HR 4830

110th CONGRESS
1st Session

H. R. 4830

To require the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to quickly and fairly address the abundance of surplus temporary housing units stored by the Federal Government across the Nation at taxpayer expense.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

December 18, 2007

Mr. ROSS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

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A BILL

To require the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to quickly and fairly address the abundance of surplus temporary housing units stored by the Federal Government across the Nation at taxpayer expense.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; DEFINITIONS.

(a) Short Title- This Act may be cited as the `FEMA Accountability Act of 2007'.

(b) Definitions- In this Act, the following definitions apply:

(1) ADMINISTRATOR- The term `Administrator' means the Administrator of FEMA.

(2) FEMA- The term `FEMA' means the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds that--

(1) more than 19,000 temporary housing units purchased by FEMA sit unused at a storage site located in Hope, Arkansas, and FEMA spends $25,000 each month to store these temporary housing units;

(2) FEMA purchased these temporary housing units to aid disaster victims during the 2005 hurricane season;

(3) FEMA spends in excess of $3,000,000 each year to store, secure, and maintain temporary housing units at 17 storage sites across the Nation;

(4) it is anticipated that the number of temporary housing units in FEMA inventory will continue to increase as disaster victims find permanent housing;

(5) many of the unused temporary housing units currently in the FEMA inventory are not mission-ready or may contain elevated levels of formaldehyde; and

(6) FEMA has had ample time to assess the need for on-hand temporary housing units.

SEC. 3. STORAGE, SALE, TRANSFER, AND DISPOSAL OF HOUSING UNITS.

(a) In General- Not later than 3 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall complete an assessment of the number of temporary housing units purchased by FEMA that the Administrator finds necessary to stock to respond to major disasters occurring after the date of enactment of this Act.

(b) Plan-

(1) IN GENERAL- Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall establish a plan for--

(A) permanently storing the temporary housing units that the Administrator finds necessary to stock under subsection (a);

(B) selling, transferring, or otherwise disposing of the temporary housing units that the Administrator finds are in excess of the number that the Administrator finds necessary to stock under subsection (a) and are in usable condition; and

(C) disposing of the temporary housing units that the Administrator finds are not in usable condition.

(2) EXCEPTION-

(A) IN GENERAL- If the Administrator submits to Congress a written certification that the Administrator is unable to determine the safe level of exposure to formaldehyde for purposes of travel trailers, the Administrator may exclude from the plan established under paragraph (1) any travel trailer that the Administrator determines may contain formaldehyde.

(B) DURATION- The authority to exclude travel trailers under this paragraph shall terminate on the date on which the Environmental Protection Agency or other appropriate department or agency promulgates regulations regarding exposure levels for formaldehyde that are applicable to travel trailers.

(3) APPLICABILITY OF DISPOSAL REQUIREMENTS- The plan established under paragraph (1) shall be subject to the requirements of section 408(d)(2) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5174(d)(2)) and other applicable provisions of law.

(c) Implementation- Not later than 9 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall implement the plan described in subsection (b).

(d) Report- Not later than one year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall submit to Congress a report on the status of the distribution, sale, transfer, or other disposal of the unused temporary housing units purchased by FEMA.

END