Promoting Resilient Buildings Act
Promoting Resilient Buildings Act
Plain Language Summary
# Promoting Resilient Buildings Act Summary **What It Would Do** This bill aims to help communities prepare for disasters by making it easier to upgrade buildings to withstand natural hazards. It would allow FEMA to provide federal funding for building code improvements across a broader range of acceptable standards and would create a new pilot program specifically to help homeowners retrofit their residences to be more resilient to disasters. Additionally, the bill would prevent certain federal loan funds from being used for building code activities, though the details on which loans this applies to aren't fully specified in the summary. **Who It Affects** The bill primarily impacts state and local governments, Native American tribal governments, and homeowners.
FEMA and federal disaster mitigation programs would need to adjust their procedures, and communities working to improve building safety standards would see changes in how they can access federal assistance for these efforts. **Current Status** The bill (S 388) was introduced by Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) in the 119th Congress and is currently in committee, meaning it has not yet been debated or voted on by the full Senate. No further action has been taken at this time.
CRS Official Summary
Promoting Resilient Buildings ActThis bill increases flexibility for predisaster mitigation assistance for building code activities, prohibits using certain loan funds for building code activities, and establishes a pilot program to fund residential resilience retrofits.Under current law, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) may provide predisaster hazard mitigation assistance to government entities for implementing the latest published editions of relevant building codes and standards. Also, FEMA must consider a government entity’s adoption of such building codes when determining whether to award it predisaster hazard mitigation assistance. The bill specifies that the building codes applicable in such instances are the two most recently published editions (i.e., either the current edition or the previous one).Also, currently, under FEMA's Safeguarding Tomorrow Revolving Loan Fund (STRLF) program, states and Indian tribal governments may provide loans to local governments for establishing and carrying out building codes and standards. The bill removes this authority, so STRLF loans may not be used for such building code-related activities.Additionally, the bill establishes a pilot program for FEMA to provide grants to government entities that then provide the funding to individuals for residential resilience retrofits. The retrofit projects must reduce risk to homes from local natural hazards and individuals must demonstrate financial need. To implement the pilot program, FEMA may use up to 10% of the funds FEMA provides annually for predisaster hazard mitigation assistance. The pilot program terminates at the end of FY2030.
Latest Action
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.