February 27, 2025
Ms. Hassan (for herself and Mr. Lankford) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
To amend section 324 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to incentivize States, Indian Tribes, and Territories to close disaster recovery projects by authorizing the use of excess funds for management costs for other disaster recovery projects.
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 Disaster Management Costs Modernization Act
.
Sec. 2. Use of excess funds for management costs
(a) In general
Section 324 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5165b) is amended—
(1)
in subsection (b)(2)—
(A)
by redesignating subparagraphs (A) and (B) as clauses (i) and (ii), respectively, and adjusting the margins accordingly; and
(B)
in the matter preceding clause (i), as so redesignated, by striking provide the following percentage rates
and inserting “provide—
(A)
excess funds for management costs as described in subsection (c); and
(B)
the following percentage rates;
(2)
by redesignating subsection (c) as subsection (d); and
(3)
by inserting after subsection (b) the following:
(c) Use of excess funds for management costs
(1) Definition
In this subsection, the term excess funds for management costs means the difference between—
(A)
the amount of the applicable specific management costs authorized under subsection (b)(1) and subsection (b)(2)(B); and
(B)
as of the date on which the grant award is closed, the amount of funding for management costs activities expended by the grantee or subgrantee receiving the financial assistance for costs described in subparagraph (A).
(2) Availability of excess funds for management costs
The President may make available to a grantee or subgrantee receiving financial assistance under section 403, 404, 406, 407, or 502 any excess funds for management costs.
(3) Use of funds
Excess funds for management costs made available to a grantee or subgrantee under paragraph (2) may be used for—
(A)
activities associated with building capacity to prepare for, recover from, or mitigate the impacts of a major disaster or emergency declared under section 401 or 501, respectively; and
(B)
management costs associated with any—
(i)
major disaster;
(ii)
emergency;
(iii)
disaster preparedness measure; or
(iv)
mitigation activity or measure authorized under section 203, 204, 205, or 404.
(4) Availability
Excess funds for management costs made available to a grantee or subgrantee under paragraph (2) shall remain available to the grantee or subgrantee until the date that is 5 years after the date on which the excess funds for management costs are made available under paragraph (2).
(b) Applicability
The amendments made by subsection (a) shall apply with respect to any grant award in relation to a major disaster or emergency declared under section 401 or 501, respectively, of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170, 5191)—
(1)
the declaration of which is made on or after the date of enactment of this Act; and
(2)
that is funded with amounts appropriated on or after the date of enactment of this Act.
(c) GAO study
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives a report—
(1)
on the actual management costs described in section 324 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5165b) during the period of a major disaster declaration under section 401 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 5170) to determine whether the amount set aside for those management costs after the date of enactment of this Act is appropriate; and
(2)
that includes—
(A)
the management costs described in section 324 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5165b) for each major disaster declared under section 401 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 5170) during the 5-year period preceding the date of the report;
(B)
the amount set aside for those management costs;
(C)
the use of those management costs;
(D)
the length of each such major disaster; and
(E)
the reason for the length of each such major disaster.
(d) No additional funds
No additional funds are authorized to be appropriated to carry out the amendments made by subsection (a).