Terms Used In 42 USC 5174a

  • Emergency: means any occasion or instance for which, in the determination of the President, Federal assistance is needed to supplement State and local efforts and capabilities to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in any part of the United States. See 42 USC 5122
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
  • individual: shall include every infant member of the species homo sapiens who is born alive at any stage of development. See 1 USC 8
  • local government: means &mdash. See 42 USC 5122
  • Major disaster: means any natural catastrophe (including any hurricane, tornado, storm, high water, winddriven water, tidal wave, tsunami, earthquake, volcanic eruption, landslide, mudslide, snowstorm, or drought), or, regardless of cause, any fire, flood, or explosion, in any part of the United States, which in the determination of the President causes damage of sufficient severity and magnitude to warrant major disaster assistance under this chapter to supplement the efforts and available resources of States, local governments, and disaster relief organizations in alleviating the damage, loss, hardship, or suffering caused thereby. See 42 USC 5122
  • State: means any State of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. See 42 USC 5122
  • Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
  • United States: means the fifty States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. See 42 USC 5122

(a) Waiver authority

(1) Definition

In this subsection, the term “covered assistance” means assistance provided—

(A) under section 5174 of this title; and

(B) in relation to a major disaster or emergency declared by the President under section 5170 or 5191, respectively, of this title on or after October 28, 2012.

(2) Authority

Notwithstanding section 3716(e) of title 31, the Administrator—

(A) except as provided in subparagraph (B), shall—

(i) waive a debt owed to the United States related to covered assistance provided to an individual or household if the covered assistance was distributed based on an error by the Agency and such debt shall be construed as a hardship; and

(ii) waive a debt owed to the United States related to covered assistance provided to an individual or household if such assistance is subject to a claim or legal action, including in accordance with section 1 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5160); and


(B) may not waive a debt under subparagraph (A) if the debt involves fraud, the presentation of a false claim, or misrepresentation by the debtor or any party having an interest in the claim.

(3) Monitoring of covered assistance distributed based on error

(A) In general

The Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security shall monitor the distribution of covered assistance to individuals and households to determine the percentage of such assistance distributed based on an error.

(B) Report on waiver authority based on excessive error rate

If the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security determines, with respect to any 12-month period, that the amount of covered assistance distributed based on an error by the Agency exceeds 4 percent of the total amount of covered assistance distributed—

(i) the Inspector General shall notify the Administrator and publish the determination in the Federal Register; and

(ii) with respect to any major disaster or emergency declared by the President under section 5170 or section 5191, respectively, of this title after the date on which the determination is published under subparagraph (A), the Administrator shall report to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate actions that the Administrator will take to reduce the error rate.

(b) Recoupment of certain assistance prohibited

(1) In general

Notwithstanding section 3716(e) of title 31, and unless there is evidence of civil or criminal fraud, the Agency may not take any action to recoup covered assistance from the recipient of such assistance if the receipt of such assistance occurred on a date that is more than 3 years before the date on which the Agency first provides to the recipient written notification of an intent to recoup.

(2) Covered assistance defined

In this subsection, the term “covered assistance” means assistance provided—

(A) under section 5174 of this title; and

(B) in relation to a major disaster or emergency declared by the President under section 5170 or 5191 of this title, respectively, on or after January 1, 2012.

(c) Statute of limitations

(1) Omitted

(2) Applicability

(A) In general

With respect to disaster or emergency assistance provided to a State or local government on or after January 1, 2004—

(i) no administrative action may be taken to recover a payment of such assistance after October 5, 2018, if the action is prohibited under section 5205(a)(1) of this title, as amended by paragraph (1); and

(ii) any administrative action to recover a payment of such assistance that is pending on such date of enactment shall be terminated if the action is prohibited under section 5205(a)(1) of this title, as amended by paragraph (1).

(B) Limitation

This section, including the amendments made by this section, may not be construed to invalidate or otherwise affect any administration action completed before October 5, 2018.

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