I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1605 
To authorize the President to provide disaster assistance to States and Indian 
Tribes under a major disaster recovery program, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 14, 2023 
Mr. ROUZER (for himself and Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and 
Infrastructure 
A BILL 
To authorize the President to provide disaster assistance 
to States and Indian Tribes under a major disaster re-
covery program, 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 ‘‘Natural Disaster Re-
covery Program Act of 2023’’. 
SEC. 2. NATURAL DISASTER RECOVERY PROGRAM. 
The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-
gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.) is amended 
by adding at the end of title IV the following: 
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‘‘SEC. 431. NATURAL DISASTER RECOVERY PROGRAM. 
‘‘(a) AUTHORITY; USE.—The President may provide 
assistance under this section to States and Indian Tribes 
for unmet need, including necessary expenses for activities 
related to disaster relief, resiliency, long-term recovery, 
restoration of infrastructure and housing, mitigation, and 
economic revitalization after a major disaster is declared 
under section 401. 
‘‘(b) COORDINATION OF DISASTER BENEFITS AND 
DATA WITH OTHER FEDERAL AGENCIES.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The President shall coordi-
nate with other agencies to obtain data on recovery 
needs and unmet need, including the Administrator 
of the Small Business Administration and other 
agencies when necessary regarding disaster benefits. 
Not later than 90 days after a major disaster is de-
clared, the President shall make publicly available all 
data collected, possessed, or analyzed during the 
course of a disaster recovery for which assistance is 
provided under this section, including— 
‘‘(A) all data on damage caused by the dis-
aster; 
‘‘(B) information on how any Federal as-
sistance provided in connection with the dis-
aster is expended; 
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‘‘(C) information regarding the effect of 
the disaster on education, transportation capa-
bilities and dependence, housing needs, health 
care capacity, and displacement of persons; and 
‘‘(D) the extent of the unmet need. 
‘‘(2) PROTECTION OF PERSONALLY IDENTIFI-
ABLE
INFORMATION.—In carrying out this sub-
section, the President and the grantee shall take 
such actions as may be necessary to ensure that per-
sonally identifiable information regarding recipients 
of assistance provided under this section is not made 
publicly available by any agency with which informa-
tion is shared pursuant to this subsection. 
‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.— 
‘‘(1) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—A State or Indian 
Tribe receiving a grant under this section may 
use not more than 13 percent of the amount of 
grant funds received, or within such other per-
centage as may be established pursuant to sub-
paragraph (B), for administrative costs, includ-
ing costs related to audits, reviews, oversight, 
evaluation, and investigations. 
‘‘(B) DISCRETION TO ESTABLISH SLIDING 
SCALE.—The President may establish a series 
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of percentage limitations on the amount of 
grant funds received that may be used by a 
grantee for administrative costs, but only if— 
‘‘(i) such percentage limitations are 
based on the amount of grant funds re-
ceived by a grantee; and 
‘‘(ii) such series provides that the per-
centage that may be used is lower for 
grantees receiving a greater amount of 
grant funds and such percentage that may 
be used is higher for grantees receiving a 
lesser amount of grant funds. 
‘‘(2) CAPACITY BUILDING.—From funds made 
available for use under this section, the President 
shall provide necessary technical assistance to grant-
ees to ensure grantees are compliant with Federal 
law, and capacity building and technical assistance, 
including assistance regarding contracting and pro-
curement processes, including providing solicitation 
and contractual templates that conform to Federal 
requirements for use by grantees. 
‘‘(d) ALLOCATION, PROCESS, AND PROCEDURES; CO-
ORDINATION.— 
‘‘(1) ALLOCATION.— 
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‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The President shall 
allocate funds under this section proportionally 
to grantees based on their level of unmet need 
as determined pursuant to subsection (b). 
‘‘(B) GRANTEE
USE
OF
FUNDS.—Each 
grantee, not the President, shall be responsible 
for determining how funds provided under this 
section are prioritized and spent and a grantee 
shall not be required to provide an action or 
spending plan before or after funds are allo-
cated, except that the grantee shall use a por-
tion of these funds for cleaning and removing 
debris from rivers, creeks, streams, and ditches. 
‘‘(C) LIMITATION.—Notwithstanding sec-
tion 312, a loan shall not be considered a dupli-
cation of benefits or otherwise impact the level 
of unmet need under this section. 
‘‘(2) 
GRANTEE
PROCESSES
AND
PROCE-
DURES.— 
‘‘(A) INITIAL
GRANT
FUNDS.—Initially, 
grantees shall be awarded 50 percent of their 
total allocation under paragraph (1). After ex-
penditure of such amount, a grantee shall sub-
mit a report, detailing how such grant funds 
were spent, to the Committees on Appropria-
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tions of the House of Representatives and the 
Senate, the Committee on Transportation and 
Infrastructure of the House of Representatives, 
and the Committee on Homeland Security and 
Governmental Affairs of the Senate. Such re-
port shall include a certification from the State 
Auditor that none of the funds were wasted or 
used inappropriately. 
‘‘(B) CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL.— 
‘‘(i) APPROVAL.—Not later than 60 
days after receipt of the report under sub-
paragraph (A), Congress shall approve or 
disapprove the report. If the report is ap-
proved, or if 60 days has lapsed and Con-
gress has not commented on the report, 
the remaining 50 percent of the allocation 
under paragraph (1) shall be released to 
the grantee. 
‘‘(ii) DISAPPROVAL.—If Congress dis-
approves the report, the grantee shall work 
with Congress to address any and all con-
cerns regarding how the initial 50 percent 
of the grant money was expended. Once 
these concerns are resolved, the remaining 
funds shall be released to the grantee. 
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‘‘(iii) FRAUD OR ABUSE.—If Congress 
determines that a grantee committed fraud 
or abuse, Congress shall require the Presi-
dent to recover all funds provided to the 
grantee under this section. Any amount re-
covered under this clause shall be redistrib-
uted to other grantees with approved re-
ports pursuant to clause (i). 
‘‘(3) REQUIREMENTS.—Each State and Indian 
Tribe that receives funds under this section shall es-
tablish or adhere to existing guidelines for procure-
ment processes and procedures and require that sub-
grantees— 
‘‘(A) provide for full and open competition 
and require cost or price analysis; 
‘‘(B) specify methods of procurement and 
their applicability, but not allow cost-plus-a-per-
centage-of cost or percentage-of-construction- 
cost methods of procurement; 
‘‘(C) include standards of conduct gov-
erning employees engaged in the award or ad-
ministration of contracts; and 
‘‘(D) ensure that all purchase orders and 
contracts include any clauses required by Fed-
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