H.R. 5953 — Introduced in House

I 116th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 5953 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES February 25, 2020Mr. Graves of Missouri (for himself, Mr. Huffman, Mr. LaMalfa, Mr. Thompson of California, Ms. Plaskett, Miss González-Colón of Puerto Rico, and Mr. Carbajal) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To amend the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 to require the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to waive certain debts owed to the United States related to covered assistance provided to an individual or household, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Preventing Disaster Revictimization Act. 2. Flexibility Section 1216(a) of the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 (42 U.S.C. 5174a(a)) is amended— (1) by amending paragraph (2)(A) to read as follows: (A) except as provided in subparagraph (B), shall— (i) waive a debt owed to the United States related to covered assistance provided to an individual or household if the covered assistance was distributed based on an error by the Agency and such debt shall be construed as a hardship; and (ii) waive a debt owed to the United States related to covered assistance provided to an individual or household if such assistance is subject to a claim or legal action, including in accordance with section 317 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5160); and ; and (2) in paragraph (3)(B)— (A) by striking Removal of and inserting Report on; and (B) in clause (ii) by striking the authority of the Administrator to waive debt under paragraph (2) shall no longer be effective and inserting the Administrator shall report to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate actions that the Administrator will take to reduce the error rate.