Louisiana Katrina Reconstruction Act

Bill: 109-s-1766
Sponsor: Sen. Vitter, David [R-LA]
Introduced: 2005-09-22 in the Senate
Policy area: Economics and Public Finance
Subjects: Access to health care
Administration of justice
Administrative procedure
Affordable housing
Aid to dependent children
Air force
Alcoholism
Animals
Appropriations
Armed Forces and National Security
Armed forces reserves
Army
Bankruptcy
Block grants
Building construction
Caribbean area
Cash welfare block grants
Child health
Coast guard
Collection of accounts
Community development
Community health services
Congress
Congressional investigations
Congressional reporting requirements
Construction costs
Continental shelf
Counseling
Courthouses
Crime and Law Enforcement
Crocodiles
Day care
Debtor and creditor
Defense budgets
Defense procurement
Department of Agriculture
Department of Commerce
Department of Defense
Department of Education
Department of Energy
Department of Health and Human Services
Department of Homeland Security
Department of Housing and Urban Development
Department of Justice
Department of Transportation
Department of Veterans Affairs
Department of the Interior
Disabled
Disaster loans
Disaster relief
Displaced persons
Drug abuse
Drug abuse treatment
Drug therapy
Education
Educational facilities
Electric power distribution
Electric power production
Electric power transmission
Electric utilities
Elementary and secondary education
Emergency Management
Emergency communication systems
Emergency housing
Emergency medicine
Employee health benefits
Energy
Energy assistance for the poor
Energy conservation
Energy supplies
Environmental Protection
Environmental health
Evacuation of civilians
Families
Family services
Federal aid to Indians
Federal aid to child health services
Federal aid to education
Federal aid to health facilities
Federal aid to housing
Federal aid to law enforcement
Federal aid to transportation
Federal installations
Federal-local relations
Federal-state relations
Federally-guaranteed loans
Finance and Financial Sector
Fire fighters
Fisheries
Fishery management
Fishing
Fishing boats
Floods
Foreclosure
Fraud
Gambling
Gas in submerged lands
Gas pipelines
Government Operations and Politics
Government lending
Government paperwork
Government regulation
Government trust funds
Grants-in-aid
Habitat conservation
Harbors
Health
Health care fraud
Health counseling
Health insurance
Health surveys
Higher education
Highway finance
Home care services
Home ownership
Homeless
Hospital care
Hospitals
Housing and Community Development
Housing subsidies
Hurricane aftermath legislation
Hurricanes
Income
Income tax
Indian housing
Infrastructure
Insect control
Inspectors general
Insurance premiums
Intergovernmental fiscal relations
Iraq compilation
Land transfers
Legislation
Licenses
Limited access highways
Louisiana
Maintenance and repair
Marine and coastal resources, fisheries
Marine terminals
Marines
Mass rapid transit
Medicaid
Medical screening
Medicare
Mental health services
Military bases
Military construction operations
Military dependents
Military education
Military housing
Military pay
Military personnel
Military training
Minorities
Missing children
Mortgages
Mosquitoes
National Guard
Natural gas
Navy
Nonprofit organizations
Petroleum in submerged lands
Pregnant women
Preschool education
Presidential appointments
Preventive medicine
Private schools
Psychotherapy
Public Lands and Natural Resources
Public health personnel
Public housing
Quality of care
Railroad finance
Regulatory impact statements
Relocation
Rent
Rescue work
Road construction
Rural economic development
Rural housing
Scholarships
Science, Technology, Communications
Shellfish
Shipbuilding
Small business
Social Welfare
Social work
Special education
Sports and Recreation
State courts
Student aid
Student loan funds
Submarine oil well drilling
Supplemental appropriations
Tax credits
Tax returns
Taxation
Teacher salaries
Telemedicine
Timber sales
Transportation and Public Works
Trauma care
Unemployment insurance
Urban affairs
Veterans' hospitals
Veterans' medical care
Warships
Water Resources Development
Weather forecasting
Welfare eligibility
Wildlife conservation
Wildlife management
Women

Summary:
action_date: 2005-09-22
text: 
Louisiana Katrina Reconstruction Act - Makes emergency supplemental appropriations for FY2005 related to Hurricane Katrina disaster relief.
 
Makes appropriations for interoperable communications.
 
Provides for reconstruction/repair of the New Orleans Regional VA Hospital.
 
Directs the Secretary of the Navy to convey the Naval Support Activity to the City of New Orleans, Louisiana, or the Port of New Orleans, Louisiana, to facilitate their development and expansion.
 
Amends the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act with respect to hazard mitigation measures in a major disaster area.
 
Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security, acting through the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to reimburse all costs associated with the restoration of privately-owned utility infrastructure damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
 
Helping to House the Victims of Hurricane Katrina Act - Amends the United States Housing Act of 1937 with respect to Hurricane Katrina Emergency Assistance Vouchers.
 
Prescribes requirements under the Home Program for families displaced as a result of Hurricane Katrina.
 
Establishes in the Treasury the Home Business and Mortgage Protection Fund.
 
Amends the TANF Emergency Response and Recovery Act of 2005 with respect to reimbursement of states for benefits under title IV (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) (TANF) part A of the Social Security Act (SSA)) provided to assist families from other states affected by Hurricane Katrina.
 
Requires a state to provide medical assistance under SSA title XIX (Medicaid) to Disaster Relief Medicaid (DRM)-eligible Katrina Survivors under a plan established during the DRM coverage period.
 
Provides for 100% federal matching payments for medical assistance provided in direct impact parishes.
 
Establishes in the Treasury the United States Disaster Relief Fund.
 
Amends the Internal Revenue Code and the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 to make Katrina survivors eligible for: (1) a refundable income tax credit for 100% of health insurance costs; and (2) assistance with health insurance coverage under national emergency grants.
 
Provides that an area in which the President has declared that a major disaster exists shall be designated as a health professional shortage area.
 
Waives, during the disaster relief period, certain quality reporting requirements under SSA title XVIII (Medicare) for hospitals located in any parish affected by Hurricane Katrina.
 
Amends the federal bankruptcy code with respect to debtors who are victims of a natural disaster.
 
Amends SSA title IX (Employment Security) to authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to transfer from the federal unemployment account to a state's account in the Unemployment Trust Fund an amount appropriate to ensure that the state account is not insolvent.
 
Amends the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 to authorize the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to guarantee the timely payment of any debenture issued to a qualified borrower for purposes of rebuilding or resuming operations in a damaged area.
 
Amends the Small Business Act with respect to Supplemental Emergency Loans after Hurricane Katrina.
 
Louisiana Hurricane Katrina Agriculture Disaster Relief Act of 2005 - Prescribes requirements for certain crop disaster assistance.
 
Privately Owned Utility System Restoration Act of 2005 - Directs the President to compensate privately owned utilities in Louisiana for losses incurred as a result of Hurricane Katrina.
 
Establishes a Protecting Essential Louisiana Infrastructure, Citizens, and Nature Commission (Pelican Commission).
 
Directs the Secretary of Commerce to establish a program of grants for activities relating to transition, recovery, and relocation for federal and state agencies, businesses, institutions of higher education, and public-private partnerships in Louisiana that have been affected by Hurricane Katrina or a related condition.
 
Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for emergency grants for construction of public telecommunications facilities damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
 
Provides relief for the crawfish industry.
 
Directs the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to report on the impacts of Hurricane Katrina on fisheries in affected states.
 
Establishes an entrepreneurship redevelopment program to be administered by the Economic Development Administration to rebuild and diversify New Orleans and the ten surrounding parishes.
 
Requires the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development to establish grant programs to: (1) construct, maintain, and repair evacuation and energy supply routes; (2) expand road and transit capacity in the community; (3) restore, protect, and improve the infrastructure of the Port of New Orleans and other affected ports.
 
Authorizes appropriations to the Federal Aviation Administration for reimbursements to the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport for anticipated revenue shortfalls.
 
AmeriCorps Disaster Relief Corps Act of 2005 - Establishes an AmeriCorps Disaster Relief Corps to carry out projects in a major disaster or emergency area that provide food, clothing, shelter, and other humanitarian assistance for disaster victims.
 
Domestic Offshore Energy Reinvestment Act of 2005 - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to make payments to coastal states from certain offshore energy-related amounts for hurricane protection and protection of resources from natural disasters.
 
Offshore Fairness Act of 2005 - Extends the seaward boundaries of Gulf of Mexico states from three geographical miles to three marine leagues if certain conditions are met.
 
Louisiana Restoration Stamp Act of 2005 - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to issue a Louisiana Restoration Stamp and establish the Louisiana Restoration Stamp Fund to hold sale proceeds for coastal and wetland restoration activities.
 
Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to authorize appropriations for the restoration of the Lake Pontchartrain basin.
 
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to prescribe or revise emergency tax relief measures for residents of the Hurricane Katrina disaster area, including specified tax credits and deductions from gross income.
 
Provides for suspension of air transportation excise taxes. 
 
Special Inspector General for Relief and Reconstruction Act of 2005 - Authorizes the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction to continue to serve as the Special Inspector General for Relief and Reconstruction in order to audit and investigate the use of funds made available for Hurricane Katrina recovery.
 
Directs the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to track and report to Congress quarterly on spending of Hurricane Katrina emergency supplemental appropriations.
 
Amends the federal criminal code to create a federal crime of interfering with federal disaster relief efforts.
 
Shields volunteers from lawsuits arising out of their rendering of aid to victims of Hurricane Katrina.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2005-09-22
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2005-09-22
text: Introduced in Senate