Preventing Disaster Revictimization Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 539) to amend the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 to require the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to waive certain debts owed to the United States related to covered assistance provided to an individual or household, and for other purposes.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 539

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 ``Preventing Disaster Revictimization Act''. SEC. 2. FLEXIBILITY.

Section 1216(a) of the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 (42 U.S.C. 5174a(a)) is amended--

(1) by amending paragraph (2)(A) to read as follows:

``(A) except as provided in subparagraph (B), shall--

``(i) waive a debt owed to the United States related to covered assistance provided to an individual or household if the covered assistance was distributed based on an error by the Agency and such debt shall be construed as a hardship; and

``(ii) waive a debt owed to the United States related to covered assistance provided to an individual or household if such assistance is subject to a claim or legal action, including in accordance with section 317 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5160); and''; and

(2) in paragraph (3)(B)--

(A) by striking ``Removal of'' and inserting ``Report on''; and

(B) in clause (ii) by striking ``the authority of the Administrator to waive debt under paragraph (2) shall no longer be effective'' and inserting ``the Administrator shall report to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate actions that the Administrator will take to reduce the error rate''. SEC. 3. REPORT TO CONGRESS.

The Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency shall submit to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate a report containing a description of the internal processes used to make decisions regarding the distribution of covered assistance under section 1216 of the Disaster Recovery and Reform Act of 2018 (42 U.S.C. 5174a) and any changes made to such processes. SEC. 4. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS.

The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, shall be determined by reference to the latest statement titled ``Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation'' for this Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, provided that such statement has been submitted prior to the vote on passage.

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Ms. NORTON. 539.

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Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 539, the Preventing Disaster Revictimization Act, introduced by Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Ranking Member Graves from Missouri and Representatives Carbajal, Garamendi, Huffman, Thompson, and LaMalfa of California.

This legislation is designed to ensure disaster survivors are not revictimized by recoupment--or clawbacks--of Federal disaster assistance they have received from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Unfortunately, FEMA has repeatedly instructed disaster survivors to register for individual assistance for which they were ultimately not eligible, or granted qualified survivors more assistance than they should have received.

However, once FEMA identifies an error, it forces these survivors into a bureaucratic nightmare to appeal the debt that they now owe as a result of the agency's error. I am not surprised that this still goes on, but I am disappointed that--given the technology and data we have at our fingertips--we have not been able to improve this system for survivors, especially considering that this program is just a small piece of the Federal disaster recovery apparatus.

H.R. 539 would waive survivors' debt owed to the Federal Government in instances where FEMA erroneously distributed assistance. This bill would also provide a similar waiver to disaster survivors who may be involved in a legal action against a party deemed responsible for a disaster event. While this scenario is less common, it played out in California last year and jeopardized disaster relief for tens of thousands of families displaced by the unprecedented wildfires of the last few years.

Survivors have already been traumatized by a disaster--the Federal Government should not force them to endure a convoluted process to correct FEMA's mistakes or decision to pursue legal action years after an event against a liable party.

Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

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