H.R. 4426 — SMART Act

This section directs the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to conduct a comprehensive study evaluating the effectiveness, long-term cost savings, and strategic impact of FEMA-funded hazard mitigation activities (i.e., projects such as floodwalls and property buyouts that reduce future disaster damages) across the United States. The study must assess how these activities (1) reduce Federal and non-Federal disaster response and recovery expenditures; (2) enhance community preparedness for natural hazards; (3) improve hazard-related insurance availability and affordability; (4) support continuity of critical services and infrastructure; and (5) generate long-term cost savings and returns on investment—using quantitative and qualitative analysis of avoided losses, community risk evaluations, case studies from diverse regions and hazards, and examinations of Federal cost reductions, with data from government agencies, third-party assessments, and internal records, and consultations with the Government Accountability Office, National Institute of Standards and Technology, governments, and research institutions. FEMA must submit a report detailing the study's findings and recommendations for program improvements and legislative or administrative actions to the House Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure and Appropriations and the Senate Committees on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and Appropriations not later than 18 months after enactment and annually thereafter.

This section directs the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator to make publicly available on the agency's website, not later than two years after enactment, the results of the initial study required under section 2 in a searchable, user-friendly format—including (1) summarized findings and datasets (excluding national security or privacy information), (2) visualizations and geographic mappings of mitigation outcomes, and (3) explanations of methodology, data sources, and limitations. The section further requires the Administrator to conduct that study annually, incorporating the most recent data, methodology updates, and stakeholder feedback, and to post each annual report on the website not later than 60 days after submitting it to Congress.