DESIGNATION OF SMALL STATE AND RURAL ADVOCATE.

SEC. 689g. DESIGNATION OF SMALL STATE AND RURAL ADVOCATE.(a) In General.—Title III of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (15 U.S.C. 5141 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:“SEC. 326. DESIGNATION OF SMALL STATE AND RURAL ADVOCATE.“(a) In General.—The President shall designate in the Federal Emergency Management Agency a Small State and Rural Advocate.“(b) Responsibilities.—The Small State and Rural Advocate shall be an advocate for the fair treatment of small States and rural communities in the provision of assistance under this Act.“(c) Duties.—The Small State and Rural Advocate shall—“(1) participate in the disaster declaration process under section 401 and the emergency declaration process under section 501, to ensure that the needs of rural communities are being addressed;“(2) assist small population States in the preparation of requests for major disaster or emergency declarations; and“(3) conduct such other activities as the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency considers appropriate.” .(b) Report to Congress.—Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report detailing the extent to which disaster declaration regulations—(1) meet the particular needs of States with populations of less than 1,500,000 individuals; and(2) comply with statutory restrictions on the use of arithmetic formulas and sliding scales based on income or population.(c) Statutory Construction.—Nothing in this section or the amendments made by this section shall be construed to authorize major disaster or emergency assistance that is not authorized as of the date of enactment of this Act.