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For far too long, FEMA has been involved in routine natural disasters, whose cost should properly be born by the states, not the federal government. FEMA’s decision to have states cover a certain amount of disaster’s cost before federal funds could be employed is a laudable step in the right direction.
For many years, mine was the lone voice calling for reform. It looks like someone at FEMA heard me.
No one has been a bigger critic of the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) than I over the last decade. The thrust of my criticism has focused on the nationalization of disasters starting in 1993 that resulted in FEMA being involved in routine natural disasters which it historically didn’t touch. This great chart says it all. In order to get FEMA back out of the business of routine natural disasters, I proposed eliminating certain types of disasters from being eligible for FEMA declarations, increasing the damage threshold required to trigger a FEMA declaration, and reducing the federal cost-share from 75% to no more than 25% of a disaster’s costs. For many years, mine was the lone voice calling for reform.
It looks like someone at FEMA heard me. FEMA recently announced a proposal in which states would have to cover a certain amount of a disaster’s cost before federal funds would kick in to help. FEMA also proposes giving states credits towards their share if states took actions to mitigate the damages of disasters such as changing building codes to make buildings more resilient to hurricanes or earthquakes. While not perfect, the proposal is a solid step towards the three reforms noted above, for which FEMA should be applauded.
This positive move comes at a time in which FEMA has ramped down the number of declarations it has been issuing. As I previously wrote:
In the two and a half months since I wrote that piece, the Obama administration, as expected, has issued more declarations and now stands at 309 declarations during his second term. None of the new declarations involved hurricanes or earthquakes.
At the end of the day, FEMA has spent $178 billion on major disaster declarations since 1989. FEMA’s proposal would help ensure that the costs of those disasters is borne more properly by the people in the states where disasters take place and not subsidized by taxpayers in other states through federal taxes.
FEMA’s proposal would help ensure that the costs of routine natural disasters are borne more properly by the people in the states where disasters take place and not subsidized by taxpayers in other states through federal taxes.
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