Disaster Assistance Simplification Act

The Disaster Assistance Simplification Act would amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to create a unified, Federal intake process and system for disaster assistance. Its purpose is to streamline how applicants—individuals, businesses, and organizations—apply for aid across FEMA and other Federal disaster programs, speed up life-saving assistance, improve recovery, and protect survivor privacy and data security. The measure establishes a 360-day deadline to set up a consolidated application system, which would let applicants apply once for multiple types of assistance, receive status updates, update information during recovery, and receive information about additional resources. It also envisions broader data sharing among disaster agencies to speed aid, while imposing security, privacy, and accountability requirements. The bill sets up governance and safeguards around data collection and sharing, including public notices describing what data can be collected and used, privacy assessments, and rules of behavior for agency personnel. It authorizes certification of participating Federal agencies, establishment of training and breach-notification duties, and annual reporting to Congress (with a GAO review after three years). It also includes waivers of certain paperwork requirements during major disasters, and clarifies that sharing information is not a “matching program” under privacy law. Overall, it aims to create a single, more efficient intake and data-sharing framework for disaster assistance while preserving privacy and security.