I 
113TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5314 
To amend title 31, United States Code, to enhance the Federal Government’s 
planning and preparation for extreme weather, and the Federal Govern-
ment’s dissemination of best practices to respond to extreme weather, 
thereby increasing resiliency, improving regional coordination, and miti-
gating the financial risk to the Federal Government from such extreme 
weather. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 31, 2014 
Mr. CARTWRIGHT (for himself, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. COLE, 
Mr. DENT, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. GRIMM, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. 
HOLT, Mr. HONDA, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. LOEBSACK, Ms. PINGREE of 
Maine, Mr. YOUNG of Alaska, Ms. NORTON, Mr. PETERS of California, 
and Mr. FITZPATRICK) introduced the following bill; which was referred 
to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition 
to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, for a period to 
be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
concerned 
A BILL 
To amend title 31, United States Code, to enhance the 
Federal Government’s planning and preparation for ex-
treme weather, and the Federal Government’s dissemina-
tion of best practices to respond to extreme weather, 
thereby increasing resiliency, improving regional coordi-
nation, and mitigating the financial risk to the Federal 
Government from such extreme weather. 
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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 ‘‘Preparedness and Risk 
Management for Extreme Weather Patterns Assuring Re-
silience Act of 2014’’ or the ‘‘PREPARE Act of 2014’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) For the first time in history, the Govern-
ment Accountability Office included the need to ad-
dress extreme weather in its 2013 High Risk List by 
declaring that this complex, cross-cutting issue ‘‘pre-
sents a significant financial risk to the federal gov-
ernment’’. 
(2) The United States has sustained 151 
weather-related disasters since 1980 where overall 
costs reached or exceeded $1 billion, with a total 
cost exceeding $1 trillion. 
(3) In 2012, the Federal Government spent 
nearly $100 billion because of droughts, storms, 
floods, and forest fires, and the costs of extreme 
weather in the United States totaled almost 1 per-
cent of the Nation’s gross domestic product. 
(4) Every dollar spent on hazard mitigation 
brings a $4 return on investment. 
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(5) The Federal Government has a number of 
non-permanent efforts underway to address extreme 
weather, including those outlined in Executive Order 
13514, in Executive Order 13653, in Homeland Se-
curity Presidential Directive 20, in Presidential Pol-
icy Directive 8, and in individual Agency Adaptation 
Plans. 
(6) The Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task 
Force recommendations included taking a resiliency 
approach to planning, design, and rebuilding in 
order to mitigate impacts of future extreme weather- 
related events. 
(7) In order to help communities plan for fu-
ture extreme weather-related events, the National 
League of Cities urges the Federal Government to 
provide financial and technical assistance to help 
local governments assess vulnerabilities and mitigate 
such future events and to share best practices and 
resiliency strategies. 
SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS RELATING TO EXTREME WEATHER 
RESILIENCY, 
PREPAREDNESS, 
AND 
RISK 
MANAGEMENT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle VI of title 31, United 
States Code, is amended by inserting after chapter 97 the 
following new chapter: 
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‘‘CHAPTER 99—EXTREME WEATHER RESIL-
IENCY, 
PREPAREDNESS, 
AND 
RISK 
MANAGEMENT 
‘‘SUBCHAPTER I—STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR EXTREME WEATHER RESILIENCY, 
PREPAREDNESS, AND RISK MANAGEMENT 
‘‘Sec. 
‘‘9901. Interagency Council on Extreme Weather Resiliency, Preparedness, and 
Risk Management. 
‘‘9902. Agency planning for extreme weather-related risks. 
‘‘SUBCHAPTER
II—ASSISTANCE
IN
IDENTIFYING
THE
BEST
AVAILABLE 
SCIENCE AND EXTREME WEATHER RESILIENCY, PREPAREDNESS, AND RISK 
MANAGEMENT BEST PRACTICES 
‘‘9911. USGCRP Web site. 
‘‘9912. Adequate funding. 
‘‘SUBCHAPTER III—REGIONAL COORDINATION 
‘‘9921. Inventory. 
‘‘9922. Meetings. 
‘‘9923. Progress reports. 
‘‘SUBCHAPTER IV—DEFINITIONS 
‘‘9931. Definitions. 
‘‘SUBCHAPTER I—STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR 
EXTREME 
WEATHER 
RESILIENCY, 
PRE-
PAREDNESS, AND RISK MANAGEMENT 
‘‘§ 9901. Interagency Council on Extreme Weather Re-
siliency, Preparedness, and Risk Manage-
ment 
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The President shall estab-
lish a council to be known as the ‘Interagency Council on 
Extreme Weather Resiliency, Preparedness, and Risk 
Management’. 
‘‘(b) MEMBERSHIP.—The Interagency Council shall 
be composed of— 
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‘‘(1) the Chairman of the Council on Environ-
mental Quality; 
‘‘(2) the Director of the Office of Science and 
Technology Policy; 
‘‘(3) the Assistant to the President for Home-
land Security and Counterterrorism; 
‘‘(4) the employee of the Office of Management 
and Budget in the position established under sub-
section (c)(2), or a designee of such employee; and 
‘‘(5) other members as appointed by the Presi-
dent who are agency representatives at the Assistant 
Secretary (or equivalent) level or above, including— 
‘‘(A) a representative from— 
‘‘(i) the Department of Transpor-
tation; 
‘‘(ii) the Environmental Protection 
Agency; 
‘‘(iii) the Department of Energy; and 
‘‘(iv) the Department of Homeland 
Security; and 
‘‘(B) representatives who have policy ex-
pertise and policy responsibilities in the areas 
of— 
‘‘(i) economic policy; 
‘‘(ii) foreign affairs; 
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‘‘(iii) defense and intelligence; 
‘‘(iv) homeland security; 
‘‘(v) energy; 
‘‘(vi) environmental protection; 
‘‘(vii) natural resources; 
‘‘(viii) coasts, oceans, rivers, and 
floodplains; 
‘‘(ix) agriculture; 
‘‘(x) health; 
‘‘(xi) transportation, infrastructure, or 
housing; 
‘‘(xii) education; 
‘‘(xiii) extreme weather data analysis 
or meteorological science; 
‘‘(xiv) social science; 
‘‘(xv) strategic planning; and 
‘‘(xvi) other areas the President deter-
mines appropriate. 
‘‘(c) CO-CHAIRPERSONS.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Interagency Council 
shall be co-chaired by the employee of the Office of 
Management and Budget in the position established 
under paragraph (2) (or a designee of such em-
ployee) and any other member of the Interagency 
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Council that the President may appoint as co-chair-
person. 
‘‘(2) POSITION AT THE OFFICE OF MANAGE-
MENT
AND
BUDGET.—There is established within 
the Office of Management and Budget a position 
to— 
‘‘(A) serve as a co-chairperson of the Inter-
agency Council; 
‘‘(B) oversee the Interagency Council’s re-
sponse to the Government Accountability Of-
fice’s recommendations under subsection (f)(5); 
‘‘(C) use the evaluation framework and 
performance metrics developed pursuant to sub-
section (f)(6) to evaluate agency progress in 
meeting the goals and implementing the prior-
ities described in subsection (f)(1)(A); and 
‘‘(D) work to ensure that sufficient re-
sources are available for agencies to— 
‘‘(i) meet the goals and implement the 
priorities described in subsection (f)(1)(A); 
and 
‘‘(ii) implement the recommendations 
developed under subsection (f)(2). 
‘‘(d) ADMINISTRATION.—The Council on Environ-
mental Quality shall provide administrative support and 
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additional resources, as appropriate, to the Interagency 
Council to the extent permitted by law and within existing 
appropriations. The Interagency Council co-chairpersons 
shall determine the amount of funding and personnel nec-
essary for the Interagency Council to carry out its duties 
and the amount of funding and personnel each agency rep-
resented on the Interagency Council should contribute in 
order for the Interagency Council to carry out such duties. 
Agencies shall, upon the request of the co-chairpersons of 
the Interagency Council, make available personnel, admin-
istrative support services, and information to the Inter-
agency Council. 
‘‘(e) STRUCTURE.— 
‘‘(1) STEERING
COMMITTEE.—The co-chair-
persons of the Interagency Council shall designate a 
subset of members of the Interagency Council to 
serve on a steering committee. Such steering com-
mittee shall assist the Interagency Council in deter-
mining its priorities and its strategic direction. 
‘‘(2) WORKING GROUPS.—The co-chairpersons 
of the Interagency Council and its steering com-
mittee may establish working groups as needed. 
‘‘(f) DUTIES.— 
‘‘(1) GOALS AND PRIORITIES.— 
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‘‘(A) 
IN
GENERAL.—The 
Interagency 
Council shall establish government-wide goals 
and priorities for extreme weather resiliency, 
preparedness, and risk management. In estab-
lishing such goals and priorities, the Inter-
agency Council shall consider the National Oil 
and Hazardous Materials Pollution Contingency 
Plan, agency continuity of operations plans, the 
National Preparedness Goal, the National Glob-
al Change Research Plan, and all relevant pro-
visions of the Government Accountability Of-
fice’s High-Risk Series. 
‘‘(B) INCORPORATION
INTO
AGENCY
AC-
TIVITIES.—In carrying out subparagraph (A), 
the Interagency Council shall, in order to en-
sure that information relating to extreme 
weather resiliency, preparedness, and risk man-
agement is incorporated into everyday agency 
activities— 
‘‘(i) work with agencies to assist such 
agencies in considering the goals and prior-
ities described in subparagraph (A) in 
agency strategic, programmatic, and budg-
et planning; and 
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