The House passed a bipartisan bill Monday to streamline federal disaster recovery efforts — an issue with particular relevance as recovery begins for wildfire victims in the Los Angeles area.
H.R. 152, the “Federal Disaster Assistance Coordination Act,” easily passed under an expedited process known as suspension of the rules. The vote was 405-5. Versions of the bill have passed the House in years past, most recently in December, but all failed to become law.
The legislation, from Rep. Mike Ezell (R-Miss.), is one of a number of energy and disaster resiliency bills re-upped by the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee at the start of the congressional term.
The bill instructs the Federal Emergency Management Agency to study how to streamline data collection and damage assessments in the aftermath of natural disasters. Ezell said the legislation should keep those applying for disaster relief from needing to submit extraneous or duplicative information.
