Sponsors (7)
The bill redirects more FEMA resources toward pre‑disaster mitigation and explicitly prioritizes high‑hazard and environmental‑justice communities—likely reducing future disaster losses and improving equity—but raises federal costs, can divert funds from immediate recovery, and risks uneven outcomes where data or local capacity are limited.
Low-income, environmental‑justice, Tribal, and other disadvantaged communities will be prioritized for mitigation funding and outreach, increasing equity and targeted assistance so they can implement more hazard-reduction projects.
More federal funds and higher federal cost‑share (including up to 90% for eligible communities) and an expanded predisaster mitigation pool will enable more pre-disaster resilience projects that small or fiscally constrained jurisdictions otherwise could not afford.
Projects and prioritization will be informed by future‑risk climate design standards and improved risk metrics (National Risk Index, RAPT), meaning mitigation investments are more likely to reduce future flood, wildfire, and storm damage.
The bill increases federal outlays and program costs (higher cost‑shares, expanded eligibility, new databases and outreach), which could raise budgetary pressure or require spending offsets that affect taxpayers or other programs.
Shifting a larger share of funds to predisaster mitigation (and a 2% planning set‑aside) reduces the pool available for immediate recovery grants after disasters, meaning some disaster survivors could receive smaller or slower direct recovery assistance.
Using model‑based prioritization tools (National Risk Index, RAPT) and emphasizing future‑proofed projects risks misclassifying need and favoring jurisdictions with better data and planning capacity, disadvantaging rural, under‑resourced, or data‑poor communities.
Based on analysis of 8 sections of legislative text.
Targets FEMA predisaster mitigation funding and guidance to high-hazard and disadvantaged communities, raises federal cost-share to 90% for eligible projects, and requires a central disaster-mitigation spending database.
Official title: To enhance predisaster mitigation to prevent future natural disasters, and for other purposes.
Introduced January 14, 2025 by Eric Swalwell · Last progress January 14, 2025
Directs FEMA to strengthen predisaster hazard mitigation by prioritizing and better supporting high-risk and disadvantaged communities, updating definitions, offering greater federal cost-share for eligible projects, and improving outreach and data transparency. It also requires FEMA to incorporate climate-change projections into guidance and to build a central public database of disaster and mitigation spending within three years. The bill expands eligibility and priority criteria for FEMA’s predisaster mitigation program (including larger "small impoverished communities" and "environmental justice communities"), permits higher federal funding shares for those communities, increases funding set-asides for public infrastructure mitigation and planning, and mandates community outreach and post-project reporting to target resources where risk and social vulnerability are greatest.