House Bills Improve FEMA Disaster Declarations and Assistance Procedures

Press Release

Congressman Kevin Cramer supported legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives today improving declaration procedures by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for major disasters and refining the technology for awarding relief grants.
"No state, especially North Dakota, has been spared from natural disasters that overwhelm the recovery resources of local and state governments," said Cramer. "These bills improve accountability in FEMA programs and streamline the process for victims of disasters to apply for assistance."
H.R. 1665, the Disaster Declaration Improvement Act, requires FEMA to give greater weight and consideration to severe localized impact when making a recommendation to the President for a major disaster declaration. It requires this cumulative impact of multiple storms in an area to be considered more than under current law, where both statewide and local damages are considered.
H.R. 1679, the FEMA Accountability, Modernization and Transparency Act of 2017, modernizes FEMS's grant management system, to provide secure online access to applicants and include accessibility and transparency measures. The technology improvements in this bill bring greater state-of-the-art access to disaster victims seeking assistance, and enable sharing of information between agencies in state and local governments.
H.R. 1678, implements a three-year statute of limitations on actions to recover FEMA grants provided to state or local governments following a declared disaster. The Robert T. Stafford Emergency Relief and Disaster Assistance Act authorizes the President to issue declarations for incidents ranging from destructive, large-scale disasters to more routine, less damaging events. Under the Stafford Act, the costs of response and recovery efforts are usually split between the state and the federal government, provided that the federal share shall be at least 75 percent. The majority of assistance provided under the Stafford Act is paid out of FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund, a no-year account used to fund response activities and pay for ongoing recovery programs. Under current law, FEMA has the authority to recover disaster assistance grants that are unspent at any time after the date of disbursement.

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