The U.S. House Considering Huge FEMA Changes

The U.S. House of Representatives is looking at a bill to move the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) out of the Department of Homeland Security and make it an independent, cabinet-level agency.

The idea has bipartisan support from 87 co-sponsors and was approved by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee last September. It has been sitting idle ever since.

The changes also put a universal disaster aid application for survivors in place and increases the length of the housing and direct assistance support. The FEMA Act — if passed — will also do away with the current reimbursement model and will give upfront grants to states, local governments and tribal governments.

Even better, a new system improves disaster mitigation grant programs and speeds up infrastructure repairs.

At the current time, the Senate does not have a companion bill.

The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC) supports the idea and is encouraging the House to move the Fixing Emergency Management for Americans, or FEMA, Act.

Brian Waller, the vice president of external relations to Shelter Insurance, testified on behalf of NAMIC before the House committee last week. He said FEMA needs to do more than just respond to catastrophes.

"Emergency management is at its best when all stakeholders are laser-focused on helping affected communities by bending the risk curve before and after storms," he said. "The insurance industry has a long history of working to advance solutions that reduce risk to Americans' housing and infrastructure and promoting pre-disaster mitigation investment to harden homes and communities against increasingly severe weather.”

Waller noted serious problems with the current system. FEMA currently has over 600 disaster declarations that are still open. Some go back as far as 2020. There is close to $10 billion in unpaid and unfinished disaster reimbursement requests and grant programs.

That means thousands of people and governments are sitting in limbo.

"No American should be left in limbo for weeks, months or even years over inconsistent paperwork requirements," he said.

NAMIC’s senior vice president of federal and political affairs, Jimi Grande hopes the hearing will push the House — and later the Senate — to act.

"The longer Congress waits, the more Americans are put at risk," he said in a statement. "There haven't been many opportunities to pass significant bipartisan legislation, and Congress needs to take this one."

Source link: PropertyCasualty360.com — https://bit.ly/4ftJ3tK