I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3027 
To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 
Act to establish a grant program for predisaster hazard mitigation en-
hancement, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 24, 2009 
Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi introduced the following bill; which was referred 
to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 
A BILL 
To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-
gency Assistance Act to establish a grant program for 
predisaster hazard mitigation enhancement, 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 ‘‘Predisaster Hazard 
Mitigation Enhancement Program Act of 2009’’. 
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SEC. 2. PREDISASTER HAZARD MITIGATION ENHANCE-
MENT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title II of the Robert T. Stafford 
Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 
5131 et seq.) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating section 204 as section 205; 
and 
(2) by inserting after section 203 the following: 
‘‘SEC. 204. PREDISASTER HAZARD MITIGATION ENHANCE-
MENT. 
‘‘(a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to 
provide grants to eligible entities to assist hazard mitiga-
tion strategies that save lives, improve the structural in-
tegrity of property affected by natural disasters, and pro-
vide hazard mitigation cost savings to the Federal Govern-
ment and States. 
‘‘(b) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—The President may 
make grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible entities 
in accordance with this section. 
‘‘(c) APPLICATION.—To be eligible for a grant under 
this section, an eligible entity shall submit an application 
to the President in accordance with regulations issued by 
the President not later than 180 days after the date of 
enactment of the Predisaster Hazard Mitigation Enhance-
ment Program Act of 2009. 
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‘‘(d) GRANT USES.—A grant made under this section 
may be used only for the following: 
‘‘(1) To assist predisaster hazard mitigation im-
provements to residential property that is valued at 
an amount not exceeding $250,000. 
‘‘(2) To assist predisaster hazard mitigation im-
provements to business property that is owned or 
leased and operated by a small business concern and 
that is valued at an amount not exceeding $500,000. 
‘‘(3) To assist predisaster hazard mitigation im-
provements to residential rental property that is val-
ued at an amount not exceeding the product of the 
total number of residential rental dwelling units in 
such property and $250,000. 
‘‘(e) ANNUAL ADJUSTMENT
OF AMOUNTS.—The 
President shall adjust annually the amounts under sub-
section (d) to account for changes occurring in the pre-
ceding 12-month period in the Consumer Price Index for 
All Urban Consumers (United States City Average) pub-
lished by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Depart-
ment of Labor. 
‘‘(f) MINIMUM STANDARDS.—An eligible entity that 
receives a grant under this section shall carry out any re-
pair, construction, renovation, or retrofit assisted by such 
grant in accordance with the following: 
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‘‘(1) Applicable standards of safety and sanita-
tion. 
‘‘(2) Applicable codes, specifications, and stand-
ards of the International Building Code of the Inter-
national Code Council or the NFPA 5000: Building 
Construction and Safety Code of the National Fire 
Protection Association. 
‘‘(3) Safe land use and construction practice 
standards that may be issued by the President after 
consultation with appropriate State officials. 
‘‘(g) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of the 
cost of mitigation activities carried out using amounts 
from a grant made under this section shall not exceed 75 
percent of the cost of the activities. If prior approval by 
the President is received, the value of in-kind contribu-
tions may be credited toward the non-Federal share of the 
cost of the activities. 
‘‘(h) ALLOCATION OF AMOUNTS.—Of the amounts 
appropriated for making grants under this section in a fis-
cal year, the President shall— 
‘‘(1) require eligible entities to allocate— 
‘‘(A) 50 percent of grant amounts to pro-
grams that address the mitigation needs of sin-
gle family housing units; 
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‘‘(B) 30 percent of grant amounts to pro-
grams that address the mitigation needs of 
multi-family housing units and residential rent-
al dwelling units; and 
‘‘(C) 20 percent of grant amounts to pro-
grams that address the mitigation needs of 
small businesses; and 
‘‘(2) allocate not less than 60 percent of all 
such amounts to mitigation programs relating to 
hurricanes. 
‘‘(i) COASTAL
BARRIER
RESOURCES
SYSTEM.— 
Grants made under this section may not be used for 
projects located in the Coastal Barrier Resources System 
established under section 4 of the Coastal Barrier Re-
sources Act (16 U.S.C. 3503). 
‘‘(j) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following 
definitions apply: 
‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en-
tity’ means any of the 50 States, the District of Co-
lumbia, any federally recognized Indian tribe, and 
any territory or possession of the United States 
that— 
‘‘(A) has an approved mitigation plan 
under section 322; 
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‘‘(B) implements public awareness cam-
paigns to encourage improvements to structures 
to mitigate hazards relating to natural disas-
ters; 
‘‘(C) takes steps to encourage mitigation 
actions with respect to repetitive loss structures 
within the jurisdiction of such entity; and 
‘‘(D) if such entity has a State residual 
market, excludes from such State residual mar-
ket any property located in the Coastal Barrier 
Resources System established under section 4 
of the Coastal Barrier Resources Act (16 
U.S.C. 3503). 
‘‘(2) NATURAL DISASTER.—The term ‘natural 
disaster’ has the meaning given such term under 
section 602. 
‘‘(3) PRESIDENT.—The term ‘President’ means 
the President, acting through the Administrator of 
the Federal Emergency Management Agency. 
‘‘(4) REPETITIVE LOSS STRUCTURE.—The term 
‘repetitive loss structure’ has the meaning given 
such term under section 1370 of the National Flood 
Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4121). 
‘‘(5) STATE
RESIDUAL
MARKET.—The term 
‘State residual market’ means a State plan that has 
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established a reinsurance fund or has authorized the 
operation of a State residual insurance market enti-
ty or any State-sponsored provider of natural catas-
trophe insurance. 
‘‘(k) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 
$100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 through 
2014.’’. 
(b) STATE HOMEOWNER MITIGATION PROGRAM SUP-
PORT.—Section 203(e)(1)(B) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
5133(e)(1)(B)) is amended— 
(1) at the end of clause (ii) by striking ‘‘or’’; 
(2) at the end of clause (iii) by striking the pe-
riod and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(iv) to support State programs that 
provide grants or loans to low income 
homeowners for use with respect to a pri-
mary residence for wind and flood inspec-
tions and for implementation of hazard 
mitigation improvements.’’. 
(c) COOPERATIVE STORM BUFFER IMPROVEMENT 
STUDY.—The Administrator of the Federal Emergency 
Management Agency shall enter into appropriate arrange-
ments with the National Academy of Sciences, or a similar 
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organization, to examine methods to coordinate the func-
tions of man-made storm buffers and natural storm buff-
ers. The study shall include an examination of large coast-
al communities and smaller, high-priority, natural storm 
buffer communities. 
Æ 
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