Bill Details
HR.1164 - 119th Congress
Status
Latest action
2025-02-10 - Referred to the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management.
Introduced Date
2025-02-10
Policy Area
Emergency Management
Committees
View committees (1)
Cosponsors
7
0
0
AI Summary This summary was generated by AI from the bill text. AI can get information wrong.
This bill would change how FEMA handles disaster assistance for people who also have insurance claims. If someone applies for FEMA help after a major disaster and says they have insurance for the damaged home or facility, FEMA would not be allowed to send a notice saying their assistance is denied until the insurance company has made its final decision on that claim. The goal is to prevent people from being turned away too early while they are still waiting to see what their insurance will cover.
- FEMA would have to write rules to make sure this delay in denial notices is followed.
- The protection would apply to applicants for disaster assistance under the Stafford Act after a declared major disaster.
- It would cover people who own the damaged home or facility and have told FEMA they have an insurance policy for it.
- FEMA could still process the application, but it could not send a denial notice before the insurance claim is fully decided.
Official Summaries
No summaries available
Current Full Text
[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1164 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1164
To direct the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency
to ensure that certain applicants for assistance after a declared major
disaster do not receive a notice of denial while the applicant has a
pending insurance claim for disaster-related losses, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 10, 2025
Mr. Garcia of California (for himself, Mr. Edwards, and Ms. Chu)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To direct the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency
to ensure that certain applicants for assistance after a declared major
disaster do not receive a notice of denial while the applicant has a
pending insurance claim for disaster-related losses, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Fair Disaster Assistance Act of
2025''.
SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON DENIAL OF ASSISTANCE NOTIFICATION BEFORE
INSURANCE CLAIM DETERMINATION.
The Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency shall
issue such regulations as are necessary to ensure that an applicant for
assistance under section 408 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief
and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5174) that has indicated
ownership of an insurance policy for a home or facility damaged by a
major disaster declared under section 401 of such Act that is owned by
such applicant does not receive a notice that indicates a denial of
assistance before a final determination has been made regarding the
approval or denial of a claim under such policy.
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