US Congress Senate Bill 709 (Prior Session Legislation)

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Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2)
Status: Introduced on March 23 2017 - 25% progression, died in committee
Action: 2017-03-23 - Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Pending: Senate Homeland Security And Governmental Affairs Committee
Text: Latest bill text (Introduced) [PDF]

Disaster Assistance Improvement Act of 2017 This bill amends the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to prohibit the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) from taking administrative action to recover any payment made to a state or local government for disaster or emergency assistance initiated in any forum (with exceptions for fraud) after three years following the transmission of the final expenditure report for project completion, as certified by the grantee (currently, after three years following the transmission of the final expenditure report for the disaster or emergency). The bill makes the same change with respect to the deadline: (1) for any dispute arising under such Act for which there shall be a presumption that accounting records were maintained that adequately identify the source and application of funds provided for financially assisted activities, and (2) by which the inability of the government to produce source documentation supporting expenditure reports shall not constitute evidence to rebut such presumption. With respect to a payment for disaster or emergency assistance provided to a state or local government on or after January 1, 2004, FEMA may not take administrative action to recover such payment after the date of enactment of this bill if the action is prohibited under such Act as amended by this bill.

Disaster Assistance Improvement Act of 2017

Sen. Bill Nelson [D-FL]

Sen. Doug Jones [D-AL]

Date	Chamber	Action
2017-03-23	Senate	Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

HB1678 (Related) 2017-05-04 - Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
SB1641 (Related) 2017-07-27 - Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Type	Source
Summary	https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/709/all-info
Text	https://www.congress.gov/115/bills/s709/BILLS-115s709is.pdf