42 U.S.C. § 5174a — Flexibility

(a) Waiver authority.

(1) “Covered assistance” means assistance under 42 U.S.C. § 5174 connected with a major disaster or emergency declared under section 5170 or 5191 on or after October 28, 2012. This section does not otherwise define “covered assistance.”

(2) Authority. Despite 31 U.S.C. § 3716(e), the Administrator^*:

(A) must waive a covered-assistance debt owed to the United States by an individual or household when the Agency distributed the assistance because of its own error; that debt is treated as a hardship. The Administrator must also waive such a debt when the assistance is subject to a claim or legal action, including one under 42 U.S.C. § 5160; and

(B) may not waive a debt involving fraud, a false claim, or a misrepresentation by the debtor or anyone with an interest in the claim.

(3) Monitoring.

(A) The Homeland Security Department’s Inspector General must monitor covered assistance to determine what percentage was distributed because of an Agency error.

(B) If, during any 12-month period, error-based assistance exceeds 4 percent of all covered assistance, the Inspector General must notify the Administrator and publish that finding in the Federal Register. For a later disaster or emergency under section 5170 or 5191, the Administrator must report to the listed House and Senate committees what actions will reduce the error rate.

(b) Certain recoupment prohibited.

(1) Unless there is evidence of civil or criminal fraud, the Agency may not recoup covered assistance from a recipient if the recipient received it more than three years before the Agency first gave written notice of its intent to recoup. This rule applies despite 31 U.S.C. § 3716(e).

(2) Here, “covered assistance” means assistance under section 5174 connected with a disaster or emergency declared under section 5170 or 5191 on or after January 1, 2012. This section does not otherwise define “covered assistance.”

(c) Statute of limitations.

(1) Omitted. This paragraph is omitted.

(2) Applicability.

(A) For disaster or emergency assistance provided to a State^* or local government^* on or after January 1, 2004, after October 5, 2018 no administrative action may recover an assistance payment if section 5205(a)(1), as amended by paragraph (1), prohibits the action. Any such action pending on October 5, 2018 must end.

(B) This section and its amendments do not invalidate or otherwise affect an administrative action completed before October 5, 2018.