U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-FL) and U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) recently offered a bipartisan, bicameral bill to provide a tax credit for disaster mitigation expenditures.
Rep. Salazar on June 22 sponsored the Shelter Act, H.R. 4305, with four original cosponsors, including U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen (D-CO), while Sen. Cassidy on the same day cosponsored the same-named S. 2106 in his chamber alongside bill sponsor U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO).
If enacted, the bill aims to encourage families and small businesses to invest in disaster mitigation improvements to proactively protect their homes and properties, according to the bill summary provided by the lawmakers.
“Hurricane season is here,” said Rep. Salazar. “While disaster relief is critical after storms, we must be proactive in mitigating damage in advance. The Shelter Act will provide the right incentives for families to protect their homes and loved ones while also providing incentives to safeguard small businesses.”
Specifically, the Shelter Act would allow Americans to write off 25 percent of qualifying mitigation expenses up to $2,500 per taxpayer, the summary says. The credit would start to phase down for households that earn more than $200,000 for joint filers and phase out entirely for households that earn more than $300,000. For businesses, the credit would phase down when a business earns $5 million and then would phase out completely when its revenue is more than $10 million.
“The best way to recover from a storm is to never flood at all,” Sen. Cassidy said. “Our bill assists families and business owners to better prepare for future storms by reducing their property’s risk of flooding.”
Under the proposed measure, eligible properties would include homes, apartments, and mobile home trailers in or adjacent to an area that the federal government has declared a disaster within the past five years; in an area that has received hazard mitigation assistance through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); or in an area that FEMA has designated a “community disaster resilience zone,” states the summary.
Examples of qualifying disaster mitigation expenditures would include improving the durability, impact- or fire-resistance of a roof covering; implementing activities in FEMA’s Wind Retrofit Guide for Residential Buildings; elevating a qualified dwelling unit above the base flood elevation or other applicable minimum elevation requirements; checking valves to prevent flood water from backing up into drains; and installing flood vents or breakaway walls for homes located in flood zones or automatic shutoff valves for water or gas lines, among others.
The National Association of Realtors, the American Institute of Architects, and the National Institute of Building Sciences endorsed the bill.