S. 4022 — Disaster Recovery Improvement Act

This section sets forth congressional findings that (1) numerous federal agency programs support disaster recovery efforts, (2) delays in federal disaster relief funding after recent natural disasters including Hurricane Helene revealed bottlenecks in federal disaster response, and (3) state and local governments should have greater input in federal disaster assistance administration and natural disaster response; and expresses the sense of Congress that federal agencies must incorporate state and local recommendations to improve disaster response capability.

This section establishes the Disaster Recovery Improvement Task Force, to be created by the FEMA Administrator not later than 90 days after enactment of this Act. The task force is chaired by a senior FEMA official and includes senior officials from 12 federal agencies (i.e., Small Business Administration, Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Agriculture, Health and Human Services, Labor, Transportation, Commerce, the Treasury, and the Interior, Environmental Protection Agency, Army Corps of Engineers, and Office of Management and Budget); 4 governors and 4 county commissioners, jointly appointed by the chairs and ranking members of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, each representing areas that experienced a major disaster (as defined in section 401 of the Stafford Act, 42 U.S.C. 5170) from a hurricane, wildfire, tornado, or earthquake in the prior 3 years; and advisory, non-voting members of Congress from specified committees. Not later than 1 year after enactment, the task force must submit to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, House Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure and Homeland Security, and publicly release a report identifying federal disaster recovery programs and funding mechanisms (e.g., grants, loans); recommending ways to expedite relief efforts, including streamlining temporary programs, improving application processes, reducing review delays, strengthening state capacity, addressing interagency barriers and presidential transition delays, and enhancing coordination; and providing agency-specific recommendations (e.g., for FEMA's Public Assistance under Stafford Act section 406, 42 U.S.C. 5172, and Hazard Mitigation Grants under section 404, 42 U.S.C. 5170c, and HUD community development funding).