H.R. 9750 — what changed

“431. Natural Disaster Recovery Program

“(a) Natural disaster recovery reserve fund

“(1) In general—There is established in the Treasury of the United States an account to be known as the Natural Disaster Recovery Reserve Fund (in this section referred to as the “Fund”).

“(2) Amounts—The Fund shall consist of—

“(A) any amounts appropriated, and deposited in the Fund, for a specific major disaster declared under section 401; and

“(B) amounts deposited into the Fund pursuant to paragraph (4).

“(3) Use of funds—Amounts in the Fund shall be available, pursuant to a declaration of a major disaster—

“(A) to States and Indian tribal governments for unmet need related to a major disaster is declared under section 401; and

“(B) with respect to grantees that have been allocated assistance for such unmet need, for technical assistance and capacity building under subsection (c)(2) to facilitate planning and increase capacity to administer assistance under this section.

“(4) Unused amounts—If any amounts made available for assistance under this section to grantees remain unexpended on the earlier of—

“(A) the date that the grantee of such amounts notifies the President that the grantee has completed all activities; or

“(B) except as provided in paragraph (5), the expiration of the 6-year period beginning when the President obligates such amounts to the grantee, the President shall transfer such unexpended amounts to the Secretary of the Treasury for deposit into the Fund, except that the President may permit the grantee to retain amounts needed to close out the grant.

“(5) Extension of period for use of funds—The period under paragraph (4)(B) may be extended by not more than 4 years if, before the expiration of such 6-year period, the President waives this requirement and submits a written justification for such waiver to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate that specifies the period of such extension.

“(b) Assessment of unmet need

“(1) In general—To assess unmet need with respect to a major disaster under section, not later than 90 days after the declaration of such a disaster, the President shall coordinate with other Federal agencies, as determined appropriate and including the Administrator of the Small Business Administration, to obtain data on all recovery needs and the amount of such recovery needs that are unmet, including—

“(A) all data on damage caused by the disaster;

“(B) information on how any Federal assistance provided in connection with the disaster has been expended;

“(C) information on the effect of the disaster on education, transportation capabilities and dependence, housing needs, health care capacity, and displacement of persons; and

“(D) the extent of the unmet need remaining in relation to such disaster.

“(2) Public availability—The President shall make publicly available the data described in paragraph (1) for any major disaster for which assistance is provided from the Fund under this section.

“(3) Protection of personally identifiable information—In carrying out this subsection, the President and any recipient of funds under this section shall take such actions as may be necessary to ensure that personally identifiable information regarding recipients of assistance provided under this section is not made publicly available by any agency with which information is shared pursuant to this subsection.

“(c) Administrative costs

“(1) In general—A State or Indian tribal government receiving a grant under this section may use not more than 13 percent of the amount of grant funds received, or within such other percentage as may be established pursuant to subparagraph (B), for administrative costs, including costs related to audits, reviews, oversight, evaluation, and investigations.

“(2) Discretion to establish sliding scale—The President may establish a series of percentage limitations on the amount of grant funds received that may be used by a grantee for administrative costs, but only if—

“(A) such percentage limitations are based on the amount of grant funds received by a grantee; and

“(B) such series provides that the percentage that may be used is lower for grantees receiving a greater amount of grant funds and such percentage that may be used is higher for grantees receiving a lesser amount of grant funds.

“(3) Technical assistance; capacity building—From funds made available for use under this section, the President may provide—

“(A) necessary technical assistance to grantees to ensure grantees are compliant with Federal law; and

“(B) capacity building assistance, including assistance regarding contracting and procurement processes, including providing solicitation and contractual templates that conform to Federal requirements for use by grantees.

“(d) Allocation, process, and procedures; coordination

“(1) Allocation

“(A) In general—The President shall allocate funds under this section proportionally to grantees based on their level of unmet need as determined under subsection (b).

“(B) Grantee use of funds—Each grantee—

“(i) shall be solely responsible for determining how funds provided under this section are prioritized and expended; and

“(ii) shall not be required to provide an action or spending plan to the President before or after funds are allocated.

“(C) Limitation—Notwithstanding section 312, a loan shall not—

“(i) be considered a duplication of benefits with funds provided by a Federal agency; or

“(ii) limit or otherwise impact the ability of a recipient to receive any other Federal assistance.

“(2) Procedure for provision of funds—An entity awarded a grant under this section shall be provided an initial amount that equals 50 percent of total grant amount allocated under paragraph (1). To be eligible for the remaining 50 percent of the allocation, a grantee shall submit to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate, the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives, the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, and the Inspector General of the United States a report containing—

“(A) a detailed description of how such amount was spent; and

“(B) a certification from an auditor of the State or Indian tribal government that none of the funds were wasted or used inappropriately.

“(3) Requirements—Each State and Indian tribal government that receives funds under this section shall establish or adhere to existing guidelines for procurement processes and procedures and require that subgrantees—

“(A) provide for full and open competition and require cost or price analysis;

“(B) specify methods of procurement and their applicability, but not allow cost-plus-a-percentage-of cost or percentage-of-construction-cost methods of procurement;

“(C) include standards of conduct governing employees engaged in the award or administration of contracts; and

“(D) ensure that all purchase orders and contracts include any clauses required by Federal statute, Executive order, or implementing regulation.

“(e) Funding—Any funds provided under this section—

“(1) shall supplement and not supplant any other assistance provided by the President or any other Federal agency in response to a major disaster; and

“(2) may not be considered a duplication of assistance.

“(f) Environmental review—Any Federal agency or recipient of funds received under this section that fund or use funds to supplement funds provided under section 402, 403, 404, 406, 407, 408(c)(4), 428, or 502 may adopt, without review or public comment, any environmental review, approval, or permit performed by a Federal agency.

“(g) Best practices—The President shall identify best practices for grantees on issues including developing action plans, establishing financial controls, building grantee technical and administrative capacity, procurement, and use of grant funds as local match for other sources of Federal funding. Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this section, the President shall publish a compilation of such identified best practices and share with all relevant grantees to facilitate a more efficient and effective disaster recovery process.

“(h) Definitions—In this section:

“(1) State auditor—The term “State auditor” means the individual selected by the Governor or head of an Indian tribal government to submit a certification in accordance with subsection (d)(2)(A)(ii).

“(2) Unmet need—The term “unmet need”—

“(A) means any necessary expenses for activities related to disaster relief, resiliency, long-term recovery, restoration of infrastructure and housing, mitigation, and economic revitalization related to a major disaster declared by the President under section 401; and

“(B) may include—

“(i) any unresourced item, support, or assistance that has been assessed and verified as necessary for a survivor to recover from a major disaster, including food, clothing, shelter, first aid, emotional and spiritual care, household items, home repair, or rebuilding; and

changed “(ii) cleaning and removing debris from rivers, creeks, streams, and ditches”ditches.”

Not later than 5 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall—

added Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to Congress a report on how long it takes the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to officially close out each major disaster declared under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.) pursuant to section 705 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5205).

removed “(A) excess funds for management costs as described in subsection (c); and

removed “(B) the following percentage rates”

removed “(c) Use of excess funds for management costs

removed “(1) Definition—In this subsection, the term excess funds for management costs means the difference between—

removed “(A) the amount of the applicable specific management costs authorized under subsection (b)(1) and subsection (b)(2)(B); and

removed “(B) as of the date on which the grant award is closed, the amount of funding for management costs activities expended by the grantee or subgrantee receiving the financial assistance for costs described in subparagraph (A).

removed “(2) Availability of excess funds for management costs—The President may make available to a grantee or subgrantee receiving financial assistance under section 403, 404, 406, 407, or 502 any excess funds for management costs.

removed “(3) Use of funds—Excess funds for management costs made available to a grantee or subgrantee under paragraph (2) may be used for—

removed “(A) activities associated with building capacity to prepare for, recover from, or mitigate the impacts of a major disaster or emergency declared under section 401 or 501, respectively; and

removed “(B) management costs associated with any—

removed “(i) major disaster;

removed “(ii) emergency;

removed “(iii) disaster preparedness measure; or

removed “(iv) mitigation activity or measure authorized under section 203, 204, 205, or 404.

removed “(4) Availability—Excess funds for management costs made available to a grantee or subgrantee under paragraph (2) shall remain available to the grantee or subgrantee until the date that is 5 years after the date on which the excess funds for management costs are made available under paragraph (2).”