Title: SMART Rebuilding Act
Policy area: Emergency Management

Summary:
Supporting Mitigation Activities and Resiliency Targets for Rebuilding Act or the SMART Rebuilding Act
This bill amends the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to authorize the President to provide incentives to invest in measures that increase readiness for, and resilience from, a major disaster.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) must issue comprehensive guidance on measures and investments that will be recognized for the purpose of increasing the federal share of disaster assistance.
The bill authorizes the President to: (1) establish a National Public Infrastructure Predisaster Mitigation Fund which may be used for activities to implement design standards to protect the welfare of buildings' users against disasters, and (2) contribute to state and local governments for their associated expenses which shall include base and overtime wages for extra hires to facilitate the implementation and enforcement of adopted building codes for a period of not more than 180 days after the major disaster is declared.
The President may contribute up to 75% of the cost of hazard mitigation measures determined to be cost-effective and which substantially reduce the risk of, or increase resilience to, future damage, hardship, loss, or suffering in any area affected by a major disaster.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4455 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4455

     To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
    Assistance Act to improve mitigation assistance, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 21, 2017

Mr. Denham (for himself and Mr. Capuano) 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 Emergency 
    Assistance Act to improve mitigation assistance, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Supporting Mitigation Activities and 
Resiliency Targets for Rebuilding Act'' or the ``SMART Rebuilding 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FEDERAL COST-SHARE ADJUSTMENTS FOR REPAIR, RESTORATION, AND 
              REPLACEMENT OF DAMAGED FACILITIES.

    Section 406(b) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 
Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5172(b)) is amended by inserting 
after paragraph (2) the following:
            ``(3) Increased federal share.--
                    ``(A) Incentive measures.--The President may 
                provide incentives to a State or Tribal government to 
                invest in measures that increase readiness for, and 
                resilience from, a major disaster by recognizing such 
                investments through a sliding scale that increases the 
                minimum Federal share to not more than 85 percent. Such 
                measures may include--
                            ``(i) the adoption of a mitigation plan 
                        approved under section 322;
                            ``(ii) investments in disaster relief, 
                        insurance, and emergency management programs;
                            ``(iii) encouraging the adoption and 
                        enforcement of nationally recognized design 
                        standards that establish minimum acceptable 
                        criteria for the design, construction, and 
                        maintenance of eligible facilities for the 
                        purpose of protecting the health, safety, and 
                        general welfare of the buildings' users against 
                        disasters;
                            ``(iv) facilitating participation in the 
                        community rating system; and
                            ``(v) funding mitigation projects or 
                        granting tax incentives for projects that 
                        reduce risk.
                    ``(B) Comprehensive guidance.--Not later than 1 
                year after the date of enactment of this paragraph, the 
                President, acting through the Administrator, shall 
                issue comprehensive guidance to States and Tribal 
                governments regarding the measures and investments that 
                will be recognized for the purpose of increasing the 
                Federal share under this section.
                    ``(C) Report.--One year after the issuance of the 
                guidance required by subparagraph (B), 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 Senate a report 
                regarding the analysis of the Federal cost shares paid 
                under this section.''.

SEC. 3. NATIONAL PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE PREDISASTER HAZARD MITIGATION.

    Section 203 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5133) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (c) by inserting ``Public'' after ``the 
        National'';
            (2) in subsection (e)(1)(B)--
                    (A) by striking ``or'' at the end of clause (ii);
                    (B) by striking the period at the end of clause 
                (iii) and inserting ``; or''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
                            ``(iv) to establish and carry out 
                        enforcement activities to implement nationally 
                        recognized design standards that establish 
                        minimum acceptable criteria for the design, 
                        construction, and maintenance of eligible 
                        facilities for the purpose of protecting the 
                        health, safety, and general welfare of the 
                        buildings' users against disasters.'';
            (3) in subsection (f)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1) by inserting ``for mitigation 
                activities that are cost effective'' after 
                ``competitive basis'';
                    (B) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(3) Redistribution of unobligated amounts.--The President 
        shall--
                    ``(A) withdraw amounts of financial assistance made 
                available to a State (including amounts made available 
                to local governments of a State) under paragraph (2) 
                that remain unobligated by the end of the third fiscal 
                year after the fiscal year for which the amounts were 
                allocated; and
                    ``(B) in the subsequent fiscal year, add the funds 
                to the financial assistance available to be awarded on 
                a competitive basis referred to in paragraph (1).'';
            (4) in subsection (g)--
                    (A) in paragraph (9) by striking ``and'' at the 
                end;
                    (B) by redesignating paragraph (10) as paragraph 
                (12); and
                    (C) by adding after paragraph (9) the following:
            ``(10) the extent to which the State or local government 
        has facilitated the adoption and enforcement of nationally 
        recognized design standards that establish criteria for the 
        design, construction, and maintenance of eligible facilities 
        for the purpose of protecting the health, safety, and general 
        welfare of the buildings' users against disasters;
            ``(11) the extent to which the assistance will fund 
        activities that increase the level of resiliency; and'';
            (5) by striking subsection (i) and inserting the following:
    ``(i) National Public Infrastructure Predisaster Mitigation Fund.--
            ``(1) Establishment.--The President may establish in the 
        Treasury of the United States a separate account called the 
        National Public Infrastructure Predisaster Mitigation Fund (in 
        this section referred to as the `Predisaster Mitigation Fund'), 
        which shall be used exclusively to carry out this section, with 
        amounts in such account to be available until expended unless 
        otherwise provided.
            ``(2) Transfers to predisaster mitigation fund.--
                    ``(A) In general.--There shall be deposited in the 
                Predisaster Mitigation Fund with respect to each 
                disaster declared on or after August 1, 2017, an 
                additional amount equal to 6 percent of the estimated 
                aggregate amount of grants to be made pursuant to 
                section 406.
                    ``(B) Estimated aggregate amount.--Not later than 
                180 days after each major disaster declaration, the 
                estimated aggregate amount of grants to be deposited in 
                such Fund shall be determined and need not be reduced, 
                increased, or changed due to variations in 
                estimates.''; and
            (6) by striking subsection (m).

SEC. 4. ELIGIBILITY FOR CODE IMPLEMENTATION AND ENFORCEMENT.

    Section 406(a)(2) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 
Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5172(a)(2)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``and'' at the end of subparagraph (B);
            (2) by striking the period at the end of subparagraph (C) 
        and inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(D) base and overtime wages for extra hires to 
                facilitate the implementation and enforcement of 
                adopted building codes for a period of not more than 
                180 days after the major disaster is declared.''.

SEC. 5. ADDITIONAL MITIGATION ACTIVITIES.

    (a) Hazard Mitigation Clarification.--Section 404(a) of the Robert 
T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 
5170c(a)) is amended by striking the first sentence and inserting the 
following: ``The President may contribute not more than 75 percent of 
the cost of hazard mitigation measures which the President has 
determined are cost-effective and which substantially reduce the risk 
of, or increase resilience to, future damage, hardship, loss, or 
suffering in any area affected by a major disaster.''.
    (b) Eligible Cost.--Section 406(e)(1)(A) of the Robert T. Stafford 
Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5172(e)(1)(A)) 
is amended--
            (1) in the matter preceding clause (i), by inserting after 
        ``section'' the following: ``for disasters declared on or after 
        August 1, 2017, or disasters where a cost estimate has not yet 
        been finalized for a project'';
            (2) in clause (i), by striking ``and'';
            (3) in clause (ii)--
                    (A) by striking ``codes, specifications, and 
                standards'' and inserting ``the latest nationally 
                recognized design codes, specifications and standards 
                that establish minimum acceptable criteria for the 
                design, construction, and maintenance of facilities for 
                the purposes of protecting the health, safety, and 
                general welfare of a facility's users against 
                disasters'';
                    (B) by striking ``applicable at the time at which 
                the disaster occurred''; and
                    (C) by striking the period at the end and inserting 
                ``; and''; and
            (4) by adding at the end the following:
                            ``(iii) in a manner that allows the 
                        facility to meet the definition of resilient 
                        developed pursuant this subsection.''.
    (c) New Rules.--Section 406(e) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5172(e)) is amended by 
adding at the end the following:
            ``(5) New rules.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Not later than 18 months after 
                the date of enactment of this paragraph, the President, 
                acting through the Administrator of the Federal 
                Emergency Management Agency, shall issue a final 
                rulemaking that defines the terms `resilient' and 
                `resiliency' for purposes of this subsection.
                    ``(B) Guidance.--Not later than 90 days after the 
                date on which the Administrator issues the final 
                rulemaking under this paragraph, the Administrator 
                shall issue any necessary guidance related to the 
                rulemaking.
                    ``(C) Report.--Not later than 2 years after the 
                date of enactment of this paragraph, the Administrator 
                shall submit to Congress a report summarizing the 
                regulations and guidance issued pursuant to this 
                paragraph.''.
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