Promoting Resilient Buildings Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The bill defines the 'latest published editions' for predisaster mitigation as the two newest consensus codes, specifications, and standards. It removes authority to use hazard mitigation revolving-loan capitalization grants for local building-code enforcement. In its place, it requires FEMA to establish within one year a residential resilience pilot through the predisaster hazard mitigation program. FEMA may use no more than 10 percent of annual section 203 assistance to help states and local governments make grants to individuals who demonstrate financial need. Eligible work includes elevations, floodproofing, tornado safe rooms, seismic and wildfire mitigation, roof and wind retrofits, and other locally appropriate measures that reduce hazard damage and use current standards where applicable. The pilot ends September 30, 2030. FEMA must report within four years on recipients, costs, demographics, avoided damage and disaster payments, challenges, and improvements.
Who Benefits and How
Financially needy homeowners benefit from grants that reduce their out-of-pocket cost for disaster-resilience improvements and lower expected damage from floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, wildfire, wind, and other local hazards. Residential retrofit contractors, roofers, engineers, and building-product providers may gain work delivering qualifying improvements, while communities and insurers benefit from reduced property loss and disaster exposure. State and local hazard-mitigation agencies gain a defined channel for directing federal assistance to vulnerable existing homes rather than only broader public projects.
Who Bears the Burden and How
FEMA administrators must create and terminate the pilot, define qualifying measures, manage a 10 percent funding ceiling, verify financial-need targeting, and produce a detailed four-year evaluation. State and local governments must design individual grant processes, confirm need, oversee code-aligned work, and supply performance and demographic data. Local governments lose revolving-loan capitalization-grant authority specifically for building-code enforcement, and other predisaster mitigation applicants may face competition for the portion redirected to residential grants.
Key Provisions
- Defines latest public editions as the two most recently published relevant consensus codes, specifications, and standards.
- Repeals use of hazard-mitigation revolving-fund capitalization grants for local building-code enforcement.
- Creates a FEMA residential resilience grant pilot for financially needy individuals through states and local governments.
- Limits the pilot to 10 percent of annual section 203 assistance and to amounts appropriated after enactment.
- Requires launch within one year, termination on September 30, 2030, and a detailed report within four years.
- Limits the bill's effects to the predisaster mitigation and hazard-mitigation revolving-loan programs.
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
Create a time-limited FEMA pilot that routes predisaster mitigation assistance through states and localities to financially needy homeowners for code-aligned resilience retrofits.
Key Policy Areas
Disaster Resilience, Housing, Infrastructure, Government Operations
Primary Purpose
Create a time-limited FEMA pilot that routes predisaster mitigation assistance through states and localities to financially needy homeowners for code-aligned resilience retrofits.
Policy Domains
Promoting Resilient Buildings Act
Identified Gains
- Financially needy homeowners
- Residential retrofit contractors and engineers
- State and local hazard-mitigation agencies
- Community residents and property insurers
Identified Costs
- Federal Emergency Management Agency administrators
- State and local grant administrators
- Local building-code enforcement offices
- Other predisaster mitigation applicants
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
ReportedCommittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Ordered to be …
Mr. Cornyn (for himself and Mr. Fetterman) introduced the following …
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security …
Introduced in Senate
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Administrators of other Stafford Act programs, FEMA mitigation-standards administrators, Federal Emergency Management Agency legal staff
Positive-direction: Administrators of other Stafford Act programs, Federal Emergency Management Agency legal staff
Negative-direction: FEMA mitigation-standards administrators, Federal Emergency Management Agency pilot staff, Local building-code enforcement offices, State and local mitigation-grant administrators
Borrowers seeking other hazard-mitigation projects, Financially needy homeowners, Other predisaster mitigation applicants
Positive-direction: Borrowers seeking other hazard-mitigation projects, Financially needy homeowners, Residents of hazard-mitigated buildings
Negative-direction: Other predisaster mitigation applicants
Hazard-resilient construction contractors, Residential resilience retrofit contractors
Property insurers covering retrofitted homes
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "recipients"
- → Individuals demonstrating financial need
- "intermediaries"
- → State and local governments
- "the_administrator"
- → Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
The two most recently published editions of relevant consensus-based codes, specifications, and standards.
A FEMA-approved existing-home project that reduces locally likely natural-hazard damage and follows current consensus or hazard-resistant standards where applicable.
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