Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee

Climate Disaster Resilience and Other Legislation

342 Dirksen
Wed, 28 Sep 2022 15:00:00 GMT

Business meeting page

Nominations
  • Colleen J. Shogan to be Archivist of the United States, National Archives and Records Administration
  • Vijay Shanker to be an Associate Judge, District of Columbia Court of Appeals
  • Laura E. Crane to be an Associate Judge, Superior Court of the District of Columbia
  • Leslie A. Meek to be an Associate Judge, Superior Court of the District of Columbia
  • Veronica M. Sanchez to be an Associate Judge, Superior Court of the District of Columbia
  • Errol Arthur to be an Associate Judge, Superior Court of the District of Columbia
  • Kendra D. Briggs to be an Associate Judge, Superior Court of the District of Columbia
  • Carl Ezekiel Ross to be an Associate Judge, Superior Court of the District of Columbia
Legislation
  • S. ___, Federal Contracting for Peace and Security Act
  • S. 4828, Governmentwide Executive Councils Administration and Performance Improvement Act
  • S. 4894, Improving Government Efficiency and Workforce Development through Federal Executive Boards Act
  • S. 4893, Lobbying Disclosure Improvement Act
  • S. ___, Strengthening Agency Management and Oversight of Software Assets Act of 2022�
  • S. ___, Department of Homeland Security Seal Protection Act
  • S. ___, Securing Open Source Software Act of 2022
  • S. 4882, Fire Grants and Safety Act
  • S. 4528, Improving Digital Identity Act of 2022
  • S. 4816/H.R. 7337, Access for Veterans to Records Act of 2022
  • S. 4328, Fire Suppression Improvement Act
  • S. 4399, All-American Flag Act
  • S. ___, Invent Here, Make Here for Homeland Security Act
  • S. ___, Protecting the Border from Unmanned Aircraft Systems Act
  • S. ___/H.R. 6461, National Climate Adaptation and Resilience Strategy Act of 2022
  • H.R. 7777, Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity Training Act
  • H.R. 5689, Resilient Assistance for Mitigation for Environmentally Resilient Infrastructure and Construction by Americans (Resilient AMERICA) Act
  • H.R. 6824, President’s Cup Cybersecurity Competition Act
  • H.R. 7211, Small State and Rural Rescue Act
  • H.R. 3544, Computers for Veterans and Students (COVS) Act of 2022
  • H.R. 4209, DHS Illicit Cross-Border Tunnel Defense Act
  • H.R. 6873, Bombing Prevention Act of 2022

H.R. 5689, the Resilient Assistance for Mitigation for Environmentally Resilient Infrastructure and Construction by Americans (Resilient AMERICA) Act, addresses disaster resilience issues and expands coverage for hazard mitigation.

The bill

  • increases from 6% to 15% the estimated aggregate amount of grants that may be set aside for national public infrastructure pre-disaster hazard mitigation assistance;
  • makes private nonprofit facilities eligible for technical and financial assistance for implementing cost-effective pre-disaster hazard mitigation measures;
  • provides funding for water resources development projects; and
  • expands the use of hazard mitigation assistance to cover certain activities pertaining to wildfires, tsunamis, and ice storms.

Additionally, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) must set aside 10% of funds made available for any given year to further the implementation and enforcement of the latest published editions of relevant consensus-based building codes.

FEMA must require as a condition of providing nonemergency financial assistance for construction projects costing at least $1 million that the steel and iron used in the projects be produced in the United States, with certain exceptions.

FEMA must carry out a residential resilience pilot program to provide grants for residential resilience retrofits (e.g., elevation of homes, floodproofing measures, wildfire retrofit and mitigation measures, and wind retrofits).

The Government Accountability Office must study the challenges to states and territories in obtaining funds under public assistance alternative procedures.

H.R. 6461, the National Climate Adaptation and Resilience Strategy Act, requires the Federal Government to produce a national climate adaptation and resilience strategy.

S. 4882, the Fire Grants and Safety Act;, authorizes appropriations for the United States Fire Administration and firefighter assistance grant programs.

S.4328, the Fire Suppression Improvement Act, sets the federal cost share of fire management assistance at 75% of the eligible cost of such assistance and permits a state or local government to use such assistance for the predeployment of assets and resources. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) must complete a rulemaking to provide criteria for the circumstances under which it may recommend that the President increase the federal cost share.

H.R. 7211: Small State and Rural Rescue Act

This bill addresses requests for, and other matters pertaining to, disaster assistance provided through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), with a focus on small states and rural communities.

The bill expands the duties of FEMA’s Small State and Rural Advocate to include assistance for states in the collection and presentation of material in the disaster or emergency declaration request relevant to demonstrate severe localized impacts within the state for a specific incident.

Additionally, the Government Accountability Office must review FEMA’s implementation of its final rule regarding factors considered when evaluating a governor’s request for a major disaster declaration. In particular, the review must focus on requests for a major disaster declaration authorizing individual assistance.