Resilient Assistance for Mitigation for Environmentally Resilient Infrastructure and Construction by…

Resilient Assistance for Mitigation for Environmentally Resilient Infrastructure and Construction by Americans Act or the Resilient AMERICA Act

This bill addresses disaster resilience issues and expands coverage for hazard mitigation.

The bill

• increases from 6% to 15% the estimated aggregate amount of grants that may be set aside for national public infrastructure pre-disaster hazard mitigation assistance;
• makes private nonprofit facilities eligible for technical and financial assistance for implementing cost-effective pre-disaster hazard mitigation measures;
• provides funding for water resources development projects; and
• expands the use of hazard mitigation assistance to cover certain activities pertaining to wildfires, tsunamis, and ice storms.

Additionally, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) must set aside 10% of funds made available for any given year to further the implementation and enforcement of the latest published editions of relevant consensus-based building codes.

FEMA must require as a condition of providing nonemergency financial assistance for construction projects costing at least $1 million that the steel and iron used in the projects be produced in the United States, with certain exceptions.

FEMA must carry out a residential resilience pilot program to provide grants for residential resilience retrofits (e.g., elevation of homes, floodproofing measures, wildfire retrofit and mitigation measures, and wind retrofits).

The Government Accountability Office must study the challenges to states and territories in obtaining funds under public assistance alternative procedures.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov