I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2592 
To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 
Act to enhance existing programs providing mitigation assistance by 
encouraging States to adopt and actively enforce State building codes, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 21, 2009 
Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida (for himself, Mr. ARCURI, Mr. BROWN 
of South Carolina, Mr. FILNER, Mr. ROONEY, Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ- 
BALART of Florida, and Mr. CRENSHAW) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastruc-
ture 
A BILL 
To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-
gency Assistance Act to enhance existing programs pro-
viding mitigation assistance by encouraging States to 
adopt and actively enforce State building codes, and for 
other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safe Building Code 
Incentive Act of 2009’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds that— 
(1) mitigation planning is the foundation for 
saving lives, protecting residential and commercial 
properties, and developing disaster resistant commu-
nities; 
(2) recent studies of the performance of build-
ing structures during disasters have demonstrated 
that the adoption and active enforcement of State 
building codes have greatly reduced residential and 
commercial property damage and personal injury re-
sulting from major disasters; 
(3) modern building codes govern all aspects of 
construction and are designed to ensure that single- 
family residential dwellings and commercial struc-
tures are protected from natural disasters; 
(4) the people of the United States rely on ac-
tive enforcement of modern building codes for assur-
ance that minimum standards for reducing personal 
injuries and property damages have been met in the 
buildings they live in, work in, and visit everyday; 
(5) active enforcement of building codes plays 
an increasingly important role in public safety and 
loss prevention of residential and commercial prop-
erty; 
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(6) active enforcement of building codes based 
on nationally recognized models reduces the need for 
public disaster aid, creates sustainable communities, 
promotes a level and consistent playing field for de-
sign professionals, suppliers, and builders, and can 
contribute to the durability of residential and com-
mercial structures; 
(7) under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re-
lief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 
et seq.), the Federal Emergency Management Agen-
cy provides Federal assistance to States for mitiga-
tion efforts; 
(8) it is beneficial and appropriate to expand 
Federal mitigation assistance to encourage States to 
take a comprehensive and integrated approach to 
disaster loss reduction; and 
(9) it is beneficial to the Federal Government 
and appropriate that Federal mitigation assistance 
be used to encourage the adoption and active en-
forcement of State building codes as a disaster miti-
gation strategy under the auspices of a comprehen-
sive disaster loss reduction plan. 
SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 
The purposes of this Act are to— 
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