Highlight any text to annotate

The Ounce of Prevention Act would expand how cities and counties can spend Community Development Block Grant funds by allowing them to use this money for natural disaster mitigation activities in high-risk areas. Currently, these federal grants are limited to specific community development purposes, but this bill would add disaster risk reduction projects like building resilient structures and retrofitting existing buildings to the list of eligible uses. To qualify, communities must document in their federal planning documents that they are in a high-risk area according to either the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Risk Index or a state-maintained hazard risk index, and must explain how their mitigation projects address local disaster needs. The bill also directs the Department of Housing and Urban Development to issue new regulations within one year to clarify how mitigation activities fit into existing grant requirements and exempts disaster mitigation housing projects from certain federal aggregate standards. This legislation aims to help communities proactively reduce losses from future weather-related disasters by redirecting existing funding toward prevention rather than recovery.

Add a comment

Sign in 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.