Legislation unveiled by Cassidy, Collins, Young bolsters nation’s disaster recovery efforts

U.S. Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Todd Young (R-IN) on Monday cosponsored a bipartisan bill that aims to help communities across the United States plan for and recover from major disasters.

“Red tape and delays hurts families trying to recover from disaster,” said Sen. Cassidy. “This legislation streamlines the process to get communities the resources they need, as soon as possible, to get back on their feet.”

The senators on July 26 signed on as original cosponsors of the Reforming Disaster Recovery Act, S. 2471, with bill sponsor U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) to strengthen the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD’s) disaster recovery grants for states, local governments and tribes, according to the text of the bill. 

The bill, if enacted into law, also would improve coordination at the federal level by establishing an office within HUD devoted to disaster recovery and resilient communities.

“With natural disasters increasing in frequency and intensity, it is critical that states have the necessary resources to respond in order to protect public safety, property and our economy,” said Sen. Collins. “Our bipartisan legislation would allow communities to immediately focus on helping families and local businesses recover instead of navigating the federal bureaucracy in the wake of a natural disaster.” 

Additionally, S. 2471 would accelerate assistance to disaster-impacted communities by creating a disaster recovery fund to allow HUD to assist communities without waiting for Congress to act on each event; authorizing HUD to issue regulations to codify program requirements and reduce red tape and delays that stem from the current Federal Register notice process; supporting resilience as a part of disaster recovery; and authorizing “quick release” funds to support grantee capacity right after an event, according to a bill summary provided by the lawmakers.

“Our legislation would streamline, reform and inject greater fiscal responsibility into the broken CDBG [Community Development Block Grant] Disaster Recovery Program,” Sen. Young said. “This is a response to reports from the Government Accountability Office and HUD’s Office of Inspector General recommending Congress permanently codify the program to avoid funding lags and rid duplicative requirements in the wake of a disaster.”

The bill has been referred for consideration to the U.S. Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee.