On Monday of this week, the House approved unanimously another measure (HR 219) related to disaster assistance, entitled the Sandy Recovery Improvement Act. The bill, introduced by Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CA), is intended to expedite and streamline federal disaster recovery programs. The measure includes provisions to streamline environmental review procedures, provide greater flexibility to local governments by issuing fixed-price grants instead of traditional reimbursements, reforms debris removal operations to cut costs, allows FEMA to provide less expensive housing options than traditional FEMA trailers when possible and establishes a dispute resolution pilot program to avoid cost overruns. The bill will now go to the Senate for consideration.

Link: HR 219