119-s773

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 773 Introduced in Senate

    (IS) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 S. 773

 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.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

 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

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 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) .
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