1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Post-Disaster Fairness to States Act of 2017”.
Post-Disaster Fairness to States Act of 2017
A BILL
To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to limit certain administrative actions, and for other purposes.
2. Statute of limitations
In General— Section 705 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5205) is amended—
in subsection (a)(1)—
by striking “Except” and inserting “Notwithstanding section 3716(e) of title 31, United States Code, and except”; and
by striking “report for the disaster or emergency” and inserting “report for project completion as certified by the grantee if the purpose of the grant was accomplished”; and
in subsection (b)—
in paragraph (1), by striking “report for the disaster or emergency” and inserting “report for project completion as certified by the grantee if the purpose of the grant was accomplished”; and
in paragraph (3), by inserting “for project completion as certified by the grantee if the purpose of the grant was accomplished” after “final expenditure report”.
Applicability—
In general— With respect to disaster or emergency assistance provided to a State or local government after January 1, 2004, section 705 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5205), as amended by subsection (a), is applicable to any administrative action to recover a payment of such assistance for which a final agency decision has not been made as of the date of enactment of this Act.
Rule of construction— Nothing in this section, or the amendments made by this section, shall be construed to invalidate or otherwise affect any administration action or final agency decision completed before the date of enactment of this Act.
3. Limitation on recovery of FEMA assistance funds
In general— Notwithstanding section 3716(e) of title 31, United States Code, the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency may not take any action to recoup covered assistance from the recipient of the covered assistance if the receipt of the covered assistance occurred on a date that is more than 3 years before the date on which the Federal Emergency Management Agency first provided to the recipient written notification of an intent to recoup the covered assistance.
Covered assistance defined— In this section, the term covered assistance means assistance provided—
under section 408 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5174); and
in relation to a major disaster declared by the President under section 401 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 5170) on or after January 1, 2012.