Reed sponsors bill to provide business tax-credit for building disaster-resilient properties

Legislation sponsored by U.S. Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY) would provide a tax credit for owning certain disaster-resilient property.

The Disaster Savings and Resilient Construction Act of 2018, H.R. 6841, which Rep. Reed sponsored on Sept. 17, would allow a business-related tax credit for a specified portion of the cost of commercial and residential buildings that comply with resilient construction requirements in a federally declared major disaster area.

“From the flooding across our communities, to the hurricane in the Carolinas and the wildfires in California we care about those who have been impacted by the devastating effects of natural disasters,” said Rep. Reed on Sept. 27. “We want to ensure our friends and neighbors are incentivized to rebuild with materials which have a chance of withstanding the next disaster.”

H.R. 6841 would provide the tax credit to homeowners or building owners who use resilient construction techniques when building and renovating homes and commercial structures in federally declared disaster areas, according to a statement released by the congressman’s office.

Resilient construction requirements, as defined in H.R. 6841, would be those mandating that buildings be designed and constructed to resist hazards from a major disaster; continue to provide their primary functions after a major disaster; reduce the magnitude or duration of a disruptive event; and have the absorptive and adaptive capacities to withstand a potentially disruptive event, according to the congressional record summary of the bill.

Rep. Reed introduced H.R. 6841 to help save money, reduce destruction and prevent the loss of lives in disaster-prone areas, such as those recently impacted by flooding in the Finger Lakes and Southern Tier, according to his office’s statement.

Currently, American taxpayers’ dollars help rebuild areas hit by natural disasters and according to Reed’s statement, research has shown that investments in resilient construction during a rebuild would reduce the need for such emergency funding in the future.

Rep. Tom Reed on Sept. 12 said he requested in a letter to President Donald Trump that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provide disaster recovery assistance to Chemung, Seneca, Steuben and Tioga counties in his home state following damaging floods this summer.

“We care about the people whose lives were turned upside down this August,” Rep. Reed said last month. “We asked the president to help with flooding recovery because we want to ensure the families who need help have fair access to the assistance they deserve.

“We will continue to keep close contact with our local public officials and the White House to ensure everything which can be done to help people is being done,” the lawmakers said.

H.R. 6841 has been referred for consideration to the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee.