HARRISBURG, Ill.–(ENEWSPF)–April 22, 2014. With FEMA’s metric for disaster assistance still biased heavily against states like Illinois, U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) today visited Harrisburg, Ill., the site of the 2012 “Leap Day Tornado,” and laid out the merits of a recently introduced bill to restructure the methodology by which FEMA calculates which disasters merit assistance. Kirk was joined by Harrisburg Mayor Ron Crank, who is supportive of the efforts to reform the FEMA aid calculation system.
In the 2012 disaster, nearly 500 homes were damaged or destroyed, with Illinois claiming over $25 million in damage. Sens. Kirk and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), along with a bipartisan coalition led by U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill. 13) in the House, have introduced the Fairness in Federal Disaster Declarations Act, which will ensure consistency by requiring FEMA to give a specified weight to each of the factors considered when determining which communities are eligible for two types of federal assistance – Individual and Public. It also will require FEMA to take into consideration local economic factors including: the local assessable tax base, the median income as it compares to that of the state, and the poverty rate as it compares to that of the state.
In a severe storm or natural disaster, communities in a state, like Illinois, with a large population – more than 12 million people – must incur a relatively higher level of damage than communities in a state with a smaller population. Because this metric is based on statewide population and overall tax revenues, areas located further away from population centers—namely, in this case, Chicago—are generally discriminated against.
“A disaster is a disaster, regardless of what state it happens in,” Sen. Kirk said. “In many other states, the amount of damage done here in that fateful tornado would have easily qualified for Public Assistance. But because FEMA’s system is antiquated and slanted against populous states, Illinois was unfairly discriminated against.”
FEMA makes recommendations for federal disaster declarations allowing individuals, businesses and local governments to apply for federal grants or loans. Individual Assistance funding provides assistance to individuals and businesses to help with temporary housing, home repairs or replacement and other disaster-related expenses. Public Assistance funding provides assistance to local and state governments for extraordinary costs for response and recovery to the disaster. This can include emergency work, debris removal from public roads and repair and replacement of disaster-damaged public facilities or infrastructure. When FEMA denies public assistance, their metric is supposed to determine whether or not it is beyond the capacity of state and local governments to recover without Federal assistance.
“As Mayor of the City of Harrisburg, I strongly support Senator Kirk’s efforts,” Mayor Crank said. “Having been the victim of a disaster that deeply affected our City, the deadly Leap Year tornado of 2012, we were shocked that, despite the obvious financial aid that was needed by us, we did not qualify under the current FEMA regulations. Senators Kirk and Durbin’s bill is very appropriately labeled ‘Fairness in Federal Disaster Declarations Act of 2014.’ Anything that would help others who find themselves in a similar situation is a good thing.”
Following a disaster, the governor of a state can request three types of assistance:
Individual Assistance – FEMA considers the ability of state and local entities to address damages. This level also considers the estimated value of uninsured losses. The governor applied for Individual Assistance in 2012, but was denied.
Public Assistance – FEMA considers the value of damages as compared to the population of the state overall. This meant that the $5.5 million in public damage—costs to the taxpayer as opposed to a private entity—was an estimated $11.8 million short of the per capita damage value required by FEMA.
Small Business Administration – Allows the Small Business Administration to provide low-interest loans to individuals, business owners, renters, or other entities to assist with disaster relief.
In 2012, the State of Illinois was short of the statewide threshold for Public Federal Disaster Assistance by an estimated $11.8 million; but most of the individual counties hit by the Leap Day Tornado would have met monetary thresholds for assistance.
“These harmful discrepancies in how FEMA determines which states get disaster aid need to be remedied,” Sen. Kirk said. “The Fairness in Federal Disaster Declarations Act will rectify this glaring problem.
Text of the Fairness in Federal Disaster Declarations Act in the Senate can be found here.
Sen. Kirk and Sen. Durbin sent a letter to FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate in January requesting that the playing field be leveled for disaster declarations. The full text of that letter can be found below.
Dear Administrator Fugate:
We urge you to address harmful discrepancies in the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) disaster assistance process. Specifically, we urge you to fix the unfair valuation that takes place when the agency evaluates federal disaster assistance requests in which far too much emphasis is placed on the “per capita” factor. This disfavors geographically large states with a large, populous urban center, such as Illinois.
We were disappointed that FEMA did not approve Governor Pat Quinn’s request for Public Assistance for damage incurred during the November 17 tornadoes. FEMA’s denial stated the devastating damage experienced in areas like the City of Washington and the Village of Gifford were, “Not of such severity and magnitude as to warrant the implementation of the public assistance program.” It is our understanding that this decision was based on the fact that the damage to public entities in the affected areas did not meet FEMA’s designated per capita figure for the state. If identical damage was experienced in a neighboring state with a smaller population, the request for public assistance may have been granted. The process is fundamentally unfair to Washington and Gifford and other small towns faced with rebuilding infrastructure damaged by severe weather.
Pursuant to the Sandy Recovery Improvement Act of 2013, FEMA is currently reevaluating the disaster assistance process. Rather than focusing primarily on the per capita, we urge you to put greater emphasis on other factors relating to a disaster when determining whether federal assistance is warranted. Greater emphasis should be placed on factors such as the local assessable tax base, the median income as it compares to that of the state, and the poverty rate as it compares to that of the state. When a disaster destroys a town, it affects the Americans who live there the same, regardless of the state in which they reside. FEMA’s analysis should not favor some states over others.
We introduced legislation in the last session of Congress following the denial of individual and public assistance in the wake of deadly tornadoes in Harrisburg and Ridgway, Illinois. That bill would direct FEMA to create a level playing field for all states in times of disaster. We urge you to ensure some states do not get preferential treatment in the federal disaster assistance analysis.
We look forward to your reply to this concern.
Sincerely,
U.S. Senator Dick Durbin
U.S. Senator Mark Kirk
Source: kirk.senate.gov
