Sponsors (12)
The bill allows state and local grantees to repurpose leftover FEMA management funds for preparedness and mitigation—potentially boosting local resilience and transparency—while not creating new funding and risking uneven access and weaker oversight if not carefully implemented.
State and local FEMA grant recipients can use leftover FEMA management funds for five years to pay for preparedness, recovery, mitigation, or grant management activities, giving grantees more flexible resources to invest in local resilience projects.
Taxpayers and state governments will get more transparency because GAO must report within 180 days on historical FEMA management costs and how those funds were used.
State and local governments, and some tribal communities, may be excluded from benefiting if their disaster declarations or funding predate enactment, leaving certain communities unable to access repurposed funds.
State and local governments and nonprofits face limited new resources because the bill authorizes no new appropriations—availability depends on reprogramming leftover management funds, which could constrain the scale and reach of projects.
State and local governments risk having less funding available for direct administrative oversight in future grants if repurposed management funds are not monitored, potentially weakening grant administration and accountability.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Allows FEMA to reallocate unspent disaster grant management-cost balances to grantees/subgrantees for related preparedness, recovery, mitigation, and management activities for five years.
Official title: To amend section 324 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to incentivize States, Indian Tribes, and Territories to close disaster recovery projects by authorizing the use of excess funds for management costs for other disaster recovery projects.
Introduced January 28, 2025 by Joseph Neguse · Last progress January 28, 2025
Allows FEMA to reallocate unused “management cost” dollars from closed disaster grants to grantees and subgrantees for related preparedness, recovery, mitigation, and management activities. The bill defines “excess funds for management costs,” limits their eligible uses to specified Stafford Act authorities, sets a five‑year availability period, requires GAO reporting on historical management costs, and makes the changes applicable only to declarations funded on or after enactment without authorizing new appropriations.