Disaster Management Costs Modernization Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 7671, legislation authored by Representative Neguse and cosponsored by Representatives D'Esposito, Titus, Ezell, and Stanton.

The bill will incentivize faster recovery for federally declared disasters and lower costs. It also enables State and local emergency managers to build capacity for future disaster preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery.

When managing Federal disaster declarations, States administer FEMA grants that may be worth billions of dollars. FEMA allows States to utilize a percentage of those grants to cover the cost of administrator requirements and grant management.

Current law requires management costs to be strictly tied to each specific disaster declaration. However, most States are managing recovery for multiple disaster declarations simultaneously.

A project inspector working a full day may visit multiple disaster sites in a State. If those sites are associated with more than one disaster, all associated costs must be parceled out to possibly dozens of open grants. This is inefficient, wastes taxpayer dollars, and slows recovery.

This bill encourages efficiency by allowing States to use their management funds across all open disasters. Additionally, H.R. 7671 helps build capacity at FEMA and at the local level by rewarding applicants that complete recoveries from major disaster declarations quickly.

One of the most common concerns we hear from emergency management experts is that FEMA, States, and local governments do not have sufficient personnel or resources to prepare for and respond to disasters. Increasing efficiency and building capacity is one of the most important actions we can take to ensure nationwide disaster readiness and empower State and local emergency managers. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. HOYLE of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, emergency managers need more resources and capacity to effectively respond to increasingly frequent and severe disasters. This bill incentivizes faster disaster recovery, gets communities back on their feet, and creates more capacity in Federal and local emergency management offices.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source