United States HR 9680: RIDER Act

Bill Text

I
118TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION H. R. 9680
To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance
Act to expand eligibility for individual and public assistance to certain
areas and to include cumulative damage from multiple natural catas-
trophes in the definition of major disaster, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SEPTEMBER 19, 2024
Mr. BABIN (for himself and Mr. GARAMENDI) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
A BILL
To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-
gency Assistance Act to expand eligibility for individual
and public assistance to certain areas and to include
cumulative damage from multiple natural catastrophes
in the definition of major disaster, and for other pur-
poses.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Regional Impact of 4
Disasters and Emergencies Relief Act’’ or the ‘‘RIDER 5
Act’’. 6
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SEC. 2. CONTIGUOUS AREA. 1
Section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 2
and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170) is 3
amended— 4
(1) by redesignating subsections (b) and (c) as 5
subsections (c) and (d), respectively; and 6
(2) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol-7
lowing: 8
‘‘(b) CONTIGUOUS AREA.— 9
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any area under the juris-10
diction of a State, local government, or Indian tribal 11
government, including an area located in a State for 12
which the President did not declare a major disaster, 13
that is contiguous to an area that the President des-14
ignates as eligible for any form of covered assistance 15
as a result of a major disaster (in this paragraph re-16
ferred to as the ‘eligible area’) may be designated by 17
the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Man-18
agement Agency as being eligible for any form of 19
covered assistance for which the eligible area is eligi-20
ble with respect to such disaster. 21
‘‘(2) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 22
‘covered assistance’ means— 23
‘‘(A) hazard mitigation assistance provided 24
under section 404; 25
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‘‘(B) any assistance provided to an indi-1
vidual or household under sections 408, 410, 2
415, 416, or 426; and 3
‘‘(C) any public assistance provided under 4
sections 403, 406, or 407.’’. 5
SEC. 3. CUMULATIVE DAMAGE. 6
(a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 102(2) of the Robert T. 7
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act 8
(42 U.S.C. 5122(2)) is amended— 9
(1) by striking ‘‘ ‘Major disaster’ means’’ and 10
inserting the following: 11
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘major dis-12
aster’ means’’; and 13
(2) by adding at the end the following: 14
‘‘(B) INCLUSION.—The term ‘major dis-15
aster’ includes a series of 2 or more natural ca-16
tastrophes, fires, floods, or explosions described 17
in subparagraph (A)— 18
‘‘(i) with respect to each of which the 19
Governor of the affected State requested 20
that the President declare that a major 21
disaster exists under section 401(a); 22
‘‘(ii) that occurred during a 12-month 23
period; and 24
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‘‘(iii) that individually do not cause 1
damage of sufficient severity and mag-2
nitude to warrant major disaster assistance 3
under this Act, but that, in the determina-4
tion of the President, cumulatively causes 5
damage of sufficient severity and mag-6
nitude to warrant such assistance.’’. 7
SEC. 4. INTERIM GUIDANCE. 8
Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment 9
of this Act, the Administrator of the Federal Emergency 10
Management Agency shall issue interim guidance to imple-11
ment the amendments made by sections 2 and 3. 12
SEC. 5. RULEMAKING. 13
Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment 14
of this Act, the President, acting through the Adminis-15
trator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, 16
shall issue such rules and regulations as are necessary 17
to— 18
(1) ensure compliance with section 1232 of the 19
FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 (42 U.S.C. 5170 20
note); and 21
(2) implement the amendments made by sec-22
tions 2 and 3. 23
Æ
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