Hurricane Katrina Recovery Act of 2006

Bill: 109-s-2319
Sponsor: Sen. Obama, Barack [D-IL]
Introduced: 2006-02-16 in the Senate
Policy area: Emergency Management
Subjects: Accounting
Accreditation (Medical care)
Administrative procedure
Advice and consent of the Senate
Affordable housing
Agriculture and Food
Alabama
Apprenticeship
Auditing
Authorization
Automated teller machines
Bank capital
Bank deposits
Bank examination
Bank loans
Black colleges
Block grants
Building construction
Business education
Checks
Chief financial officers
Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues
Civil rights enforcement
Clinics
College teachers
Colleges
Commerce
Community development
Community development banking
Community health services
Competitive bidding
Congress
Congressional reporting requirements
Construction industries
Construction workers
Consultants
Consumer credit
Cost plus contracts
Counseling
Credit cards
Credit unions
Data banks
Debtor and creditor
Department of Health and Human Services
Department of the Treasury
Depressed areas
Disabled
Disaster relief
Displaced persons
Drug abuse
Drug abuse treatment
Economics and Public Finance
Education
Electronic government information
Emergency housing
Emergency medicine
Employee health benefits
Employee rights
Evacuation of civilians
Executive Office of the President
Executive reorganization
Families
Family services
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Federal Reserve System
Federal advisory bodies
Federal aid to education
Federal aid to health facilities
Federal aid to housing
Federal employees
Federal officials
Federally-guaranteed loans
Fees
Finance and Financial Sector
Financial services
Floods
Florida
Food relief
Fraud
Government Operations and Politics
Government and business
Government contractors
Government liability
Government paperwork
Government procurement
Government publicity
Government travel
Government trust funds
Health
Health facilities
Health information systems
Health planning
Higher education
Home ownership
Homeless
Hospital rates
Hospitals
Housing and Community Development
Housing discrimination
Housing finance
Hurricane aftermath legislation
Hurricanes
Illiteracy
Infrastructure
Inspectors general
Interest
Investments
Labor and Employment
Law
Liability (Law)
Licenses
Louisiana
Low-income housing
Maintenance and repair
Medical education
Medical laboratories
Medical personnel
Medical residents
Medicare
Mental care facilities
Minimum wages
Minorities
Minority business enterprises
Minority health
Mississippi
Mortgage banks
Mortgages
National Credit Union Administration
Nonprofit organizations
Nurses
Off-budget expenditures
Paramedical personnel
Performance measurement
Pharmacists
Physicians
Planning
Poverty
Presidential appointments
Public-private partnerships
Recruiting of employees
Rental housing
Residence requirements
Residential rehabilitation
Revolving funds
Risk
Scholarships
School buildings
Science, Technology, Communications
Secondary mortgage market
Small business
Social Welfare
Student enrollment
Student loan funds
Subcontractors
Tax credits
Tax refunds
Teacher salaries
Teacher supply and demand
Telephone
Transfer of employees
Transportation and Public Works
Travel costs
Urban affairs
User charges
Volunteer workers
Wages
Waste in government spending

Summary:
action_date: 2006-02-16
text: 
Hurricane Katrina Recovery Act of 2006 - Establishes within the Executive Office of the President the Office of the Hurricane Katrina Recovery Chief Financial Officer to be responsible for the efficient and effective use of federal funds in Hurricane Katrina recovery activities. 
 
Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish a National Family Locator System and ensure that each state's homeland security plan provides information regarding evacuating individuals with special needs.
 
Directs: (1) the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a volunteer corps to provide an adequate supply of health professionals in an emergency; and (2) the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to establish a database of health professionals to increase preparedness for federal emergencies.
 
Requires the HHS Secretary to make grants: (1) for constructing, modernizing, or repairing health facilities damaged by Hurricane Katrina; and (2) to assist individuals and specified entities in communities in affected areas that disproportionately experience health disparities.
 
Amends the Housing and Community Development Act of 1992 to require the Federal National Mortgage Association and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation to establish and manage an affordable housing fund to increase housing and home ownership for low-income families and in low-income areas and areas of chronic economic distress and for community or economic development activities in economically underserved areas. Authorizes appropriations for disaster relief in Katrina-affected areas through community development assistance programs.
 
Authorizes the appropriate federal banking agency and the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) to forbear from taking any action otherwise required with respect to certain undercapitalized insured depository institutions or credit unions that are not significantly or critically undercapitalized and whose capital or net worth were reduced as a direct result of Hurricane Katrina.
 
 Grants emergency authority to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the NCUA to indemnify an insured depository institution or credit union, respectively, for any loss suffered through cashing a check is presented by an individual who, as of August 28, 2005, resided in a qualified disaster area. 
 
Increases the government-wide goal for procurement contracts awarded to small business concerns owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals for recovery and reconstruction activities related to Hurricane Katrina. Establishes a government-wide goal for procurement contracts awarded to local businesses in Katrina-affected areas of 30% of that total value for each of FY2006-FY2007.
 
 Requires at least 40% of workers performing Katrina-related recovery or reconstruction activities to be local residents.
 
Directs the Secretary of Education to: (1) award grants to three historically black colleges and universities in New Orleans, Louisiana, to assist in recruiting and retaining students and retaining faculty; and (2) carry out a program of assuming the obligation to repay a qualified loan under the Robert T. Stafford Federal Student Loan Program, and of canceling the obligation to repay a qualified loan under the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program, for any borrower who returns to or enrolls in a Hurricane Katrina-affected institution in academic years between 2005 and 2008, who obtains an associate's degree or bachelor's degree from such institution, and who is not in default on a loan for which the borrower seeks forgiveness.
 
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to reduce the income threshold, and increase the percentage of earned income, used to calculate the refundable portion of the child tax credit. Allows certain taxpayers who maintained a primary residence in Alabama, Louisiana, or Mississippi an increase in the refundable portion of the child tax credit.
 
Expresses the sense of the Senate that the funds necessary to carry out this Act should be made available from otherwise unobligated amounts appropriated for hurricane relief.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2006-02-16
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2006-02-16
text: Introduced in Senate