the extent possible; and 
(9) to request further resources, if necessary, to 
fill in gaps to enable national resilience to extreme 
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weather, including resilience of tribal nations, and 
particularly vulnerable populations, and the use of 
green infrastructure and ecosystem-based solutions. 
(b) COOPERATION.—Any Federal agency representa-
tive contacted by the Director, in the course of developing 
the Plan, shall be forthright and shall fully cooperate with 
the Office of Science and Technology Policy, as requested. 
(c) REQUIRED ACTIVITIES.— 
(1) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The Plan shall include 
specific Federal agency and interagency responsibil-
ities, identify potential new authorities, if necessary, 
and employ risk analysis— 
(A) to address the gaps identified through 
the gap and overlap analysis; and 
(B) to improve Federal interagency coordi-
nation and Federal coordination with State, re-
gional, local, and tribal partners. 
(2) AVAILABLE FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES.— 
(A) IDENTIFICATION.—The Director shall 
identify— 
(i) existing Federal grant programs 
and other funding opportunities available 
to support State and local government ex-
treme weather resiliency planning efforts; 
or 
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(ii) 
projects 
to 
advance 
extreme 
weather resiliency. 
(B) PUBLICATION.—The Director shall 
publish the information described in subpara-
graph (A) in the information portal identified in 
paragraph (3). 
(C) 
RESPONSIBILITIES.—Each 
partici-
pating agency shall— 
(i) consider incorporating criteria or 
guidance into existing relevant Federal 
grant and other funding opportunities to 
better support State and local efforts to 
improve extreme weather resiliency; and 
(ii) evaluate and modify existing Fed-
eral funding opportunities, as appropriate, 
to maximize the return on investment for 
pre-disaster mitigation activities. 
(3) INFORMATION PORTAL.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—The Plan shall— 
(i) include the establishment of an on-
line, publicly available information portal 
for use by Federal agencies, their partners, 
and stakeholders, that directs users to key 
data and tools to inform resilience-enhanc-
ing efforts; and 
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(ii) build off and be complementary to 
existing 
Federal 
efforts, 
including 
data.gov. 
(B) MAINTENANCE.—The coordinating en-
tity identified under paragraph (4) shall be re-
sponsible for establishing and maintaining the 
information portal. 
(C) INFORMATION
SUPPLIED.—Informa-
tion shall be supplied as requested by Federal 
agencies, their partners, academia, and private 
stakeholders, in coordination with regional, 
State, local, and tribal agencies. 
(D) CONTENTS.—The information portal 
established under this paragraph shall direct 
users to coordinated and systematic information 
on— 
(i) best or model practices; 
(ii) data; 
(iii) case studies; 
(iv) indicators; 
(v) scientific reports; 
(vi) resilience and vulnerability assess-
ments; 
(vii) guidance documents and design 
standards; 
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(viii) incentives; 
(ix) education and communication ini-
tiatives; 
(x) decision support tools, including 
risk management, short- and long-term 
economic analysis, and predictive models; 
(xi) planning tools; 
(xii) public and private sources of as-
sistance; and 
(xiii) such other information as the 
coordinating entity considers appropriate. 
(4) COORDINATING
ENTITY.—The Plan shall 
include the identification of a Federal agency, inter-
agency council, office, or program, which partici-
pated in the gap and overlap analysis and Plan de-
velopment. Such entity shall— 
(A) coordinate the implementation of the 
Plan; 
(B) track the progress of such implementa-
tion; and 
(C) transfer responsibilities to another 
Federal agency, interagency council, office, or 
program to serve as the coordinating entity if 
the entities participating in the working group 
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agree that circumstances necessitate such a 
change. 
(5) RESILIENCY OFFICER.—Each Federal agen-
cy that assists with the gap and overlap analysis re-
quired under section 4 shall designate, from among 
the agency’s senior management, a Senior Resiliency 
Officer, who shall— 
(A) facilitate the implementation of the 
agency’s responsibilities under paragraph (1); 
(B) monitor the agency’s progress and per-
formance in implementing its responsibilities 
under paragraph (1); 
(C) report the agency’s progress and per-
formance to the head of the agency and the co-
ordinating entity identified under paragraph 
(4); and 
(D) serve as the agency lead in ongoing co-
ordination efforts within the Federal agency 
and between the coordinating entity, other Fed-
eral agencies, public and private partners, and 
stakeholders. 
(d) PUBLICATION.— 
(1) DRAFT
PLAN.—Not later than 420 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Di-
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rector shall publish a draft of the Plan developed 
under this section in the Federal Register. 
(2) PUBLIC
COMMENT
PERIOD.—During the 
60-day period beginning on the date on which the 
draft Plan is published under paragraph (1), the Di-
rector shall— 
(A) solicit comment from the public; and 
(B) conduct a briefing for Congress to ex-
plain the provisions contained in the draft Plan. 
(3) FINAL
PLAN.—Not later than 120 days 
after the end of the public comment period described 
in paragraph (2), the Director shall publish the final 
Plan in the Federal Register. 
(e) IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 630 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director 
shall begin implementing the final Plan published under 
subsection (d)(3). 
(f) FINANCING.—To the extent possible— 
(1) Federal funding should be used to leverage 
private sector financing for resilience building activi-
ties, consistent with the implementation of the Plan, 
through public-private partnerships; and 
(2) Federal grant and loan programs of the 
Federal agencies participating in the interagency 
working group for this effort shall consider extreme 
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weather resilience as a key factor when awarding 
funding, including the projected extreme weather 
risk to a project over the course of its expected life. 
(g) TRIBAL, STATE, AND
LOCAL
RESPONSIBIL-
ITIES.—The Plan may not place new unfunded require-
ments on State or local governments. 
SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF OTHER ACTIVITIES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Federal agencies are authorized 
to develop tools and disseminate information to improve 
extreme weather resilience in the key sectors set forth in 
section 4(b)(1). 
(b) OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POL-
ICY.—In conducting the gap and overlap analysis under 
section 4 and developing the National Extreme Weather 
Resilience Action Plan under section 5, the Director may 
carry out additional activities in support of the purpose 
of this Act. 
SEC. 7. REPORTS. 
(a) GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE RE-
PORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United 
States shall submit a report to Congress that— 
(1) identifies existing Federal Government pro-
grams and policies related to disaster relief, re-
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sponse, and recovery that impede improving short- 
and long-term extreme weather resilience; and 
(2) make recommendations for how the pro-
grams or policies could be structured differently to 
better support short- and long-term resilience after 
an extreme weather event. 
(b) INITIAL REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director shall 
submit a report to Congress that contains— 
(1) the results of the gap and overlap analysis; 
(2) the final National Extreme Weather Resil-
ience Action Plan; 
(3) an update on the implementation of the 
plan; and 
(4) available resources for the sustained imple-
mentation of the plan. 
(c) TRIENNIAL REPORTS.—Not later than 2 years 
after the submission of the report under subsection (a), 
and every 3 years thereafter, the coordinating entity iden-
tified under section 5(c)(4), in cooperation with the inter-
agency working group established under section 4(a), shall 
submit a report to Congress that— 
(1) contains an update of the National Extreme 
Weather Resilience Action Plan; 
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(2) describes the progress of the plan’s imple-
mentation; 
(3) improves upon the original analysis as more 
information 
and 
understanding 
about 
extreme 
weather events becomes available; 
(4) establishes criteria for prioritization of ac-
tivities described in the plan; 
(5) reconsiders and makes changes to the plan 
based on the availability of new information de-
scribed in paragraph (3); and 
(6) identifies cost-effective changes to laws, 
policies, or regulations that could advance the pur-
pose of this Act. 
(d) FEMA REPORTS ON FUNDING.— 
(1) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(A) The Federal Emergency Management 
Agency grant programs are a key vehicle that 
exists to fund activities related to resiliency 
planning and projects. 
(B) In order to ensure that the United 
States becomes more resilient to extreme weath-
er, it is important to ensure that sufficient re-
sources are available to support resiliency ac-
tivities. 
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(2) REPORTS.—At the end of each fiscal year, 
the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Man-
agement Agency (in this paragraph referred to as 
‘‘FEMA’’) shall submit a report to Congress that— 
(A) identifies the amounts that were made 
available to FEMA during such fiscal year for 
State and local entities to use for activities that 
support the purposes of this Act; 
(B) identifies the amounts disbursed by 
FEMA to State and local entities during such 
fiscal year for such activities; 
(C) describes the resources requested by 
State and local entities for activities that sup-
port the purposes of this Act; and 
(D) identifies the difference between the 
amounts disbursed by FEMA and the amounts 
requested from FEMA by State and local enti-
ties. 
SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
(a) AMOUNTS FOR ANALYSIS, PLAN DEVELOPMENT 
AND IMPLEMENTATION, AND REPORTS.—There are au-
thorized to be appropriated such sums as may be nec-
essary for fiscal years 2020 through 2022— 
(1) to conduct the gap and overlap analysis re-
quired under section 4; 
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(2) to conduct the activities required under sec-
tion 5, including the creation and maintenance of 
the information portal; and 
(3) to prepare the reports to Congress required 
under subsections (b) and (c) of section 7. 
(b) AVAILABILITY
OF
FUNDS.—Amounts appro-
priated pursuant to subsection (a) shall remain available 
for the purposes set forth in such subsection through De-
cember 31, 2022. 
Æ 
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