House passes Denham’s cost-saving reforms in $81B disaster aid package

The Republicans’ $81 billion emergency disaster aid package approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on Dec. 21 includes cost-saving Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reforms authored by U.S. Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CA).

“This is the third disaster recovery bill, now totaling almost $133 billion in resources passed in response to catastrophic wildfires and hurricanes in 2017, and the second influx of funding specific to California recovery totaling over $5 billion in aid,” Denham said last week following the House vote.

Rep. Denham on Nov. 21 originally introduced the Supporting Mitigation Activities and Resiliency Targets for Rebuilding Act, H.R. 4455, also called the SMART Rebuilding Act. Provisions in the bill would incentivize and enable states and communities to increase resiliency both before and after a disaster by raising the federal cost share for communities that adopt mitigation measures.

For instance, the bill would establish a National Public Infrastructure Pre-disaster Mitigation Fund so that states and communities could improve infrastructure, while building-standard implementation and enforcement would be included in FEMA’s Public Assistance post-disaster program.

“Until now, federal resources were spent rebuilding the same structures in the same disaster-prone places,” Denham said.

“My policies will provide resources and incentives for communities to plan for the next event by mitigating future damages to save lives and taxpayer dollars,” the congressman added. “These are disaster prevention reforms that represent a wise investment.”

The SMART Rebuilding Act provisions subsequently were included in the Disaster Recovery Reform Act, H.R. 4460, and then incorporated into the supplemental appropriations bill, H.R. 4667, which proposes $81 billion in additional disaster relief funds. H.R. 4667 was passed by the House last week in a bipartisan vote of 251-169.

Rep. Denham represents the 10th Congressional District of California, a state ravaged this year by wildfires.

Currently, firefighters in Southern California continue to battle the so-called Thomas Fire that started burning on Dec. 4 about 60 miles from downtown Los Angeles. Officials reported earlier this week that the blaze was 86 percent contained as of Dec. 25.

So far, the damage has been widespread with more than 280,000 acres burned, at least 1,000 structures destroyed, and roughly 50,000 people forced to evacuate.

Denham said that mass destruction from such disasters this year has cost American taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars in disaster relief. He cited FEMA statistics that say for every dollar invested in mitigation, taxpayers realize $4 in disaster cost savings.

The congressman has a proven track record with congressional disaster-response legislation.

For example, Denham wrote the Sandy Recovery Improvement Act of 2013 (SRIA), which became law with the 2013 disaster supplemental bill. SRIA addressed inefficiencies in any FEMA programs that slowed and increased recovery costs, among other provisions.

And although SRIA targeted Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts, Denham wrote the bill with an eye on future disasters, such as this year’s hurricanes and wildfires, according to his office.

SRIA has been successful overall, although its $120,000 project limit proved to be too low to cover the costs associated with major disasters, according to Denham’s office, prompting the lawmaker to cosponsor the Disaster SAVE Act, H.R. 1214.

H.R. 1214, which the House passed on March 27, would require FEMA to increase the threshold to $500,000 and to use simplified procedures to issue public assistance for certain projects in need of disaster relief. The bill has been referred to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
Likewise, the House’s newly approved disaster supplemental appropriations package has been referred to the Senate, which may consider it early in 2018.