Federal Disaster Assistance Coordination Act

Key Points

• Congress is moving to make it easier for people and local governments to get help after a disaster by cutting down on paperwork. Currently, victims often have to provide the same information to multiple government agencies, which can be confusing and slow during a crisis.
• The bill requires FEMA to work with other agencies like the Small Business Administration and HUD to create a single, simplified plan for collecting information. The goal is to make the process faster and less repetitive for families and business owners who have lost property.
• A new public website will be created to track federal disaster money. This will allow the public to see exactly how much aid is being awarded and where it is going, making the government more transparent about how it spends disaster recovery funds.
• The government will study using new technology, such as drones, to check for damage after a storm or fire. Using drones could help officials assess damage much faster than sending people in on foot, which could lead to quicker approval for financial assistance.
• Within two years, officials must report back to Congress with a plan to consolidate damage assessments. They will investigate whether it makes more sense for one single agency to handle all inspections instead of having several different groups doing the same work.

Impact Analysis

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