It’s the Great FEMA Bill, Charlie Brown (H.R. 1471)

What is H.R. 1471?

(Updated April 4, 2017)

In the name of readying the U.S. for disaster, this bill re-authorizes a number of programs and funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

First, the bill would reauthorize FEMA through fiscal year 2018, maintaining the current funding levels — almost $950 million dollars every year. 

Next, the National Advisory Council would be directed to conduct a study of the costs — in terms of lives, objects and dollars alike — of disasters. The ultimate goal would be to reduce these disaster-related costs. The study — conducted with the help of academics, insurance industry professionals, warning system manufacturers and construction experts — would be expected to offer recommendations for:   examine the way a number of trends related to disasters including:

• How disaster funds are used;
• How these costs can be reduced;
• What should be considered a "disaster";
• How changing demographics and old infrastructure are impacting disasters and the responses to them; 

The National Urban Search and Rescue Response System (USAR) would be reauthorized — a system that is pretty much what it sounds like: a program to rescue people trapped in collapsed structures in urban areas after a disaster. The reauthorization comes with new features, like search and rescue resources for local/regional governments, and allowing non-government personnel to participate in local search and rescue task forces.

Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) grants, which provides money for disaster-struck areas, would also have their funding renewed. 

Argument in favor

FEMA is the end of the line when it comes to natural disasters in the U.S. This bill reauthorizes several of its most important programs that save lives. We need them.

Argument opposed

Yes, keeping FEMA up and running is important. But this is a whole lot of stuff in one bill, and not all of it is equally important. Let’s try breaking it up and figuring it out.

Impact

People living in areas that have been affected by natural disasters, people living in areas that might be affected by natural disasters in the future, FEMA, local governments, local search and rescue teams, and recipients of FEMA grant funding.

Cost of H.R. 1471

A CBO estimate is unavailable.

Additional Info

Of Note:

As one might expect from a big bill that covers an important agency like FEMA, there’s some broad, sweeping stuff mixed in with a whole lot of super-specific minutiae. But one person’s minutiae is another’s world.

Take, for instance, the study ordered at the beginning of the bill. It’s going to involve a whole lot of wonky cost-analysis stuff. But that study is going to be used to determine how disaster relief is portioned out. And that’s going to mean a lot to people who live in Illinois, especially residents of Gifford (pop. 975) and Washington (pop. 15,000), who were denied FEMA aid after a 2014 tornado. 

Though the tornado destroyed about half the homes in Gifford and seriously damaged Washington’s water system, aid is offered for damage relative to a state's population — and Illinois is home to Chicago, boasting a population of almost 3 million. So this kind of thing is going to keep being a problem in Illinois — and, really, in states with that same gigantic urban/rural population divide — until FEMA aid is adjusted for demographics, like this bill orders. 

In Depth:

Sponsoring Rep. Lou Barletta (R-PA) introduced this bill at the same time as H.R. 1472, which calls for a technological update to the U.S.’s disaster warning systems. Both bills have the exact same set of co-sponsors.

Media:

Sponsoring Rep. Lou Barletta (R-PA) Press Release

House Committee on Transportation& Infrastructure Report

Rantoul Press

Dispatch Argus (In Favor)