Hurricane Regulatory Relief Act (H.R. 3975)

Providing Flexibility & Common Sense for Hurricane-Affected Students, Schools, Workers, Families & Communities

UPDATED: November 14, 2005

A key component of the Gulf Coast hurricane relief and recovery effort is flexibility and adaptability.  Entire communities have been uprooted by these unprecedented natural disasters, and bureaucratic red tape must not stand in the way of efforts to rebuild the region.  To provide common sense flexibility and assistance, Rep. Bobby Jindal (R-LA) introduced the Hurricane Regulatory Relief Act (H.R. 3975).  The bill emphasizes much-needed regulatory relief to help the students, schools, workers, families, and communities affected by the hurricanes.

FLEXIBILITY FOR K-12 SCHOOLS

• Prioritizing educational services for displaced students over bureaucratic hurdles: For one year, the bill would ease requirements for elementary and secondary schools, including:

  • Maintenance of effort and supplement not supplant funding requirements.  Easing these requirements would ensure states and schools can serve students effectively with the resources available.  In addition, the bill would allow non-federal match requirements to be waived or modified for affected states.

  • Deadlines for special education evaluations and reporting requirements.  By extending – but not waiving – these deadlines, states and schools would have the flexibility they need to ensure the affected students will have access to the services they need.

FLEXIBILITY FOR TEACHERS

• Expanding opportunities for quality teachers to serve displaced students: For one year, the bill would allow teachers that met the “highly qualified” standard in an affected state to be considered “highly qualified” in other states that are serving large numbers of displaced students where they may temporarily be teaching.

• Easing burdensome paperwork requirements on special education teachers: The bill would expand the new Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Paperwork Reduction Pilot Program to states affected by the hurricanes.

FLEXIBILITY & ASSISTANCE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION STUDENTS & SCHOOLS

• Strengthening financial aid opportunities for affected students:  The bill would:

  • Expand outreach efforts to ensure disadvantaged students and families have access to information about financial aid that may be available as they pursue higher education.

  • Require colleges and universities to adjust financial aid award calculations through the Expected Family Contribution (EFC), taking into account changes in families’ financial circumstances caused by the hurricanes.

• Encouraging college credit mobility: The bill would encourage institutions of higher education to ease the process for displaced students to transfer the academic credits they have earned and continue their studies as the region rebuilds.

INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY

• Allowing charter schools to offer relief: The measure would encourage states to lift restrictions on charter school enrollment and expansion to allow for charter schools’ participation in the recovery effort.

EXPANDING ACCESS TO CHILD CARE & EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

• Expanding access to child care services for displaced families: The bill would ease federal requirements for state administration of the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) to give affected families easier access to child care services.

• Ensuring displaced children have access to Head Start: As proposed in the School Readiness Act (H.R. 2123), the bill would require the Department of Health & Human Services to provide additional guidance, technical assistance, flexibility, and resources to affected areas to ensure children impacted by the hurricanes will have access to the educational and comprehensive services provided through the Head Start program.

RESOURCES FOR COMMUNITIES

• Promoting community-based services: The bill would give affected states additional flexibility within the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) program, which provides an array of services and assistance through Community Action Agencies.

ASSISTANCE FOR DISPLACED WORKERS

• Providing financial flexibility for displaced workers: The bill would cut red tape to ensure displaced workers seeking emergency loans and hardship distributions from their personal retirement plans, such as 401(k)s, may access them more quickly and easily.

• Enhancing safety and reducing bureaucracy in relief projects:  The measure would:

  • Authorize the purchase and distribution of equipment for projects administered by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

  • Allow OSHA to use the services of volunteers for projects related to worker health and safety in response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

  • Waive the matching grant requirements for state OSHA programs in order for those states to offer assistance to hurricane-impacted areas.