I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5689 
To improve the provision of Federal resources to help build capacity and 
fund risk-reducing, cost-effective mitigation projects for eligible State, 
local, Tribal, and territorial governments and certain private nonprofit 
organizations, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 22, 2021 
Mr. DEFAZIO (for himself, Mr. GRAVES of Missouri, Ms. TITUS, and Mr. 
WEBSTER of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 
A BILL 
To improve the provision of Federal resources to help build 
capacity and fund risk-reducing, cost-effective mitigation 
projects for eligible State, local, Tribal, and territorial 
governments and certain private nonprofit organizations, 
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 ‘‘Resilient Assistance 
for Mitigation for Environmentally Resilient Infrastruc-
ture and Construction by Americans Act’’ or the ‘‘Resil-
ient AMERICA Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. UNSPENT FUNDS. 
(a) REDISTRIBUTION OF UNCLAIMED AMOUNTS.— 
Section 404 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 
Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170c) is amend-
ed— 
(1) by redesignating subsections (f) and (g) as 
subsections (g) and (h), respectively; and 
(2) by inserting after subsection (e) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(f) REDISTRIBUTION OF UNCLAIMED OR UNOBLI-
GATED AMOUNTS.—The President may— 
‘‘(1) withdraw any portion of financial assist-
ance made available to a State or Indian tribal gov-
ernment under subsection (a) for which the State or 
Indian tribal government has failed to submit an ap-
plication upon the expiration of the application sub-
mission time limit or that remains unobligated for a 
major disaster or event eligible for assistance pursu-
ant to section 420 upon the expiration of 84 months 
or the closeout of the grant, whichever is sooner; and 
‘‘(2) transfer the financial assistance withdrawn 
under paragraph (1) to any other amounts otherwise 
available to be awarded under section 203.’’. 
(b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by sub-
section (a) shall apply to any major disaster declared by 
the President under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 
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and Emergency Assistance Act on or after November 23, 
1988. 
SEC. 3. PREDISASTER HAZARD MITIGATION. 
Section 203(i) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re-
lief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5133) is 
amended by striking ‘‘6 percent’’ and inserting ‘‘15 per-
cent’’. 
SEC. 4. NONPROFIT FACILITIES. 
Section 203 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 
and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5133) is 
amended— 
(1) in subsection (b) by striking ‘‘and local gov-
ernments’’ and inserting ‘‘, local governments, and 
private nonprofit facilities’’; 
(2) in subsection (c) by striking ‘‘or local gov-
ernment’’ in each place it appears and inserting ‘‘, 
local government, or private nonprofit facility’’; 
(3) in subsection (d)— 
(A) in paragraph (1)(A) by striking ‘‘local 
governments’’ and inserting ‘‘local governments 
and private nonprofit facilities’’; and 
(B) in paragraph (2)— 
(i) by striking ‘‘local governments’’ in 
each place it appears and inserting ‘‘local 
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governments or private nonprofit facili-
ties’’; and 
(ii) in subparagraph (B) by striking 
‘‘local government’’ and inserting ‘‘local 
government or private nonprofit facility’’; 
and 
(C) in paragraph (3) by inserting ‘‘or pri-
vate nonprofit facilities’’ after ‘‘any local gov-
ernments of the State’’; 
(4) in subsection (e)— 
(A) in paragraph (1)(A) by striking ‘‘and 
local governments’’ and inserting ‘‘, local gov-
ernments, and private nonprofit facilities’’; and 
(B) in paragraph (2) by striking ‘‘or local 
government’’ in each place it appears and in-
serting ‘‘, local government, or private nonprofit 
facility’’; 
(5) in subsection (f)— 
(A) in paragraph (2) by inserting ‘‘or pri-
vate nonprofit facilities located in the State’’ 
after ‘‘local governments of the State’’; and 
(B) in paragraph (3)(A) by inserting ‘‘or 
private nonprofit facilities located in the State’’ 
after ‘‘local governments of a State’’; and 
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(6) in subsection (g) by striking ‘‘or local gov-
ernment’’ in each place it appears and inserting ‘‘, 
local government, or private nonprofit facility’’. 
SEC. 5. BUILDING CODE IMPLEMENTATION AND ENFORCE-
MENT SET ASIDE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 203(f) of the Robert T. 
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 
(42 U.S.C. 5133(m)) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating paragraph (3) as para-
graph (4); and 
(2) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(3) BUILDING
CODE
IMPLEMENTATION
AND 
ENFORCEMENT SET-ASIDE.—Of the amounts made 
available under this section for any given year, the 
Administrator may use not less than 10 percent to 
carry out eligible activities that further the imple-
mentation and enforcement of the latest published 
editions of relevant consensus-based codes, specifica-
tions, and standards, including any amendments 
made by State, local, Tribal, or territorial govern-
ments to such codes, specifications, and standards, 
that incorporate the latest hazard-resistant designs 
and establish minimum acceptable criteria for the 
design, construction, and maintenance of facilities 
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and residential structures that may be eligible for 
assistance under this Act. In any fiscal year in 
which requests for assistance for such activities do 
not total at least 10 percent of assistance under this 
section, any remaining funds may be used as addi-
tional assistance for the purposes of paragraph 
(1).’’. 
(b) LATEST PUBLISHED EDITIONS.—Section 203(m) 
of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5133(m)) is amended by insert-
ing ‘‘, (f)(3),’’ after ‘‘subsections (e)(1)(B)(iv)’’. 
(c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 1234 of the 
Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 (42 U.S.C. 5133 
note) is amended by striking subsection (d). 
SEC. 6. RESILIENT INFRASTRUCTURE. 
(a) USE OF ASSISTANCE.—Subsection (g) of section 
404 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-
gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170c(g)) (as redesig-
nated by section 2) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (12)— 
(A) by inserting ‘‘, wildfire, and ice storm’’ 
after ‘‘windstorm’’; 
(B) by striking ‘‘including replacing’’ and 
inserting the following: ‘‘including— 
‘‘(A) replacing’’; 
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(C) in subparagraph (A) (as so des-
ignated)— 
(i) by inserting ‘‘, wildfire,’’ after ‘‘ex-
treme wind’’; and 
(ii) by adding ‘‘and’’ after the semi-
colon at the end; and 
(D) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(B) the installation of fire-resistant wires 
and infrastructure and the undergrounding of 
wires;’’; 
(2) in paragraph (13) by striking ‘‘and’’; and 
(3) by striking paragraph (14) and inserting 
the following: 
‘‘(14) replacing water systems that have been 
burned, caused contamination, or are at risk from 
wildfire impacts with resilient, non-combustible ma-
terials; 
‘‘(15) repairing, replacing, or retrofitting infra-
structure damaged by ice storms to be resilient to 
the impacts of such storms; 
‘‘(16) retrofitting or hardening electric grid in-
frastructure to comply with the latest published 
strength standards or industry best practices for re-
siliency, including standards and practices relating 
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to the strength of utility poles in high wind areas, 
regardless of height; and 
‘‘(17) implementing technologies to improve in-
frastructure monitoring and distribution for the pur-
pose of reducing risk and avoiding future disaster 
impacts and, notwithstanding other requirements re-
lated to cost-effectiveness, to avoid any unintended 
consequences under this section and section 203.’’. 
(b) USE OF ASSISTANCE FOR EARTHQUAKE HAZ-
ARDS.—Subsection (h) of section 404 of the Robert T. 
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 
(42 U.S.C. 5170c(h)) (as redesignated by section 2) is 
amended— 
(1) by inserting ‘‘and tsunami’’ after ‘‘earth-
quake’’ each place it appears; 
(2) in paragraph (2) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 
end; 
(3) in paragraph (3) by striking the period at 
the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(4) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(4) planning, design, or construction of 
vertical evacuation structures in designated and 
mapped tsunami danger areas or hazard zones.’’. 
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SEC. 7. RESIDENTIAL RETROFIT AND RESILIENCE PILOT 
PROGRAM. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator of the 
Federal Emergency Management Agency shall carry out 
a residential resilience pilot program through the program 
established under section 203 of the Robert T. Stafford 
Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 
5133) to make available assistance to State and local gov-
ernments for the purpose of providing grants to individ-
uals for residential resilience retrofits. 
(b) AMOUNT OF FUNDS.—The Administrator may 
use not more than 10 percent of the assistance made avail-
able to applicants on an annual basis under section 203 
of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5133) to provide assistance 
under this section. 
(c) TIMELINE.—The Administrator shall establish 
the demonstration program under this section not later 
than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act and 
the program shall terminate on September 30, 2025. 
(d) REPORT.—Not later than 4 years after the date 
of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall submit 
to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 
of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Sen-
ate a report that includes— 
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(1) a summary of the grant awards and 
projects carried out under this section; 
(2) a detailed compilation of results achieved by 
the grant awards and projects carried out under this 
section, including the number of homes receiving ret-
rofits, the types and average costs of retrofits, demo-
graphic information for participants in the program, 
and estimate avoidance in disaster impacts and Fed-
eral disaster payments as a result of the grant in-
vestments; and 
(3) any identified implementation challenges 
and recommendations for improvements to the pilot 
program. 
(e) 
RESIDENTIAL
RESILIENT
RETROFITS
DE-
FINED.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—In this section, the term 
‘‘residential resilient retrofits’’ means a project 
that— 
(A) is designed to increase the resilience of 
an existing home or residence using mitigation 
measures which the administrator determines 
reduce damage and impacts from natural dis-
aster hazards and risks that are most likely to 
occur in the area where the home is located; 
and 
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(B) to the extent applicable, are consistent 
with the 2 most recently published editions of 
relevant consensus-based codes, specifications, 
and standards, including any amendments made 
by State, local, tribal, or territorial governments 
to such codes, specifications, and standards 
that incorporate the latest hazard-resistant de-
signs and establish criteria for the design, con-
struction, and maintenance of residential struc-
tures and facilities that may be eligible for as-
sistance under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 
U.S.C. 5121 et seq.) for the purpose of pro-
tecting the health, safety, and general welfare 
of the buildings’ users against disasters. 
(2) INCLUSION.—In this section, the term ‘‘res-
idential resilient retrofits’’ includes— 
(A) elevations of homes and elevations of 
utilities within and around structures to miti-
gate damages; 
(B) floodproofing measures; 
(C) the construction of tornado safe rooms; 
(D) seismic retrofits; 
(E) wildfire retrofit and mitigation meas-
ures; 
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(F) wind retrofits, including roof replace-
ments, hurricane straps, and tie-downs; and 
(G) any other measures that meet the re-
quirements of paragraph (1), as determined by 
the Administrator. 
Æ 
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