The Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018
On October 5, 2018, the president signed the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 (DRRA) (Pub. L 115–254) following the most expensive disaster year in United States’ history, with more than $306B in reported damages primarily from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, as well as devastating wildfires in Northern California. The scope of the 2017 disasters exposed weaknesses in FEMA’s organizational capacity to handle multiple simultaneous, large-scale events.
DRRA’s reforms were intended to a) reinforce the notion that disasters are locally executed, state managed, and federally supported, b) reduce the complexity of FEMA’s recovery programs, and c) increase FEMA’s accountability and transparency.
One element that differentiates DRRA from previous amendments to the Stafford Act was the act’s construction itself. DRRA contains 46 discrete sections (1201 - 1246), in which Congress assigned responsibility to FEMA and other federal agencies to implement reforms in their respective sections and imposed implementation deadlines.
DRRA provided FEMA with new authorities and required FEMA and other federal agencies to develop new programs, policies and procedures, and to report the status of their progress to Congress.
The most significant reform within DRRA was the authorization of a new source for pre-disaster mitigation funding, with the creation of the National Public Infrastructure Pre-Disaster Mitigation Fund. This set aside (6% of Public Assistance and Individual Assistance grants), ultimately became the funding source for FEMA’s new Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program in 2020, which dramatically increased federal funding for mitigation projects nationwide.
Source: FEMA Hazard Mitigation: A First Step Toward Climate Adaptation (CRS R46989)
Among its other provisions, DRRA:
Eliminated the 10% cost-share reduction for “Alternate Projects” in FEMA’s Public Assistance Program
Removed the mandatory use of Sec. 428 Alternative Procedures for Public Assistance Program grants
Established that Fixed-Cost Estimates certified by a professionally licensed engineer will be "presumed to be reasonable and eligible costs" by FEMA, except in the case of fraud
Categorized all administrative costs into “Management Costs” and established fixed percentage rates for HMGP (15%) and PA (12%)
Prohibited FEMA from initiating any action to recoup funds more than 3 years after work has been completed (this guideline can be voided by certain technicalities)
Established the right of arbitration using the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals to any applicant disputing a FEMA decision regarding eligibility, where the amount is greater than $500,000, or more than $100,000 for applicants in rural areas
Authorized FEMA to pay additional costs to repair facilities, providing the repairs were conducted in accordance with “the latest published editions or relevant consensus-based codes, specifications, and standards”
Directed the FEMA Administrator to develop incentives and/or penalties to motivate state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) governments to close out PA projects on a timely basis.
DRRA (a component of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018) represented the most comprehensive reform of FEMA’s Recovery programs since SRIA (in 2013) and PKEMRA (in 2006).
For the complete text of DRRA and all of its Sections see Congress’ website and FEMA.gov. For more information regarding the progress of implementing DRRA, see: CRS, The Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 (DRRA): A Summary of Selected Statutory Provisions and CRS report R46774.