# Plain Language Summary: Federal Disaster Assistance Coordination Act

When a disaster strikes—whether it's a hurricane, flood, or earthquake—people who need help have to deal with multiple government agencies asking them for the same information over and over again. This bill tackles that frustrating problem by requiring the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to study how to make the disaster assistance process simpler and less burdensome for people trying to recover.

The bill asks FEMA to work with other agencies like the Small Business Administration, Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Labor Department to figure out how to streamline the paperwork and information collection process. Right now, disaster victims might have to fill out similar forms for different agencies, answer the same questions multiple times, and wait through lengthy processes while they're trying to rebuild their lives. FEMA has two years to develop a plan that reduces this duplication and makes the whole system faster and easier to navigate. The bill also requires FEMA to create a public website where people can see what federal disaster assistance is being awarded and to whom, bringing more transparency to how disaster recovery money is distributed.

Additionally, the bill addresses another inefficiency: when disasters happen, different federal agencies send their own teams to assess the damage. This creates overlapping efforts and wastes resources. The bill requires FEMA to bring together representatives from multiple agencies to study whether one agency could handle all damage assessments instead, and to explore using new technology like drones to speed up the assessment process. After completing this study, FEMA must submit a comprehensive report to Congress and brief lawmakers on their findings and recommendations.

Federal Disaster Assistance Coordination Act

Ezell, Mike

Federal Disaster Assistance Coordination ActThis bill requires the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to streamline disaster information collection, convene a working group on preliminary damage assessments, and provide a report to Congress.FEMA must (1) conduct a study and develop a plan under which the collection of information from disaster assistance applicants and grantees will be made less burdensome, duplicative, and time consuming for applicants and grantees; and (2) develop a plan for the regular collection and reporting of information on federal disaster assistance awarded.Additionally, not later than two years after enactment of the bill, FEMA must convene a working group on a regular basis to (1) identify potential areas of duplication or fragmentation in preliminary damage assessments after disaster declarations; (2)&nbsp;determine the applicability of having one federal agency make the assessments for all agencies; and (3) identify potential emerging technologies, such as unmanned aircraft systems (i.e., drones), to expedite the administration of preliminary damage assessments.FEMA must submit a comprehensive report on the plans for streamlining and consolidating information collection and the findings and recommendations of the working group to Congress with a briefing. The report must be made available to the public and posted on FEMA's website.