I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1552
To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 
Act to clarify that the religious status of a private nonprofit facility 
does not preclude the facility from receiving assistance under the Act. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 12, 2005
Mr. JINDAL (for himself and Mr. SOUDER) 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 clarify that the religious status 
of a private nonprofit facility does not preclude the facil-
ity from receiving assistance under the Act.
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 ‘‘Disaster Relief Equity 
Act of 2005’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following:
(1) The Federal Emergency Management Agen-
cy (in this section referred to as ‘‘FEMA’’) provides 
critical assistance to all categories of facilities dam-
aged in natural disasters. 
(2) FEMA may contribute funds for the repair, 
restoration, reconstruction, or replacement of a pri-
vate nonprofit facility damaged or destroyed by a 
major disaster. 
(3) In February 2001, the Seattle Hebrew 
Academy, a private nonprofit educational facility for 
Jewish students, suffered damage to its facilities in 
the Nisqually Earthquake. 
(4) The Seattle Hebrew Academy applied to 
FEMA for Federal financial assistance to address 
the damage. 
(5) FEMA denied the Academy’s application on 
the basis that the facility was not ‘‘open to the gen-
eral public’’ and therefore was not a ‘‘private non-
profit facility’’ as defined by the Robert T. Stafford 
Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 
U.S.C. 5121 et seq.). 
(6) After reviewing its interpretation of the 
Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
Assistance Act, FEMA concluded that the Act did 
not require educational facilities to be open to the
general public to be eligible for assistance under the 
Act. 
(7) The Department of Justice published a 
legal memorandum on whether the establishment 
clause of the first amendment of the Constitution 
would still require a religious nonprofit facility, such 
as the Seattle Hebrew Academy, to be denied Fed-
eral financial assistance to repair or restore disaster 
stricken facilities due to its religious status. 
(8) The Department of Justice memorandum 
properly concluded that FEMA aid is ‘‘made avail-
able on the basis of neutral criteria to a . . . class 
of beneficiaries defined without reference to religion 
and including . . . a host of . . . public and pri-
vate institutions . . .’’ and, therefore, the disburse-
ment of FEMA assistance to a religiously owned or 
operated private non-profit facility would not violate 
the establishment clause of the first amendment. 
SEC. 3. ELIGIBILITY OF PRIVATE NONPROFIT FACILITIES 
FOR DISASTER ASSISTANCE. 
(a) DEFINITION.—Section 102(9) of the Robert T. 
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 
(42 U.S.C. 5122(9)) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(9) PRIVATE NONPROFIT FACILITY.—
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The term ‘private 
nonprofit facility’ means private nonprofit edu-
cational, utility, irrigation, emergency, medical, 
rehabilitational, and temporary or permanent 
custodial care facilities (including those for the 
aged and disabled) and facilities on Indian res-
ervations as defined by the President. 
‘‘(B) ADDITIONAL
FACILITIES.—In addi-
tion to the facilities described in subparagraph 
(A), the term ‘private nonprofit facility’ in-
cludes any private nonprofit facility that pro-
vides essential services of a governmental na-
ture to the general public.’’. 
(b) REPAIR, RESTORATION, AND REPLACEMENT OF 
DAMAGED FACILITIES.—Section 406(a)(3) of such Act 
(42 U.S.C. 5172(a)(3)) is amended by adding at the end 
the following: 
‘‘(C) 
RELIGIOUS
STATUS.—Notwith-
standing any other provision of this Act, the re-
ligious status of a private nonprofit facility, or 
the owner or operator of such a facility, shall 
not preclude its eligibility for contributions 
under this subsection.’’.
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