I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 6138 
To enhance predisaster mitigation to prevent future natural disasters, and 
for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 2, 2021 
Mr. SWALWELL (for himself, Miss GONZA´LEZ-COLO´N, and Mr. BLUMENAUER) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
Transportation and Infrastructure 
A BILL 
To enhance predisaster mitigation to prevent future natural 
disasters, 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 ‘‘Preventing Our Next 
Natural Disaster Act’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
Section 203(a) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re-
lief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5133(a)) 
is amended to read as follows: 
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‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following 
definitions apply: 
‘‘(1) HIGH HAZARD RISK.—The term ‘high haz-
ard risk’ means high rating of a natural hazard risk 
according to a tool such as the National Risk Index 
or another tool developed by the Federal Emergency 
Management Agency. 
‘‘(2) ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE COMMUNITY.— 
The term ‘environmental justice community’ means 
a community primarily composed of communities of 
color, low-income communities, or Tribal and indige-
nous communities, that experiences, or is at risk of 
experiencing, higher or more adverse human health 
or environmental effects than most communities. 
‘‘(3) SMALL IMPOVERISHED COMMUNITY.—The 
term ‘small impoverished community’ means a com-
munity that is comprised of 50,000 or fewer individ-
uals and that is economically disadvantaged, as de-
termined by the State in which the community is lo-
cated and based on criteria established by the Presi-
dent.’’. 
SEC. 3. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE. 
Section 203(e) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re-
lief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5133(e)) 
is amended by adding at the end the following: 
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‘‘(3) GUIDANCE.—The Administrator may de-
velop guidance regarding how to incorporate climate 
change into— 
‘‘(A) the National Risk Index; 
‘‘(B) cost-benefit analyses; and 
‘‘(C) adopting improved relevant con-
sensus-based codes, specifications, and stand-
ards to address natural hazards. 
‘‘(4) BUILDING, RESTORATION, OR REHABILITA-
TION.—The Administrator may issue guidance to en-
sure that funds provided under this section are used 
to support the building, restoration, or rehabilitation 
of hazard mitigation projects that are— 
‘‘(A) planned and designed around the fu-
ture projections of climate change over the life 
cycle of the project; and 
‘‘(B) built to withstand future flooding.’’. 
SEC. 4. CRITERIA FOR ASSISTANCE AWARDS. 
Section 203(g) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re-
lief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5133(g)) 
is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 
(11); 
(2) by redesignating paragraph (12) as para-
graph (13); and 
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(3) by inserting after paragraph (11) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(12) and prioritize communities that are in 
high hazard risk communities, environmental justice 
communities, communities with low tax revenue base 
per capita, and communities with a low rate of code 
adoption and enforcement and infrastructure main-
tenance expenditures (the Administrator of the Fed-
eral Emergency Management Agency shall establish 
guidelines to develop measurable criteria to deter-
mine such priority for high hazard risk communities 
and integrate the data into a tool such as the Na-
tional Risk Index and use the Resilience Analysis 
and Planning Tool to help target the communities 
with the greatest need of assistance); and’’. 
SEC. 5. FEDERAL SHARE. 
Section 203(h)(2) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 
5133(h)(2) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(2) SMALL IMPOVERISHED COMMUNITIES AND 
ENVIRONMENT
JUSTICE
COMMUNITIES.—Notwith-
standing paragraph (1), the President may con-
tribute up to 90 percent of the total cost of a miti-
gation activity carried out in a small impoverished 
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community or an environmental justice commu-
nity.’’. 
SEC. 
6. 
NATIONAL 
PUBLIC 
INFRASTRUCTURE 
PREDISASTER MITIGATION ASSISTANCE. 
Section 203(i)(1) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 
5133(i)(1)) is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘6 percent’’ and inserting ‘‘15 
percent’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: ‘‘From 
such total amount made available from the Disaster 
Relief Fund, with respect to each major disaster, the 
President may set aside 2 percent of the estimated 
aggregate amount of the grants to be made pursu-
ant to sections 403, 406, 407, 408, 410, 416, and 
428 for the major disaster for community planning 
and capacity building assistance.’’. 
SEC. 7. COMMUNITY OUTREACH. 
Section 203 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 
and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5133) is 
amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(n) COMMUNITY OUTREACH ASSISTANCE.—The Ad-
ministrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agen-
cy, in collaboration with organizations, such as the United 
States Cooperative Extension System and the Extension 
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Disaster Education Network, shall provide community 
outreach to communities under this section, with a goal 
of increasing applications from communities with high 
hazard risk, environmental justice communities, commu-
nities with low tax revenue base per capita, and commu-
nities with a low rate of code adoption and enforcement 
and infrastructure maintenance expenditures, regarding 
how to plan and prioritize projects based on current cli-
mate conditions, future hazard risk, and social vulner-
ability assessments as well as how to successfully develop, 
submit, and administer a grant under this section.’’. 
SEC. 8. IMPROVED DATA COLLECTION. 
Not later than 3 years after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Administrator of the Federal Emergency 
Management Agency shall establish a central Federal 
database at the Agency, in coordination with the Depart-
ment of Housing and Urban Development, the Environ-
ment Protection Agency, the Economic Development Ad-
ministration, the Small Business Administration, the 
Army Corps of Engineers, and any other relevant agencies 
the Administrator chooses to include, to consolidate fund-
ing data collected by all local, State, and Federal agencies 
involved in post-disaster response and predisaster mitiga-
tion spending and categorize the data by type of project, 
funding source, and hazard types using an user friendly 
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database and interactive map. Such database shall also in-
clude— 
(1) the collection and posting of census track 
data and post aggregate demographic data, pursuant 
to the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et 
seq.) as well as any future guidance by such office 
on data equity on the impact of natural disaster and 
Federal recovery efforts to better allocate and trace 
funds; and 
(2) post-project evaluations by the Agency to 
analyze disaster spending and report findings on 
what may have been saved by proper predisaster 
mitigation. 
Æ 
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