Sponsors (5)
Allows FEMA to reallocate unspent management-cost allowances to grantees/subgrantees for capacity-building and disaster-related management activities, available for five years.
Official title: 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 February 27, 2025 by Margaret Wood Hassan · Last progress February 27, 2025
The bill gives state and local grantees more flexibility and time to use leftover FEMA management-cost funds for preparedness and mitigation, improving resilience, but risks diverting resources away from immediate disaster assistance and creating capacity and oversight challenges for smaller grantees.
State and local grantees (including nonprofits) can use leftover FEMA management-cost funds for capacity-building and preparedness activities, improving future disaster readiness and coordination.
Grantees may apply excess management-cost funds toward other disasters, emergencies, or mitigation projects, giving them flexibility to address ongoing infrastructure and mitigation needs beyond a single event.
State and local grantees get a five-year availability period for these management-cost funds, allowing longer-term planning and implementation of resilience projects without immediate lapse pressures.
Taxpayers and disaster survivors could see less funding available for direct disaster assistance if unspent management-cost funds are redirected and overall appropriations are constrained.
Smaller grantees (including local governments and nonprofits) may lack capacity to plan and execute multi-year resilience projects, leading to unused balances or inefficient use of funds and widening disparities with larger jurisdictions.
Allowing cross-disaster use of excess management-cost funds could complicate tracking and oversight of funds, making accountability and audits harder and raising justice/equity concerns about where funds are ultimately spent.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Allows FEMA to recapture and reuse unspent management-cost allowances from disaster grants and give those “excess funds for management costs” back to grantees or subgrantees for capacity-building and specified disaster-related management activities. Defines how excess is calculated, makes such funds available for up to five years after disbursement, applies to declarations and grant awards on or after enactment, requires a GAO report on recent management costs, and states no new appropriations are authorized to implement the changes.