29C.20A  Disaster aid individual assistance grant fund.
  1.  A disaster aid individual assistance grant fund is created in the state treasury for the use of the executive council. Moneys in the fund may be expended following the governor’s proclamation of a state of disaster emergency. The executive council may make financial grants to meet disaster-related expenses or serious needs of individuals or families adversely affected by a disaster which cannot otherwise be met by other means of financial assistance. The aggregate total of grants awarded shall not be more than one million dollars during a fiscal year. However, within the same fiscal year, additional funds may be specifically authorized by the executive council to meet additional needs.
  2.  The grant funds shall be administered by the department. The department shall adopt rules to create the Iowa disaster aid individual assistance grant program. The rules shall specify the eligibility of applicants and eligible items for grant funding. The executive council shall use grant funds to reimburse the department for its actual expenses associated with the administration of the grants. The department may implement an ongoing contract with a provider or providers of a statewide program with local offices throughout the state to serve as the local administrative entity for the grant program so that the program can be implemented with minimal delay when a disaster occurs in a local area. The rules adopted by the department for the program shall include but are not limited to all of the following:
  a.  If a local administrative entity is under contract with the state to provide other services or is implementing a state or federal program and the contract contains a sufficient surety bond or other adequate financial responsibility provision, the department shall accept the existing surety bond or financial responsibility provision in lieu of applying a new or additional surety bond or financial responsibility requirement.
  b.  If the president of the United States has declared a major disaster to exist in this state and federal aid is made available to provide assistance grants to individuals similar to that provided by the Iowa disaster aid individual assistance grant program, the Iowa program shall be discontinued.
  c.  Authorization for the local administrative entity to draw grant funding to pay valid claims on at least a weekly basis.
  3.  To be eligible for a grant, an applicant shall have an annual household income that is less than two hundred percent of the federal poverty level based on the number of people in the applicant’s household as defined by the most recently revised poverty income guidelines published by the United States department of health and human services. The amount of a grant for a household shall not exceed five thousand dollars. Expenses eligible for grant funding shall be limited to personal property, home repair, food assistance, and temporary housing assistance. An applicant for a grant shall sign an affidavit committing to refund any part of the grant that is duplicated by any other assistance, such as but not limited to insurance or assistance from community development groups, charities, the small business administration, and the federal emergency management agency.
  4.  A recipient of grant funding shall receive reimbursement for expenses upon presenting a receipt for an eligible expense or shall receive a voucher through a voucher system developed by the department and administered locally within the designated disaster area. A voucher system shall ensure sufficient data collection to discourage and prevent fraud. The department shall consult with long-term disaster recovery committees and disaster recovery case management committees in developing a voucher system.
  5.  The department shall submit an annual report, by January 1 of each year, to the legislative fiscal committee and the general assembly’s standing committees on government oversight concerning the activities of the grant program in the previous fiscal year.
2007 Acts, ch 145, §1; 2008 Acts, ch 1078, §1; 2009 Acts, ch 86, §3; 2010 Acts, ch 1150, §1; 2011 Acts, ch 69, §10; 2012 Acts, ch 1078, §1; 2012 Acts, ch 1138, §14, 42, 45; 2023 Acts, ch 19, §2164
Referred to in §7D.29
Subsections 2, 4, and 5 amended