To amend the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965 to direct the Secretary of Commerce to establish an Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience, and for other purposes.
About This Bill
Committee
Latest Action · September 13, 2023
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works. (Sponsor introductory remarks on measure: CR S4442-4443)
This bill creates a new Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience within the Department of Commerce to help communities rebuild their economies after major disasters. The office will coordinate economic recovery efforts, manage federal disaster recovery funding, and deploy trained personnel to affected areas when the Federal Emergency Management Agency activates the department following a disaster declaration. The Secretary of Commerce is authorized to hire temporary staff and convert qualified temporary employees to permanent positions without standard federal hiring procedures. Additionally, the bill eliminates the typical local cost-sharing requirement for disaster recovery grants, making the federal government cover 100 percent of eligible project costs. The bill authorizes whatever funding is necessary to carry out these disaster recovery activities, with no specified time limit on spending authority.
Take Action
Your position
Add a comment
to comment on this bill.
Annotate the text
Highlight any passage on the Summary or Full Text tab to attach a note. Annotations appear on the Annotations tab.