This bill changes grants historically provided under the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program from competitive grants to noncompetitive formula grants allocated to each eligible state. These grants fund activities that reduce risk from natural hazards. The bill also provides eligibility for projects to receive grant funds from two different mitigation programs.
Under current law, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) may provide BRIC grants to states and Indian tribal governments through a competitive application process. The bill requires FEMA to instead allocate such grants based on a specified formula which distributes funding to each eligible state while giving certain preference proportionally to states with higher populations and states with the most vulnerability of critical infrastructure to natural hazards. States must distribute at least 50% of the grant funds to local governments carrying out mitigation projects. The bill also specifies a minimum for the amount to be provided to tribes.
To be eligible to receive a formula grant under the bill, a state must annually recommend to FEMA specific predisaster mitigation projects. States generally may only use the grants for projects they recommended.
Additionally, under current law, a project is not eligible to receive funds from two different FEMA grant programs for the same purpose. The bill prohibits FEMA from considering a project’s receipt of BRIC (or other predisaster mitigation) grant funding in determining such project’s eligibility to receive funding under the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, and vice versa.
