Preventing Our Next Natural Disaster Act

Preventing Our Next Natural Disaster Act

This bill modifies the pre-disaster mitigation grant program of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Specifically, the bill

• increases FEMA's set-aside for pre-disaster mitigation assistance from 6% to 15% of certain grant amounts;
• provides for a 2% set-aside for community planning and capacity building assistance; and
• authorizes FEMA to develop guidance regarding how to incorporate climate change into the National Risk Index, cost-benefit analyses, and improved codes, specifications, and standards to address natural hazards.

FEMA must

• prioritize applicants for assistance with the highest hazard risk in coordination with FEMA's National Risk Index, environmental justice communities, and low-income communities (current law covers the latter though this bill modifies the number of individuals in such communities);
• provide community outreach; and
• 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.