Preliminary Damage Assessment Improvement Act of 2021

Floor Speech

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Mr. PAPPAS. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3709) to direct the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to submit to Congress a report on preliminary damage assessments and make necessary improvements to processes in the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and for other purposes.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 3709

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 2021''. 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 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency shall convene an advisory panel consisting of emergency management personnel employed by State, local, territorial, or tribal authorities, and the representative organizations of such personnel to assist the Agency in improving critical components of the preliminary damage assessment process.

(b) Membership.--

(1) In general.--This advisory panel shall consist of at least 2 representatives from national emergency management organizations and at least 1 representative from each of the 10 regions of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, selected from emergency management personnel employed by State, local, territorial, or tribal authorities within each region.

(2) Inclusion on panel.--To the furthest extent practicable, representation on the advisory panel shall include emergency management personnel from both rural and urban jurisdictions.

(c) Considerations.--The advisory panel convened under subsection (a) shall--

(1) consider--

(A) establishing a training regime to ensure preliminary damage assessments are conducted and reviewed under consistent guidelines;

(B) utilizing a common technological platform to integrate data collected by State and local governments with data collected by the Agency; and

(C) assessing instruction materials provided by the Agency for omissions of pertinent information or language that conflicts with other statutory requirements; and

(2) identify opportunities for streamlining the consideration of preliminary damage assessments by the Agency, including eliminating duplicative paperwork requirements and ensuring consistent communication and decision making among Agency staff.

(d) Interim Report.--Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall submit to Congress a report regarding the findings of the advisory panel, steps that will be undertaken by the Agency to implement the findings of the advisory panel, and additional legislation that may be necessary to implement the findings of the advisory panel.

(e) Rulemaking and Final Report.--Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall issue such regulations as are necessary to implement the recommendations of the advisory panel and submit to Congress a report discussing--

(1) the implementation of recommendations from the advisory panel;

(2) the identification of any additional challenges to the preliminary damage assessment process, including whether specific disasters result in longer preliminary damage assessments; and

(3) any additional legislative recommendations necessary to improve the preliminary damage assessment process.

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Mr. PAPPAS. 3709.

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Mr. PAPPAS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3709, introduced and championed by Representatives Katko and Delgado, two colleagues of ours on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

The Preliminary Damage Assessment, or PDA, Improvement Act would direct the Federal Emergency Management Agency to produce a report examining the PDA process and establish a more consistent training regime for FEMA personnel to effectively support State and local officials as they conduct these assessments in the wake of disaster.

FEMA uses PDA findings to determine the extent of damage and the subsequent unmet needs of individuals, businesses, and the public sector in a disaster-impacted area.

This bill will ensure greater consistency of PDAs across FEMA's 10 regions by creating a training program with a goal of ensuring a more consistent process of data collection and analysis.

As communities across the country experience more extreme weather events, consistent and timely PDAs are more important than ever to the recovery process.

Madam Speaker, I support this legislation and ask my colleagues to do the same.

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Mr. PAPPAS. Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. PAPPAS. Madam Speaker, I want to commend again my fellow committee members for introducing this legislation. I urge my colleagues to support it, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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