Sec. 2. Findings and sense of Congress
884 words·~4 min read·
/bill/119/hr/7029/ih/section-2A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
Congress makes the following findings: In the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are more than 70,000,000 adults who are individuals with disabilities and, according to the Bureau of the Census, there are more than 54,000,000 adults age 65 or older. There have been nearly 400 emergencies declared under section 501 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act ( 42 U.S.C. 5191 ) related to hurricanes and tropical cyclones during the period beginning January 2000 and ending December 2024.
These declared emergencies have directly resulted in at least 1,442 deaths in the United States. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates that— the cumulative damage from weather- and climate-related disasters in 2022 cost the United States over $182,700,000,000; and 27 of the disasters in 2024 cost over $1,000,000,000 each. Individuals with disabilities and older adults have been found to die at higher rates, compared to the general population, during disasters.
According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, in 2024, the United States experienced a total of 108 major disaster and emergency declarations under sections 401 and 501, respectively, of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act ( 42 U.S.C. 5170 , 5191), which resulted in more than 4,000,000 individuals applying for assistance through the Agency. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, in 2022, the United States experienced 90 major disasters declared under section 401 of the Robert T.
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act ( 42 U.S.C. 5170 ) affecting more than 54,000,000 people, and more than 16,000,000 of those people were adults with disabilities. Failure to provide accessibility for, or plan for accommodating, individuals with physical or sensory disabilities, chronic illness, or mental disabilities decreases the ability of those individuals to evacuate prior to or during a disaster. Households of individuals with disabilities are more likely to need assistance and are less likely to be able to evacuate in advance of disasters.
Less than a third of individuals with intellectual disabilities and individuals needing personal care attendants have planned with their personal care providers what to do in a disaster. Evacuation information, including orders, is not uniformly communicated in ways and via media that are accessible to individuals with disabilities, including being communicated in ways that lack use of American Sign Language, captions, and plain language on websites, instructional materials, and television and radio announcements.
Displaced individuals with disabilities served in general population shelters have better access to information and material resources than individuals with disabilities in specially designed shelters. Despite the better access to information and resources provided at general population shelters, personnel in general population shelters often do not have the resources or training to address the needs of individuals with disabilities and older adults. Public shelters often do not have disability-related accommodations, often forcing individuals with disabilities and older adults to be segregated, sometimes apart from their families and natural supports during disasters.
Households with individuals with disabilities sustain more costly property damage from disasters than households without individuals with disabilities. Historically, disaster-related recommendations for individuals with disabilities and older adults have been typically aimed at caregivers and service providers, not individuals with disabilities and older adults themselves. Thousands of individuals with disabilities have been denied their civil rights because they do not receive accessible notice during disasters— of spoken instructions via phone or video; or of instructions regarding evacuations, sheltering, and other procedures during disasters.
Disaster shelters and services do not routinely have American Sign Language interpreters nor procedures written or presented in plain language. Individuals with disabilities and older adults are more at risk for loss of life, loss of independence, or violation of civil rights than the general population during times of disasters, response, and recovery. It is the sense of Congress that— individuals with disabilities and older adults should be supported during times of disasters, and during disaster preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation, in order to— ensure maintenance of and access to services and supports; and enable those individuals and adults to return to their communities in a timely manner as compared with the general population; during the recovery and mitigation phases of disaster response, all buildings and services should be designed, and constructed or reconstructed, according to principles of universal design and to the standards established by the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board in order to ensure access for individuals with disabilities, older adults, and all individuals; individuals with disabilities and older adults should have access to shelters and other services during disasters in the same locations and settings as the general population; individuals with disabilities and older adults should receive information about preparation for, response to, recovery from, and mitigation of disasters in formats accessible to them, including in American Sign Language, Braille, and plain language, as well as captioned video messages; individuals with disabilities and older adults must be included as key speakers, essential stakeholders, and decisionmakers in the preparation (including planning), response, recovery, and mitigation phases of disasters; local, State (including territorial), Tribal, and Federal disaster planning must include robust representation of individuals with disabilities and older adults; and individuals with disabilities and older adults must be included in the evaluation of governmental, VOAD, and other nongovernmental preparation (including planning), response, recovery, and mitigation of disasters.
Connectionstraces to 2
Traces to 2 documents
Citation graph
cites case law
Cites 2Cited by 0 across 0 sources