Disaster Assistance Registration is a program used to provide financial assistance and, if necessary, direct assistance to eligible individuals and households who, as a direct result of a disaster, have uninsured or under-insured, necessary expenses and serious needs and are unable to meet such expenses or needs through other financial means.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) seeks emergency approval for changes to two interrelated existing approved collections of information. In light of recently enacted laws and the arrival of hurricane season, it is vital that these changes be implemented sooner than time limits employed under normal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) review and clearance procedures.
In response to Super Storm Sandy (October 2012), Congress added âchild careâ expenses as a category of disaster assistance to FEMAâs Individuals and Households Program (IHP) through the Sandy Recovery Improvement Act of 2013 (SRIA), Pub. L. No. 113-2. Section 1108 of the SRIA amends section 408(e)(1) of the Stafford Act (42 U.S.C. § 5174(e)(1)), giving FEMA the specific authority to pay for âchild careâ expenses as disaster assistance under the Other Needs Assistance (ONA) provision of IHP in addition to funeral, medical and dental expenses.
Upon a Presidentially declared disaster that grants funding for IHP, FEMA begins collecting information from survivor/registrants in order to determine eligibility for IHP. FEMAâs current registration application script for IHP disaster assistance does not ask questions regarding a survivor/registrantâs need to cover âchild careâ expenses associated with a disaster and FEMAâs Administrative Selection form for States does not yet include a selection option for âchild careâ expenses. Thus, FEMA needs to change its application and State Administrative Selection forms to include a question about whether the survivor/registrant needs financial assistance for child care expenses as a result of a disaster and whether the State wants to administer this funding or not. FEMA also needs to collect necessary paperwork from the survivor/registrant to verify the expenses associated with child care through correspondence with the survivor/registrant.
FEMAâs mission is âto support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.â The lynchpin is the relationship among FEMA, the disaster survivor/registrants, and declared States. If FEMA does not have the ability to ask survivor/registrants whether they need disaster assistance for child care expenses, and whether the State wishes to administer this funding, then FEMA will not be able to properly identify those who would qualify for this new line of ONA assistance and fail to properly carry out the mandates of section 1108 of SRIA.
If OMB were to employ the normal clearance procedures for these changes, they would likely not go into effect until after the current hurricane season has ended, a period where FEMA usually has a high volume of Presidentially declared disasters that necessitate IHP assistance. Thus, it is imperative and crucial for OMB to approve emergency changes to OMB ICRs 1660-0002 and 1660-0061 as prescribed under 44 U.S.C. § 3507(j)(1) and (2). Thank you for your consideration.
US Code:
42 USC 5174
Name of Law: Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000
US Code:
8 USC 1601
Name of Law: Personnel Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996
PL:
Pub.L. 93 - 288 0000
Name of Law: Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act
The burden has since increased. In response to Super Storm Sandy (October 2012), Congress added "child care" expenses as a category of disaster assistance to FEMA's Individuals and Households Program (IHP) through the Sandy Recovery Improvement Act of 2013 (SRIA), Pub. L. No. 113-2. Section 1108 of the SRIA amends section 408(e)(1) of the Stafford Act (42 U.S.C. § 5174(e)(1)), giving FEMA the specific authority to pay for "child care" expenses as disaster assistance under the Other Needs Assistance (ONA) provision of IHP in addition to funeral, medical and dental expenses. Thus, FEMA needs to change its series of 009-0 set of registration forms to include a question about whether the respondent needs financial assistance for child care expenses as a result of a disaster and whether the State wants to administer this funding or not. FEMA also needs to collect necessary paperwork from the survivor/registrant through a "Request for Information" letter (new) to verify the expenses associated with child care through correspondence with the respondent. This poses some additional time burden to respondents.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
Disaster Assistance Registration