Preliminary Damage Assessment Improvement Act of 2020

Floor Speech

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Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4358) to direct the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to submit to Congress a report on preliminary damage assessment and to establish damage assessment teams in the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and for other purposes, as amended.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 4358

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Preliminary Damage Assessment Improvement Act of 2020''. SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds the following:

(1) Preliminary damage assessments play a critical role in assessing and validating the impact and magnitude of a disaster.

(2) Through the preliminary damage assessment process, representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency validate information gathered by State and local officials that serves as the basis for disaster assistance requests.

(3) Various factors can impact the duration of a preliminary damage assessment and the corresponding submission of a major disaster request, however, the average time between when a disaster occurs, and the submission of a corresponding disaster request has been found to be approximately twenty days longer for flooding disasters.

(4) With communities across the country facing increased instances of catastrophic flooding and other extreme weather events, accurate and efficient preliminary damage assessments have become critically important to the relief process for impacted states and municipalities. SEC. 3. REPORT TO CONGRESS.

(a) In General.--Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency shall submit to Congress a report describing the preliminary damage assessment process, as supported by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the 5 years before the date of enactment of this Act.

(b) Contents.--The report described in subsection (a) shall contain the following:

(1) The process of the Federal Emergency Management Agency for deploying personnel to support preliminary damage assessments.

(2) The number of Agency staff participating on disaster assessment teams.

(3) The training and experience of such staff described in paragraph (2).

(4) A calculation of the average amount of time disaster assessment teams described in paragraph (1) are deployed to a disaster area.

(5) The efforts of the Agency to maintain a consistent liaison between the Agency and State, local, Tribal, and territorial officials within a disaster area. SEC. 4. PRELIMINARY DAMAGE ASSESSMENT.

(a) In General.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency shall establish a training regime under section 206.33(b) of title 44, Code of Federal Regulations, within the Federal Emergency Management Agency to ensure preliminary damage assessments are conducted and reviewed under consistent guidelines.

(b) Annual Report.--The Administrator shall annually submit to Congress a report on the number and type of instances under which Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel have overturned decisions made by personnel in the field.

(c) Report to Congress.--Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall submit to Congress a report--

(1) describing the establishment of disaster guidelines from Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel described under subsection (a);

(2) assessing whether the duration of the deployment of Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel to conduct a preliminary damage assessment is longer based on specific disaster conditions; and

(3) containing legislative recommendations to improve the operation, deployment, and staffing of disaster personnel.

(d) Definition of State and Local Government.--For purposes of this Act, the terms ``State'' and ``local government'' have the meanings given such terms in section 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122).

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Ms. NORTON. 4358, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 4358, as amended, the Preliminary Damage Assessment Improvement Act of 2020, introduced by Mr. Katko from New York.

H.R. 4358, as amended, would direct the Federal Emergency Management Agency to produce a report examining the preliminary damage assessment, or PDA, process and establish a more consistent training regime for FEMA personnel to effectively support these assessments at State, local, Tribal, and territorial units of government.

FEMA uses PDA findings in the wake of a disaster to determine the extent of damage and the subsequent unmet needs of individuals, businesses, and the public sector in the affected community.

This bill would ensure greater consistency for PDAs across FEMA's 10 regions by creating a training program with a goal of ensuring that data collected and reviewed is done in a more consistent manner.

As communities across the country experience more extreme weather events, timely and consistent PDAs have never been more important to the recovery process of disaster-declared areas.

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Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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