[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 237 (Tuesday, December 14, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71073-71074]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-27030]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Federal Emergency Management Agency

[Docket ID: FEMA-2021-0029; OMB No. 1660-0072]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request; Mitigation Grant Programs (including Mitigation (MT) 
Grants Management (formerly Mitigation (MT) Electronic Grants (eGrants) 
and FEMA GO) for Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA), Building Resilient 
Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) and Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM)

AGENCY: Federal Emergency Management Agency, Department of Homeland 
Security.

ACTION: 60-Day notice of revision and request for comments.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), as part of its 
continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites 
the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity 
to comment on a revision of a currently approved information 
collection. In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 
this notice seeks comments concerning FEMA's Hazard Mitigation 
Assistance (HMA) grant programs specifically, the legacy Pre-Disaster 
Mitigation Program (PDM), the Building Resilient Infrastructure and 
Communities (BRIC) program, and the Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) 
program. Under FEMA's HMA grant programs, States, local, Tribal, and 
Territorial governments (SLTTs) seek assistance to support disaster 
mitigation and provide opportunities to reduce or eliminate potential 
losses to SLTTs.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before February 14, 
2022.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments at www.regulations.gov under Docket ID FEMA-
2021-0029. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
    All submissions received must include the agency name and Docket 
ID. Regardless of the method used for submitting comments or material, 
all submissions will be posted, without change, to the Federal 
eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov, and will include any 
personal information you provide. Therefore, submitting this 
information makes it public. You may wish to read the Privacy and 
Security Notice that is available via a link on the homepage of 
www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jennie Orenstein, Branch Chief, 
Policy, Tools and Training Branch, Federal Insurance and Mitigation 
Administration, FEMA, at [email protected], and 202-212-
4071. You may contact the Records Management Division for copies of the 
proposed collection of information at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This collection of information is necessary 
to implement grants for the FMA, PDM, and BRIC programs.
    The FMA program is authorized pursuant to sec. 1366, 42 U.S.C. 
4104c of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968, as amended. FMA was 
created as part of the National Flood Insurance Reform Act (NFIRA) of 
1994, Public Law 103-325. The Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act 
of 2012 (BW-12), Public Law 112-141, consolidated the Repetitive Flood 
Claims (RFC) and Severe Repetitive Loss grant (SRL) programs into FMA. 
Under FMA, cost-share requirements were changed to allow more Federal 
funds for properties with repetitive flood claims. The FMA program, 
under 44 CFR part 77 (as of October 1, 2021, previously under 44 CFR 
part 79), provides funding for measures taken to reduce or eliminate 
the long-term risk of flood damage to buildings, manufactured homes, 
and other structures insured under the National Flood Insurance Program 
(NFIP).
    PDM was authorized under sec. 203, 42 U.S.C. 5133, of the Robert T. 
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (Stafford Act), 
Public Law 93-288, as amended by sec. 102 of the Disaster Mitigation 
Act of 2000, Public Law 106-390. As a result of amendments by the 
Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 (DRRA), Public Law 115-254, the 
PDM program was replaced with the BRIC program. Therefore, the PDM is 
established as a legacy program. The PDM program provided grants for 
cost-effective mitigation actions prior to a disaster event to reduce 
overall risks to the population and structures, while also reducing 
reliance on funding from actual disaster declarations. While the last 
cycle of the PDM program awards

[[Page 71074]]

were made in Fiscal Year (FY) 2019, information collection will 
continue in subsequent years for the purposes of grant monitoring and 
closeout.
    On August 4, 2020, FEMA established the BRIC program, implementing 
Section 1234 of the Disaster Recovery Reform Act (DRRA) Public Law 115-
254. BRIC replaced the PDM grant program that was previously authorized 
under Sec. 203 of the Stafford Act, 42 U.S.C. 5133.
    The BRIC program is designed to promote a national culture of 
preparedness and public safety through encouraging investments to 
protect our communities and infrastructure and through strengthening 
national mitigation capabilities to foster resilience. The BRIC program 
seeks to fund effective and innovative projects that will reduce risk, 
increase resilience, and serve as a catalyst to encourage the whole 
community to invest in and adopt policies related to mitigation.
    The guiding principles of the BRIC program include: (1) Support 
State and local governments, Tribes, and territories through 
capability- and capacity-building, to enable them to identify 
mitigation actions and implement projects that reduce risks posed by 
natural hazards; (2) encourage and enable innovation while allowing 
flexibility, consistency, and effectiveness; (3) promote partnerships 
and enable high-impact investments to reduce risk from natural hazards 
with a focus on critical services and facilities, public 
infrastructure, public safety, public health, and communities; (4) 
provide a significant opportunity to reduce future losses and minimize 
impacts on the Disaster Relief Fund; (5) promote equity, including by 
helping members of disadvantaged groups and prioritizing 40 percent of 
the benefits to disadvantaged communities as referenced in Executive 
Order (E.O.) 14008 in line with the Administration's Justice40 
Initiative; and (6) support the adoption and enforcement of building 
codes, standards, and policies that will protect the health, safety, 
and general welfare of the public, taking into account future 
conditions, prominently including the effects of climate change, and 
have long-lasting impacts on community risk reduction, including for 
critical services and facilities and for future disaster costs. The 
BRIC program distributes funds annually and applies a Federal/Non-
Federal cost share.
    In accordance with 2 CFR 200.203, FEMA requires that all parties 
interested in receiving FEMA mitigation grants to submit an application 
package for grant assistance. Applications and subapplications for BRIC 
and FMA are submitted via the appropriate system for the respective 
programs, FEMAGo and eGrants. Information necessary for the ongoing 
monitoring and closeout of the PDM program for FY 2019 and prior are to 
be collected via the e-Grants system. The FEMA GO and eGrants system 
have been developed to meet the intent of the e-Government initiative, 
authorized by Public Law 106-107. This initiative requires that all 
Government agencies both streamline grant application processes and 
provide for the means to electronically create, review and submit a 
grant application via the internet.
    In order to ensure the timely closeout of grants, 2 CFR 200.329 
requires that Non-Federal Entities ``must monitor its activities under 
Federal awards to assure compliance with applicable Federal 
requirements and performance expectations are being achieved.'' 
Therefore, under 2 CFR part 200 (for BRIC and PDM) and 44 CFR 77.3 
(FMA), recipients must complete and submit progress report(s) to the 
FEMA Regional Administrator on a quarterly basis, certifying how the 
funds are being used and reporting on the progress of activities funded 
under the subrecipient awards made to the Recipient by FEMA. The 
Regional Administrator and Recipient negotiate the date for submission 
of the first report. Quarterly Progress Reports describe the status of 
those projects on which a final payment of the Federal share has not 
been made to the Recipient, and outline any problems or circumstances 
expected to result in noncompliance with the approved award conditions.

Collection of Information

    Title: Mitigation Grant Programs (including Mitigation (MT) Grants 
Management (formerly Mitigation (MT) Electronic Grants (eGrants) and 
FEMA GO) for Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA), Building Resilient 
Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) and Pre-Disaster Mitigation 
(PDM)).
    Type of Information Collection: Revision of a currently approved 
collection.
    OMB Number: 1660-0072.
    FEMA Forms: FEMA Form Quarterly Progress Report (QPR) (and its 
instructions) Benefit Cost Determinations, Environmental Reviews, 
Project Narrative-Sub-Grant Applications, National Review Panel 
Solicitation (as part of the BRIC application process) and SF forms (as 
listed in the Supporting Statement).
    Abstract: FEMA's FMA and BRIC programs use an automated grant 
application and management system called FEMA GO. The PDM program uses 
an automated grant application and management system called MT e-
Grants. These grant programs provide funding for the purpose of 
reducing or eliminating the risks to life and property from hazards. 
The FEMA GO and eGrants systems include all the application information 
needed to apply for funding under these grant programs. FEMA and SLTTs 
use the BRIC Panel Review Form to solicit volunteers from SLTTs and 
Other Federal Agencies (OFA), to review applications that are routed to 
the qualitative panel reviews. The volunteers will review, and score 
applications based on a pre-determined scoring criteria. The PDM, FMA, 
and BRIC programs will use the same Quarterly Progress Report (QPR) 
Form.
    Affected Public: State, local, Tribal, or Territorial Governments.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 660.
    Estimated Number of Responses: 6,596.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 104,168.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Cost: $6,175,920.
    Estimated Respondents' Operation and Maintenance Costs: $0.
    Estimated Respondents' Capital and Start-Up Costs: $0.
    Estimated Total Annual Cost to the Federal Government: $7,600,751.

Comments

    Comments may be submitted as indicated in the ADDRESSES caption 
above. Comments are solicited to (a) evaluate whether the proposed data 
collection is necessary for the proper performance of the agency, 
including whether the information shall have practical utility; (b) 
evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used; (c) enhance the quality, utility, and 
clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) minimize the burden 
of the collection of information on those who are to respond, including 
through the use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or 
other technological collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of responses.

Millicent L. Brown,
Acting Records Management Branch Chief, Office of the Chief 
Administrative Officer, Mission Support, Federal Emergency Management 
Agency,Department of Homeland Security.
[FR Doc. 2021-27030 Filed 12-13-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 9111-BW-P


