IB 
Union Calendar No. 870 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4557 
[Report No. 115–1107, Part I] 
To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to provide 
disaster assistance to States and units of general government under 
a community development block grant disaster recovery program, and 
for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 5, 2017 
Mrs. WAGNER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Financial Services 
DECEMBER 22, 2018 
Reported with an amendment and referred to the Committee on Transpor-
tation and Infrastructure for a period ending not later than December 
28, 2018, for consideration of such provisions of the bill and amendment 
as fall within the jurisdiction of that committee pursuant to clause 1(r) 
of rule X 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
DECEMBER 28, 2018 
Additional sponsors: Mr. ROSS, Ms. TENNEY, and Mr. AL GREEN of Texas 
DECEMBER 28, 2018 
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure discharged; committed to the 
Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered 
to be printed 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on December 5, 2017] 
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A BILL 
To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Develop-
ment to provide disaster assistance to States and units 
of general government under a community development 
block grant disaster recovery program, and for other 
purposes. 
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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 ‘‘Reforming Disaster Re-
covery Act of 2018’’. 
SEC. 2. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT DIS-
ASTER RECOVERY PROGRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title I of the Housing and Commu-
nity Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.) is 
amended by adding at the end the following new section: 
‘‘SEC. 123. CDBG-DISASTER RECOVERY ASSISTANCE. 
‘‘(a) AUTHORITY; USE.—The Secretary may provide 
assistance under this section to States, units of general local 
government, and Indian tribes for necessary expenses for 
activities authorized under this title related to disaster re-
lief, resiliency, long-term recovery, restoration of infrastruc-
ture and housing, mitigation, and economic revitalization 
in the most impacted and distressed areas resulting from 
a major disaster declared pursuant to the Robert T. Staf-
ford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 
U.S.C. 5121 et seq.). 
‘‘(b) TIMING.— 
‘‘(1) 
DEADLINES
FOR
ALLOCATION
OF 
AMOUNTS.—Except as provided in paragraph (2), 
after the enactment of an Act making funds available 
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for assistance under this section, the Secretary shall 
allocate for grantees, based on the best available 
data— 
‘‘(A) not less than one-third of funds pro-
vided for assistance under this section, within 60 
days of the date of the enactment of such Act; 
and 
‘‘(B) all remaining unallocated funds to be 
provided to grantees, within 180 days of such 
date of enactment. 
‘‘(2) INAPPLICABILITY OF DEADLINES BASED ON 
INSUFFICIENT
INFORMATION.—The deadlines under 
paragraph (1) for allocation of funds shall not apply 
in the case of funds made available for assistance 
under this section if Federal Emergency Management 
Agency has not made sufficient information available 
to the Secretary regarding relevant unmet recovery to 
make allocations in accordance with such deadlines. 
‘‘(3) DISBURSEMENT OF AMOUNTS.—Subject to 
subsection (c)(1), the Secretary shall provide for the 
disbursement of the amounts allocated for a grantee 
over time in accordance with obligations of the grant-
ee, but shall require the grantee to be in substantial 
compliance with the requirements of this section be-
fore each such disbursement. 
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‘‘(4) COORDINATION OF DISASTER BENEFITS AND 
DATA WITH OTHER FEDERAL AGENCIES.— 
‘‘(A) COORDINATION
OF
DATA.—The Sec-
retary shall coordinate with other agencies to ob-
tain data on recovery needs. The Administrator 
of the Federal Emergency Management Agency 
and the Administrator of the Small Business Ad-
ministration shall share data with the Secretary 
to coordinate disaster benefits. 
‘‘(B) COORDINATION WITH FEMA.—The Sec-
retary and the Administrator of the Federal 
Emergency Management Agency shall share with 
each other, and make publicly available, all data 
collected or analyzed during the course of a dis-
aster recovery for which assistance is provided 
under this section, including— 
‘‘(i) all data on damage caused by the 
disaster; 
‘‘(ii) information on how any Federal 
assistance provided in connection with the 
disaster is expended; 
‘‘(iii) information regarding the effect 
of the disaster on education, transportation 
capabilities and dependence, housing needs 
and displacement. 
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‘‘(C) PROHIBITION AND REQUIREMENTS RE-
GARDING
SMALL
BUSINESS
ADMINISTRATION 
LOANS.— 
‘‘(i) 
PROHIBITION.—Funds 
made 
available for use under this section may not 
be used to repay Small Business Adminis-
tration loans. 
‘‘(ii) FAMILY ELIGIBILITY.—Any fam-
ily having an income exceeding 120 percent 
of the area median income shall not be eli-
gible for assistance provided from funds 
made available for use under this section 
unless (i) the family has applied for a 
Small Business Administration loan for 
such purpose and has agreed that if such a 
loan is made that it will use the proceeds of 
such loan in lieu of assistance from funds 
made available for use under this section, or 
(ii) such loans are not available at the time 
of application for assistance from funds 
made available for use under this section; 
except that the Secretary may establish in-
come ceilings higher or lower than 120 per-
cent of the median for the area on the basis 
of the Secretary’s findings that such vari-
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ations are necessary because of unusually 
high or low family incomes. 
‘‘(D) NOTICE
TO
SBA
APPLICANTS.—The 
Secretary shall consult and coordinate with the 
Administrator of the Small Business Adminis-
tration as necessary to ensure that applicants for 
Small Business Administration disaster loans 
are provided clear written notice regarding their 
potential eligibility for assistance with funds 
made available under this section and the affect 
of such Small Business Administration loans on 
such eligibility. 
‘‘(E) TREATMENT OF DUPLICATIVE BENE-
FITS.—In any case in which a grantee provides 
assistance that duplicates benefits available to a 
person for the same purpose from another source, 
the grantee shall collect any duplicative assist-
ance that it provides and return the amount of 
duplicative assistance to the grantees funds 
available for use under this section, or to the 
Secretary, or be subject to remedies for non-
compliance under section 111, unless the Sec-
retary issues a public determination that it is 
not in the best interest of the Federal Govern-
ment to pursue such remedies. 
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