Title: Know Your Home Act of 2020
Policy area: Housing and Community Development

Summary:
Know Your Home Act of 2020
This bill expands eligible activities under the Community Development Block Grant program to include payment of costs incurred by a local government in digitizing, and publishing online, information regarding violations of laws and regulations related to housing construction and safety. The bill also requires a local government, as a condition of grant eligibility in FY2026 or later, to collect and make publicly available such information upon request.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8451 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 8451

 To amend the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 to provide 
additional funding under the Community Development Block Grant program 
 for units of general local government to digitize and make available 
   online information regarding violations of housing construction, 
          building, and safety codes, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 30, 2020

Ms. DeLauro (for herself, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Ms. Norton, Mr. Carson of 
  Indiana, Mrs. Hayes, and Mr. San Nicolas) introduced the following 
    bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 to provide 
additional funding under the Community Development Block Grant program 
 for units of general local government to digitize and make available 
   online information regarding violations of housing construction, 
          building, and safety codes, 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 ``Know Your Home Act of 2020''.

SEC. 2. CDBG ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.

    (a) Eligible Activity.--Subsection (a) of section 105 of the 
Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5305(a)) is 
amended--
            (1) in paragraph (25)(D), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) in paragraph (26), by striking the period at the end 
        and inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(27) payment of costs incurred by a unit of general local 
        government that receives amounts under this title (including 
        pursuant to section 106(d)(1)) for making publicly available 
        online comprehensive information regarding violations during 
        the most recent 3 years of any Federal, State, or local 
        statutes, codes, ordinances, or regulations relating to the 
        construction, safety, quality, health, or cleanliness of 
        residential structures by any structures located in such unit 
        of general local government, which shall include the location 
        of the structure, identity of the owner of the structure, the 
        nature of the violation, the date or dates of the violation, 
        and the date of any rescission of such violation.''.
    (b) Authorization of Appropriations.--Section 103 of the Housing 
and Community Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5304) is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(a) In General.--'' before ``The 
        Secretary''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(b) Amounts for Establishing Online Database of Housing Code 
Violations.--In addition to amounts authorized to be appropriated under 
subsection (a), there is authorized to be appropriated $30,000,000 for 
each of fiscal years 2021 through 2025, for grants under this title, 
except that amounts made available pursuant to this subsection for a 
fiscal year may only be used for the eligible activity under section 
105(a)(27) and may only be provided to units of general local 
government whose statements of projected uses of funds under this title 
prepared in accordance with section 104(a) for a fiscal year provide 
for such use for such fiscal year.''.

SEC. 3. REQUIREMENT FOR ELIGIBILITY FOR CDBG GRANT AMOUNTS.

    Section 104 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 
(42 U.S.C. 5304) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
subsection:
    ``(n) Requirement To Collect and Make Available Information 
Regarding Housing Code Violations.--
            ``(1) Requirement.--No funds made available for fiscal year 
        2026 or any fiscal year thereafter for grants under this Act 
        may be allocated for, or obligated or expended to, any unit of 
        general local government that fails to collect and make 
        publicly available immediately upon request comprehensive 
        information regarding violations during the most recent 3 years 
        of any Federal, State, or local statutes, codes, ordinances, or 
        regulations relating to the construction, safety, quality, 
        health, or cleanliness of residential structures by any 
        structures located in such unit of general local government, 
        which shall include the location of the structure, identity of 
        the owner of the structure, the nature of the violation, the 
        date or dates of the violation, and the date of any rescission 
        of such violation.
            ``(2) Preemption.--The laws of any State or unit of general 
        local government requiring the filing of a request and other 
        procedures for obtaining information from a State or unit of 
        general local government, or any agency thereof, to obtain such 
        information are preempted to the extent that such laws apply to 
        information regarding the violations described in paragraph (1) 
        and to information regarding violations described in section 
        105(a)(27).''.
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