Disaster Relief and Recovery Development Act of 2009

Bill: 111-hr-3635
Sponsor: Rep. Cao, Anh "Joseph" [R-LA-2]
Introduced: 2009-09-23 in the House
Policy area: Emergency Management
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Disaster relief and insurance
Emergency communications systems
Emergency planning and evacuation
Executive Office of the President
Executive agency funding and structure
Foreign language and bilingual programs
Government studies and investigations
Intergovernmental relations
State and local finance
State and local government operations

Summary:
action_date: 2009-09-23
text: 
Disaster Relief and Recovery Development Act of 2009 - Directs the Comptroller General to conduct a study on the ability of existing alert and warning systems to provide information relating to disasters to individuals with limited English proficiency.
 
Requires the President to: (1) review regulations and policies relating to federal disaster assistance to eliminate regulations that are no longer relevant, to harmonize contradictory regulations, and to simplify and expedite disaster recovery and assistance; and (2) issue and implement regulations required under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to provide procedures for estimating the cost of repairing or replacing a facility damaged or destroyed by a major disaster that expedite recovery and reduce the costs and time for completion of recovery projects through the creation of financial and performance incentives.
 
Amends such Act to: (1) prohibit a state or local government from using more than 15% (currently, 10%) of the financial assistance received by it for implementing approved predisaster hazard mitigation measures for a fiscal year under such Act to fund activities to disseminate information regarding cost-effective mitigation technologies; and (2) require the federal coordinating officer of a major disaster area to make an initial appraisal of the recovery assistance needed within one month after the disaster is declared and to coordinate detailed recovery plans with state officials.
 
Directs the President: (1) in carrying out requirements to form federal emergency support teams for major disaster areas, to establish at least three national recovery teams, sufficient regional recovery teams, including Regional Office strike teams, and other teams as necessary to meet incident management responsibilities; (2) to establish a federal interagency disaster recovery task force to maintain a catalogue of, and ensure communications among, federal programs that may be used to assist in disaster recovery efforts; and (3) to notify specified congressional committees before making any contribution in an amount greater than $5 million (currently, $20 million) for the repair, restoration, and replacement of damaged facilities,.
 
Permits the President, upon determining that there is extensive and widespread damage and destruction resulting from a major disaster, to allow a state or local government or a private nonprofit facility to consolidate contributions received as a lump sum payment to repair, restore, reconstruct, or replace more than one public facility.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2009-09-24
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management.
action_date: 2009-09-23
text: Referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
action_date: 2009-09-23
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2009-09-23
text: Introduced in House