Swalwell Introduces Bill to Help Communities Better Prepare for Natural Disasters

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, Congressman Eric Swalwell (CA-14) introduced a bill to help communities better prepare for, respond to, and recover from natural disasters.

The bill's release comes on the heels of several recent wildfires across Southern California. The fires have damaged more than 12,000 structures and left at least 24 people dead. According to the World Meteorological Organization, climate change added 41 days of dangerous heat in 2024, harming human health and ecosystems.

The Preventing Our Next Natural Disaster Act would make several changes to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)'s pre-disaster mitigation grant program by increasing funding and improving data collection to better track and manage resources before and after natural disasters. 

“We need to do more to protect lives and properties in our communities. That’s why I’m proud to introduce the Preventing Our Next Natural Disaster Act,” said Congressman Eric Swalwell. “From coastal floods to catastrophic wildfires, California is among numerous states seeing an increasing number of natural disasters due to climate change.  This bill would provide funding to communities that are most vulnerable to natural disasters to help them better prepare for these increasing threats. While we are taking action to prevent climate crises, it's essential that we take the necessary steps to prepare and limit damages.”

The bill is endorsed by the Union of Concerned Scientists and Habitat for Humanity.

The Preventing Our Next Natural Disaster Act would:

1. Increase FEMA's set aside for pre-disaster mitigation assistance from 6% to 15%.
2. Provide for a 2% set-aside for capacity-building assistance.
3. Require FEMA to prioritize applicants with the highest hazard risk in coordination with FEMA's National Risk Index, environmental justice communities, and low-income communities.
4. Create a new community outreach assistance program to increase the number of successful grant applicants from communities with high-hazard risk, environmental justice communities, and low-income communities.
5. Encourage FEMA to incorporate climate change into the National Risk Index, its cost-benefit analysis and ensure that grant funding is used to support projects that are designed to withstand future flooding and wildfires.
6. Require FEMA within three years to establish a central federal database, in coordination with HUD, EPA, SBA, and USACE, to consolidate data collected by all local, state, and federal agencies involved in disaster response.
7. Require FEMA to collect and post demographic data on the impact of natural disasters and federal recovery efforts to better allocate and track resources and to analyze disaster spending to see what could have been saved by improved pre-disaster mitigation.

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