SMART RESPONSE Act

Bill: 110-s-2445
Sponsor: Sen. Lieberman, Joseph I. [ID-CT]
Introduced: 2007-12-11 in the Senate
Policy area: Emergency Management
Subjects: Congress
Congressional investigations
Congressional reporting requirements
Cost effectiveness
Data banks
Disaster relief
Economics and Public Finance
Emergency housing
Evacuation of civilians
Federal aid to housing
Federal-local relations
Federal-state relations
Finance and Financial Sector
Government Operations and Politics
Government paperwork
Government statistics
Home ownership
Housing and Community Development
Hurricanes
Louisiana
Regional planning
Science, Technology, Communications
Traffic engineering
Transportation and Public Works
Transportation planning

Summary:
action_date: 2007-12-11
text: 
Streamlining Mitigation Actions and Recovery Tools and Regional Evacuation and Sheltering Planning of Overarching Networks for Severe Emergencies Act or the SMART RESPONSE Act - Prohibits the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) from prohibiting or restricting the use by Louisiana under its Road Home Program of specified funds designated for that state under FEMA's hazard mitigation grant program for damage caused by Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane Rita based upon: (1) any Program requirement that limits the amount made available to an eligible homeowner who does not agree to remain an owner and occupant of a home in Louisiana or that waives the applicability of such limitation for homeowners who are elderly or senior citizens; or (2) the fact that an applicant for Program assistance commenced construction on a structure otherwise eligible for hazard mitigation assistance under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act without the Administrator's approval.

Requires the President to waive requirements under the hazard mitigation grant program that a project be cost-effective and substantially reduce the risk of future damage, hardship, loss, or suffering resulting from a major disaster or specify alternative requirements if a state requests such waiver to facilitate the timely use of funds. Specifies exceptions. 

Directs the Administrator to: (1) submit to Congress and implement regional evacuation and sheltering plans; (2) develop a national database inventorying available shelters; (3) conduct an analysis of evacuating versus sheltering individuals with special needs; (4) provide technical assistance to states and local governments; and (5) share Department of Transportation (DOT) information with state, local, regional, and tribal governments on evacuation statistics and monitoring.

action_date: 2007-12-11
text: 

(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)

Streamlining Mitigation Actions and Recovery Tools and Regional Evacuation and Sheltering Planning of Overarching Networks for Severe Emergencies Act or the SMART RESPONSE Act - Prohibits the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) from prohibiting or restricting the use by Louisiana under its Road Home Program of specified funds designated for that state under FEMA's hazard mitigation grant program for damage caused by Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane Rita based upon: (1) any Program requirement that limits the amount made available to an eligible homeowner who does not agree to remain an owner and occupant of a home in Louisiana or that waives the applicability of such limitation for homeowners who are elderly or senior citizens; or (2) the fact that an applicant for Program assistance commenced construction on a structure otherwise eligible for hazard mitigation assistance under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act without the Administrator's approval. 

Requires the Administrator to transfer such funds to the state as soon as practicable. Directs the Administrator to identify and implement mechanisms to simplify program requirements and ensure the expedited distribution of such funds, including: (1) creating a programmatic cost-benefit analysis by similar project type, similar geographic factors, and other similarities rather than on a structure-by-structure basis; and (2) developing a streamlined environmental review process to speed the approval of project applications. 

Requires the President to waive requirements under the hazard mitigation grant program that a project be cost-effective and substantially reduce the risk of future damage, hardship, loss, or suffering resulting from a major disaster or specify alternative requirements if a state requests such waiver to facilitate the timely use of funds. Prohibits the President from waiving any such requirement relating to fair housing, nondiscrimination, labor standards, or the environment.

Allows an individual grant recipient to receive funds before performance of the project for which that individual is seeking a grant if: (1) the Administrator approves the project; and (2) the recipient certifies to the state, and the state certifies to the Administrator, that the grant will be used in the performance of the project.
 
 Requires the individual grant recipient, after the expenditure of all grant funds, to submit a certification to the state grant recipient, and the state to submit a certification to the Administrator, regarding whether the funds were used in the performance of the approved project. Authorizes the Administrator to design and implement appropriate audit procedures and requirements.
 
Directs the Administrator to provide annual reports to specified congressional committees on the mechanisms that are being utilized to expedite funding distribution.

(Sec. 4) Directs the Administrator: (1) in coordination with the heads of appropriate federal agencies with responsibilities under the National Response Plan (NRP), states, local governments, and appropriate nongovernmental organizations, to submit to Congress regional evacuation and sheltering plans that address national interstate major disasters or emergencies, that incorporate all appropriate modes of transportation, that clearly define the roles and responsibilities of federal, state, and local governments in the evacuation plan, and that identify regional and national shelters capable of housing evacuees and victims of an emergency or major disaster in any part of the United States; (2) with the head of any federal agency with responsibilities under those plans, to implement those plans; and (3) in coordination with states, local governments, and appropriate nongovernmental entities, to develop a national database inventorying available shelters that can be shared with states and local governments.

Requires the Administrator to conduct an analysis comparing the costs, benefits, and health and safety concerns of evacuating versus sheltering individuals with special needs during an emergency or major disaster, considering: (1) areas with populations of not less than 20,000 individuals needing medical assistance or lacking the ability to self evacuate; and (2) areas that do not have an all hazards resistance shelter.

Directs the Administrator: (1) to provide technical assistance to states and local governments in developing and exercising evacuation and sheltering plans which identify and use regional shelters, manpower, logistics, physical facilities, and modes of transportation to evacuate and shelter large groups of people; and (2) in coordination with the heads of appropriate federal agencies with NRP responsibilities, to obtain and share with state, local, regional, and tribal governments information on evacuation statistics and monitoring from the Department of Transportation's (DOT) Evacuation Traffic Information System and other transportation data for planning purposes. Requires the Comptroller General to submit to Congress a report assessing the need to update that System to adequately address the needs of state, local, regional, and tribal governments.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2007-12-11
text: Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 531.
action_date: 2007-12-11
text: Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Original measure reported to Senate by Senator Lieberman. With written report No. 110-240.
action_date: 2007-12-11
text: Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Original measure reported to Senate by Senator Lieberman. With written report No. 110-240.
action_date: 2007-12-11
text: Introduced in Senate