IIB 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3709 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
NOVEMBER 15, 2021 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and 
Governmental Affairs 
AN ACT 
To direct the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Man-
agement Agency to submit to Congress a report on pre-
liminary damage assessments and make necessary im-
provements to processes in the Federal Emergency Man-
agement Agency, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preliminary Damage 
Assessment Improvement Act of 2021’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Preliminary damage assessments play a 
critical role in assessing and validating the impact 
and magnitude of a disaster. 
(2) Through the preliminary damage assess-
ment process, representatives from the Federal 
Emergency Management Agency validate informa-
tion gathered by State and local officials that serves 
as the basis for disaster assistance requests. 
(3) Various factors can impact the duration of 
a preliminary damage assessment and the cor-
responding submission of a major disaster request, 
however, the average time between when a disaster 
occurs, and the submission of a corresponding dis-
aster request has been found to be approximately 
twenty days longer for flooding disasters. 
(4) With communities across the country facing 
increased instances of catastrophic flooding and 
other extreme weather events, accurate and efficient 
preliminary damage assessments have become criti-
cally important to the relief process for impacted 
States and municipalities. 
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SEC. 3. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the 
Federal Emergency Management Agency shall submit to 
Congress a report describing the preliminary damage as-
sessment process, as supported by the Federal Emergency 
Management Agency in the 5 years before the date of en-
actment of this Act. 
(b) CONTENTS.—The report described in subsection 
(a) shall contain the following: 
(1) The process of the Federal Emergency 
Management Agency for deploying personnel to sup-
port preliminary damage assessments. 
(2) The number of Agency staff participating 
on disaster assessment teams. 
(3) The training and experience of such staff 
described in paragraph (2). 
(4) A calculation of the average amount of time 
disaster assessment teams described in paragraph 
(1) are deployed to a disaster area. 
(5) The efforts of the Agency to maintain a 
consistent liaison between the Agency and State, 
local, tribal, and territorial officials within a disaster 
area. 
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SEC. 4. PRELIMINARY DAMAGE ASSESSMENT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the 
Federal Emergency Management Agency shall convene an 
advisory panel consisting of emergency management per-
sonnel employed by State, local, territorial, or tribal au-
thorities, and the representative organizations of such per-
sonnel to assist the Agency in improving critical compo-
nents of the preliminary damage assessment process. 
(b) MEMBERSHIP.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—This advisory panel shall 
consist of at least 2 representatives from national 
emergency management organizations and at least 1 
representative from each of the 10 regions of the 
Federal Emergency Management Agency, selected 
from emergency management personnel employed by 
State, local, territorial, or tribal authorities within 
each region. 
(2) INCLUSION ON PANEL.—To the furthest ex-
tent practicable, representation on the advisory 
panel shall include emergency management per-
sonnel from both rural and urban jurisdictions. 
(c) CONSIDERATIONS.—The advisory panel convened 
under subsection (a) shall— 
(1) consider— 
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(A) establishing a training regime to en-
sure preliminary damage assessments are con-
ducted and reviewed under consistent guide-
lines; 
(B) utilizing a common technological plat-
form to integrate data collected by State and 
local governments with data collected by the 
Agency; and 
(C) assessing instruction materials pro-
vided by the Agency for omissions of pertinent 
information or language that conflicts with 
other statutory requirements; and 
(2) identify opportunities for streamlining the 
consideration of preliminary damage assessments by 
the Agency, including eliminating duplicative paper-
work requirements and ensuring consistent commu-
nication and decision making among Agency staff. 
(d) INTERIM REPORT.—Not later than 18 months 
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator 
shall submit to Congress a report regarding the findings 
of the advisory panel, steps that will be undertaken by the 
Agency to implement the findings of the advisory panel, 
and additional legislation that may be necessary to imple-
ment the findings of the advisory panel. 
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(e) RULEMAKING AND FINAL REPORT.—Not later 
than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
Administrator shall issue such regulations as are nec-
essary to implement the recommendations of the advisory 
panel and submit to Congress a report discussing— 
(1) the implementation of recommendations 
from the advisory panel; 
(2) the identification of any additional chal-
lenges to the preliminary damage assessment proc-
ess, including whether specific disasters result in 
longer preliminary damage assessments; and 
(3) any additional legislative recommendations 
necessary to improve the preliminary damage assess-
ment process. 
Passed the House of Representatives November 4, 
2021. 
Attest: 
CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 
Clerk. 
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