H.R. 403 (119th)Bill Overview

Preventing Our Next Natural Disaster Act

Emergency Management|Emergency Management
Cosponsors
Support
Democratic
Introduced
Jan 14, 2025
Discussions
Bill Text
Current stageCommittee

Referred to the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management.

Introduced
Committee
Floor
President
Law
Congressional Activities
01 · The brief
Plain-English summaryWhat this bill actually does

<p><strong>Preventing Our Next Natural Disaster Act</strong></p><p>This bill modifies the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant program of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).</p><p>Specifically, the bill</p><ul><li>increases the amount that may be set aside from FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund for BRIC from 6% to 15% of certain disaster grant amounts;</li><li>authorizes FEMA to set aside 2% from the BRIC 15% set-aside for assistance with community planning and capacity building;</li><li>provides a 90% federal cost share for BRIC grants to environmental justice communities, and increases the maximum number of people in small impoverished communities, which are also eligible for the 90% BRIC federal cost share; and</li><li>authorizes FEMA to develop guidance regarding how to incorporate climate change into the National Risk Index, benefit-cost analyses, and improved codes, specifications, and standards to address natural hazards.</li></ul><p>FEMA must</p><ul><li>prioritize BRIC assistance for high hazard risk communities, environmental justice communities, communities with low tax revenue base per capita, and communities with a low rate of code adoption and enforcement and infrastructure maintenance expenditures;</li><li>provide community outreach on project planning and grant administration; and</li><li>establish a central federal database to consolidate funding data collected by all local, state, and federal agencies involved in post-disaster response and pre-disaster mitigation spending and categorize the data by type of project, funding source, and hazard types using a user-friendly database and interactive map.</li></ul>

Why people may split

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

Watch point

The next hurdle is converting committee movement into a floor coalition.

<p><strong>Preventing Our Next Natural Disaster Act</strong></p><p>This bill modifies the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant program of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).</p><p>Specifically, the bill</p><ul><li>increases the amount that may be set aside from FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund for BRIC from 6% to 15% of certain disaster grant amounts;</li><li>authorizes FEMA to set aside 2% from the BRIC 15% set-aside for assistance with community planning and capacity building;</li><li>provides a 90% federal cost share for BRIC grants to environmental justice communities, and increases the maximum number of people in small impoverished communities, which are also eligible for the 90% BRIC federal cost share; and</li><li>authorizes FEMA to develop guidance regarding how to incorporate climate change into the National Risk Index, benefit-cost analyses, and improved codes, specifications, and standards to address natural hazards.</li></ul><p>FEMA must</p><ul><li>prioritize BRIC assistance for high hazard risk communities, environmental justice communities, communities with low tax revenue base per capita, and communities with a low rate of code adoption and enforcement and infrastructure maintenance expenditures;</li><li>provide community outreach on project planning and grant administration; and</li><li>establish a central federal database to consolidate funding data collected by all local, state, and federal agencies involved in post-disaster response and pre-disaster mitigation spending and categorize the data by type of project, funding source, and hazard types using a user-friendly database and interactive map.</li></ul>

Passage38/100

This bill has moved beyond introduction, but committee and floor dynamics still determine whether it can build durable support.

CredibilityPartial

How solid the drafting looks.

Contention62/100

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

02 · What it does

Who stands to gain, and who may push back.

Likely benefits vs burdens0% / 100%
Likely helpedLikely burdened

These are examples from the analysis, not a ranked list of the most-affected groups.

Likely helped
  • No clear beneficiaries surfaced yet.
Likely burdened
  • No clear downsides surfaced yet.
03 · Why people split

Why the argument around this bill splits.

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.
Progressive

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

Unclear
Centrist

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

Unclear
Conservative

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

Unclear
04 · Can it pass?

The path through Congress.

Introduced

Reached or meaningfully advanced

Committee

Reached or meaningfully advanced

Floor

Still ahead

President

Still ahead

Law

Still ahead

Passage likelihood38/100

This bill has moved beyond introduction, but committee and floor dynamics still determine whether it can build durable support.

Why this could stall
  • The next hurdle is converting committee movement into a floor coalition.
05 · Recent votes

Recent votes on the bill.

No vote history yet

The bill has not accumulated any surfaced votes yet.

06 · Go deeper

Go deeper than the headline read.

Included on this page

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

This bill has moved beyond introduction, but committee and floor dynamics still determine whether it can build durable support.

Unlocked analysis

Pro readers get the full perspective split, passage barriers, legislative design review, stakeholder impact map, and lens-based policy tradeoff analysis for Preventing Our Next Natural Disaster Act.

Go beyond the headline summary with full stakeholder mapping, legislative design analysis, passage barriers, and lens-by-lens tradeoff breakdowns.

Perspective breakdownsPassage barriersLegislative design reviewStakeholder impact map
Open full analysis