S3605-118

Introduced

To require the Secretary of Transportation to develop guidelines and best practices for local evacuation route planning, and for other purposes.

118th Congress Introduced Jan 17, 2024

Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.

Summary

What This Bill Does

The Emergency Vehicle and Community Planning Act (EVAC Planning Act) requires the Secretary of Transportation to create standardized guidelines for local evacuation route planning. Within one year of enactment, these guidelines must be developed in consultation with the Federal Highway Administration and FEMA, then made publicly available to help communities prepare for natural disasters.

Who Benefits and How

State and local governments, territories, and Indian Tribes benefit by receiving clear, federally-developed best practices for planning evacuation routes. This saves them from having to develop standards independently and ensures more consistent disaster preparedness across jurisdictions. Emergency responders and affected communities would ultimately benefit from better-planned evacuation routes during natural disasters.

Who Bears the Burden and How

The Secretary of Transportation (along with FHWA and FEMA administrators in a consultative role) bears the primary burden of developing these guidelines within one year. This represents an administrative mandate requiring interagency coordination and the creation of new planning resources.

Key Provisions

  • Requires the Secretary of Transportation to develop and publicly disseminate evacuation route planning guidelines within one year
  • Mandates consultation with the Federal Highway Administration Administrator and FEMA Administrator
  • Guidelines must address transportation infrastructure planning considerations for local evacuation routes
  • Includes planning for routing emergency response supplies, equipment, and personnel
  • Applies to States, territories, Indian Tribes, and local government units

Evidence Chain:

This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.

At a Glance

What This Bill Does

This bill requires the Secretary of Transportation to develop guidelines and best practices for local evacuation route planning in consultation with relevant agencies.

Key Policy Areas

Transportation, Emergency_management

Primary Purpose

This bill requires the Secretary of Transportation to develop guidelines and best practices for local evacuation route planning in consultation with relevant agencies.

Policy Domains

Transportation Emergency_management

Legislative Progress

Introduced
Introduced Committee Passed
Jan 17, 2024

Mr. Padilla (for himself, Mr. Cassidy, Mr. Schatz, and Ms. …

Bill Structure & Actor Mappings

Who is "The Secretary" in each section?

Domains
Transportation
Actor Mappings
"the_secretary"
→ Secretary of Transportation
"the_administrator_of_fha"
→ Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration
"the_administrator_of_fema"
→ Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency

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