Preventing Our Next Natural Disaster Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The bill adds definitions for high hazard risk, environmental justice community, and small impoverished community to the Stafford Act predisaster mitigation program, authorizes FEMA Administrator to develop guidance incorporating climate change into the National Risk Index, cost-benefit analyses, and building standards for hazard mitigation projects, and adds new priority criteria for predisaster mitigation assistance favoring high hazard risk communities, environmental justice communities, communities with low tax base, and communities with low code enforcement. It relies on compliance mandates, definition changes, product standards, and appropriations. The main policy areas are Immigration, Environment, Criminal Justice, and Housing.
Who Benefits and How
Predisaster mitigation programs could gain revenue opportunities, Underserved communities could gain revenue opportunities, and Disadvantaged and high-risk communities could gain revenue opportunities.
Who Bears the Burden and How
FEMA would take on compliance duties, Federal agencies involved in disaster response would take on compliance duties, and Disaster Relief Fund could face higher costs.
Key Provisions
- Adds definitions for high hazard risk, environmental justice community, and small impoverished community to the Stafford Act predisaster mitigation program.
- Authorizes FEMA Administrator to develop guidance incorporating climate change into the National Risk Index, cost-benefit analyses, and building standards for hazard mitigation projects.
- Adds new priority criteria for predisaster mitigation assistance favoring high hazard risk communities, environmental justice communities, communities with low tax base, and communities with low code enforcement.
- Provides increases Disaster Relief Fund predisaster mitigation set-aside from 6% to 15% and adds 2% set-aside for community planning and capacity building.
- Mandates FEMA community outreach to increase grant applications from high-risk, environmental justice, and low-capacity communities, in collaboration with Cooperative Extension System.
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
The bill adds definitions for high hazard risk, environmental justice community, and small impoverished community to the Stafford Act predisaster mitigation program, authorizes FEMA Administrator to develop guidance incorporating climate change into the National Risk Index, cost-benefit analyses, and building standards for hazard mitigation projects, and adds new priority criteria for predisaster mitigation assistance favoring high hazard risk communities, environmental justice communities, communities with low tax base, and communities with low code enforcement.
Key Policy Areas
Immigration, Environment, Criminal Justice, Housing
Primary Purpose
The bill adds definitions for high hazard risk, environmental justice community, and small impoverished community to the Stafford Act predisaster mitigation program, authorizes FEMA Administrator to develop guidance incorporating climate change into the National Risk Index, cost-benefit analyses, and building standards for hazard mitigation projects, and adds new priority criteria for predisaster mitigation assistance favoring high hazard risk communities, environmental justice communities, communities with low tax base, and communities with low code enforcement.
Policy Domains
Amendments to Stafford Act Section 203
Identified Gains
- Predisaster mitigation programs
- Underserved communities
- Disadvantaged and high-risk communities
- Tribal and indigenous communities
- Environmental justice communities
Identified Costs
- FEMA
- Federal agencies involved in disaster response
- Disaster Relief Fund
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeReferred to the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and …
Mr. Swalwell introduced the following bill; which was referred to …
Referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
Introduced in House
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Disaster Relief Fund, FEMA, Federal agencies involved in disaster response
Disadvantaged and high-risk communities, Underserved communities
Climate resilience firms, Environmental justice communities
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_president"
- → President of the United States
- "the_administrator"
- → Administrator of FEMA
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
High rating of a natural hazard risk according to a tool such as the National Risk Index or another tool developed by FEMA
Community primarily composed of communities of color, low-income communities, or Tribal and indigenous communities that experiences or is at risk of experiencing higher or more adverse human health or environmental effects
Community of 50,000 or fewer individuals that is economically disadvantaged
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology