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Amends the Stafford Act to clarify a code-reference term and a community definition, renumber an existing list provision, and establish a FEMA-run pilot program to fund "residential resilient retrofits" that make existing homes safer against natural hazards. The pilot is limited in size (no more than 10% of annual assistance under the relevant hazard-mitigation program), gives priority to households with financial need, runs for a defined term, and requires a report to Congress on results and costs. The bill otherwise confirms it does not change other programs and preserves two existing hazard-mitigation programs under the Stafford Act. It also updates wording about which editions of consensus codes/counts as "latest public editions."
Amend Section 203(a) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5133).
By striking the subsection heading and inserting ; (text shown in the source as: "by striking the subsection heading and inserting ;").
By striking and inserting the following replacement for paragraph (2): a heading and text denoted as "(2) Small impoverished community The term; and" (the source shows the new paragraph heading but not the full definition text).
Insert before paragraph (2), as so designated, a new paragraph (1) titled "Latest published editions" that defines the term "latest public editions" to mean "the 2 most recently published editions of relevant consensus-based codes, specifications, and standards."
Remove (strike) paragraph (5) from Section 205(f) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act.
Primary beneficiaries are homeowners and household occupants living in existing residential structures at risk from natural hazards; the pilot provides grant or assistance funding to retrofit homes (e.g., wind, flood, seismic, or other hazard hardening depending on program design). Low-income and financially vulnerable households are likely to receive priority, increasing access to resilience investments for people who otherwise could not afford retrofits. Local contractors, construction trade workers, and home retrofit vendors stand to gain business from retrofit projects. FEMA and its grant-administration staff will need to design, run, and monitor the pilot, allocate funds within the 10% cap, and produce a post-pilot report for Congress. State, local, Tribal, and territorial governments that apply for or administer hazard-mitigation assistance may incorporate the retrofit pilot into their mitigation planning and grant applications. Because funding is limited to a share of existing predisaster hazard-mitigation resources, expanding retrofit activity through this pilot may reduce the pool of funds available for other uses within that program unless additional appropriations are provided. The statutory edits clarifying code editions standardize which design standards apply to funded projects, reducing ambiguity for grantees and contractors. Overall, the measure is targeted, incremental, and focused on testing residential mitigation effectiveness rather than creating a permanent, large-scale new entitlement.
Strikes paragraph (5) of subsection (f) and redesignates former paragraphs (6), (7), and (8) as paragraphs (5), (6), and (7), respectively.
Amends section 203(a) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5133) by (1) inserting a new definitional paragraph that defines the term “latest public editions” to mean the two most recently published editions of relevant consensus-based codes, specifications, and standards, and (2) replacing/altering the existing text/heading related to the definition of “small impoverished community.” The amendment text replacing the small impoverished community definition is incomplete in the provided section.
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Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Introduced February 4, 2025 by John Cornyn · Last progress February 4, 2025
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Introduced in Senate