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A bill introduced by California Congressman Eric Swalwell aims to help communities better prepare for natural disasters, but the name of the bill is highly misleading.
Swalwell named his bill “Preventing Our Next Natural Disaster” a feat that is not only impossible due to the laws of nature, but also because of the laws of physics. Either way, the bill is designed to help certain communities better prepare for natural disasters, help in the immediate response effort, and also the long-term recovery for those areas. (MORE NEWS: SEC To Advocate For Small Business Capital In Rural Areas)
“We need to do more to protect lives and properties in our communities. That’s why I’m proud to introduce the Preventing Our Next Natural Disaster Act,” Swalwell said in a statement shared on his House.gov website. “From coastal floods to catastrophic wildfires, California is among numerous states seeing an increasing number of natural disasters due to climate change. This bill would provide funding to communities that are most vulnerable to natural disasters to help them better prepare for these increasing threats. While we are taking action to prevent climate crises, it’s essential that we take the necessary steps to prepare and limit damages.”
The bill aims to:
- Increase FEMA’s set aside for pre-disaster mitigation assistance from 6% to 15%.
- Provide for a 2% set-aside for capacity-building assistance.
- Require FEMA to prioritize applicants with the highest hazard risk in coordination with FEMA’s National Risk Index, environmental justice communities, and low-income communities.
- Create a new community outreach assistance program to increase the number of successful grant applicants from communities with high-hazard risk, environmental justice communities, and low-income communities.
- Encourage FEMA to incorporate climate change into the National Risk Index, its cost-benefit analysis and ensure that grant funding is used to support projects that are designed to withstand future flooding and wildfires.
- Require FEMA within three years to establish a central federal database, in coordination with HUD, EPA, SBA, and USACE, to consolidate data collected by all local, state, and federal agencies involved in disaster response.
- Require FEMA to collect and post demographic data on the impact of natural disasters and federal recovery efforts to better allocate and track resources and to analyze disaster spending to see what could have been saved by improved pre-disaster mitigation.
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