U.S. coalition calls for reforms to natural disaster policies to refocus on mitigation

A coalition of insurers, taxpayer advocates, environment groups and mitigation and housing organizations in the United States is calling for major reforms of the federal government’s natural disaster policies to refocus on mitigation.

The coalition, SmarterSafer, released a report this week, recommending a series of policy reforms “to address the rising cost of natural disasters and reduce their financial impact.” The report, titled Bracing for the Storm, comes on the heels of a new review of federal disaster policies recently launched by the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

The FEMA Disaster Assistance Reform Act of 2015 was introduced last month, and will, among other items:

• Commission an assessment of trends in disaster losses — their causes and amounts — and recommendations that will result in the reduction of losses and increased cost savings;

• Provide the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) additional direction and authorization for key programs that help reduce the loss of life and property and speed recovery for those impacted by disaster;

• Reinstate a 3-year statute of limitations on FEMA’s ability to reclaim funds, based on a change in policy determination, after an applicant has spent the funds on previously determined eligible projects and when there is no evidence of fraud, waste or abuse; and

• Clarify mitigation activities related to wildfires and earthquakes.

Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, said in a press release that “it is past time to reform national disaster policies and adopt a mitigation strategy that truly prepares the country for the costly disasters that loom ahead. Budgeting for responsible solutions and using disaster relief wisely to ‘pre-spond’ to inevitable future disasters will reduce taxpayer exposure and sticker shock when tragedy strikes.”

Both the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and SmarterSafer agree that the severity of disasters and their costs are on the rise. “Disasters with a price tag exceeding $1 billion, previously limited to one or two per year, now occur at least five to 10 times per year,” the report charges. [click image below to enlarge]

The SmarterSafer report recommends a number of policy reforms, including:

• Shifting some federal resources to pre-disaster preparation to help communities plan for and mitigate risk;

• Encourage the use of public-private finance options to pay for disaster mitigation;

• Moving the National Flood Insurance Program to risk-based rates over time based on accurate flood maps, providing subsidies only to those who cannot afford their insurance premiums, and encouraging mitigation by expanding the Community Rating System;

• Establishing a central, high-level federal office to better coordinate emergency response and set clear roles for federal, state and local governments and communities; and

• Protecting federal infrastructure with the development and enforcement of smarter and safer mitigation standards, including adoption of recently updated federal flood risk management standards.