To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to authorize Federal agencies to provide certain essential assistance for hazard mitigation for electric utilities, and for other purposes.
Summary
What This Bill Does
The POWER Act of 2025 changes Stafford Act disaster assistance for electric utilities. When an electric utility is restoring power with emergency assistance under section 403, the utility may carry out cost-effective hazard mitigation activities jointly or in combination with that restoration work. If an electric utility facility receives section 403 emergency restoration assistance, that fact alone does not make the facility ineligible for hazard mitigation assistance under section 406 if it otherwise qualifies. The amendment applies only to amounts appropriated on or after enactment. In practical terms, a utility repairing disaster-damaged power infrastructure can pair restoration with resilience work rather than waiting for a separate project cycle or risking loss of later mitigation eligibility.
Who Benefits and How
Electric utilities, public power utilities, rural electric cooperatives, investor-owned utilities, electric ratepayers, disaster survivors, local governments, emergency managers, grid-hardening contractors, and communities vulnerable to future storms benefit from a clearer pathway to combine emergency power restoration with cost-effective mitigation such as hardening, relocation, elevation, or other resilience upgrades. Customers can benefit if repaired facilities are less likely to fail in later disasters.
Who Bears the Burden and How
FEMA, state emergency-management agencies, electric utility engineering staff, utility grant managers, federal disaster program officers, hazard-mitigation reviewers, ratepayer advocates, and infrastructure contractors must coordinate section 403 restoration work with section 406 mitigation eligibility, document cost-effectiveness, and manage combined projects under appropriations limited to post-enactment funds.
Key Provisions
- Authorizes electric utilities to carry out cost-effective hazard mitigation jointly with Stafford Act section 403 emergency power restoration.
- Protects otherwise eligible electric utility facilities from losing section 406 hazard-mitigation eligibility because they received section 403 restoration aid.
- Limits the amendment to amounts appropriated on or after enactment.
- Provides a combined disaster recovery and grid-resilience pathway for electric utility facilities.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Amends Stafford Act section 403 to let electric utilities combine emergency power-restoration assistance with cost-effective hazard mitigation activities and clarifies that receiving emergency restoration assistance does not make an electric utility facility ineligible for otherwise available section 406 hazard-mitigation assistance, applying only to funds appropriated after enactment.
Key Policy Areas
Disaster Recovery, Electric Utilities, Infrastructure Resilience
Primary Purpose
Amends Stafford Act section 403 to let electric utilities combine emergency power-restoration assistance with cost-effective hazard mitigation activities and clarifies that receiving emergency restoration assistance does not make an electric utility facility ineligible for otherwise available section 406 hazard-mitigation assistance, applying only to funds appropriated after enactment.
Policy Domains
Substantive provisions
Identified Gains
- Electric utilities
- Public power utilities
- Rural electric cooperatives
- Investor-owned utilities
- Electric ratepayers
- Disaster survivors
- Local governments
Identified Costs
- Federal Emergency Management Agency
- State emergency-management agencies
- Electric utility engineering staff
- Utility grant managers
- Federal disaster program officers
- Hazard-mitigation reviewers
- Ratepayer advocates
Sponsors
Val T. Hoyle
D-OR | Primary Sponsor
Legislative Progress
Passed HouseReceived; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland …
Passed House (inferred from eh version)
Ms. Hoyle of Oregon (for herself and Mr. Ezell) introduced …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
State emergency-management agencies
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
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