Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that amends the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 to develop a study regarding streamlining and consolidating information collection and preliminary damage assessments and for other purposes.

Highlights:

• Requires that within 2 years of this bills passage and enactment the Administrator, in coordination with the Small Business Administration, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Disaster Assistance Working Group of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, and other appropriate agencies, shall (Sec. 2):

• Conduct a study and develop a plan, consistent with law, under which the collection of information from disaster assistance applicants and grantees will be modified, streamlined, expedited, efficient, flexible, consolidated, and simplified to be less burdensome, duplicative, and time consuming for applicants and grantees;

• Develop a plan for the regular collection and reporting of information on Federal disaster assistance awarded, including the establishment and maintenance of a website for presenting the information to the public.

• Requires the Administrator, in consultation with the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, to convene a working group on a regular basis with the Secretary of Labor, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Administrator of the Small Business Administration, the Secretary of Transportation, the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development, and other appropriate agencies as the Administrator considers necessary, to (Sec. 2):

• Identify and describe the potential areas of duplication or fragmentation in preliminary damage assessments after disaster declarations;

• Determine the applicability of having one Federal agency make the assessments for all agencies; and

• Identify potential emerging technologies, such as unmanned aircraft systems, consistent with the requirements established in the FEMA Account ability, Modernization and Transparency Act of 2017to expedite the administration of preliminary damage assessments.

• Requires the comprehensive report developed be made available to the public and posted on the website of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in pre-compressed, easily downloadable versions that are made available in all appropriate formats and in machine-readable format (Sec. 2).

Full Bill Text

Full Bill Text