TAMPA, Fla. - The FEMA Review Council, which was appointed by President Trump and includes Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, is urging Congress to adopt ten reforms in hopes of speeding aid to those in need and revitalizing a troubled agency.
FEMA reform recommendations
What we know:
The council unanimously adopted a 75-page report and an executive summary with ten recommendations that include shifting the burden of storm recovery to state and local governments.
"The feedback received underscores widespread support for FEMA reform aimed at addressing inefficiencies, reducing bureaucratic barriers, and enhancing support for disaster survivors and local governments," the report says.
They're pushing for national standards that all state and local governments can meet when responding to a disaster.
If damage exceeds those standards, the federal government would then provide aid based on formulas that take into account wind speed and water level, which would avoid the need for lengthy evaluation processes.
"Ahead of time, there will be an assessment of particular, say, the Tampa Bay area, how many residents live here, how many businesses, structures, what's the density, and when something occurs, the federal government will know immediately the severity of that disaster and be able to provide funding for housing transportation, those types of issues immediately," explained Tampa Mayor Jane Castor.
FEMA officials arrive at a home to assess disaster damage and debris.
Flood insurance and housing
Dig deeper:
They also want to see housing programs consolidated into direct payments for those whose homes are uninhabitable, as opposed to those that experience minor damage.
Personal and national preparedness
Why you should care:
"With taxpayers bearing the burden of funding emergency management in the United States, it is the responsibility of every American to embrace their individual responsibility to lessen this burden by being prepared for disasters," the report says. "Prudent preparation through planning, mitigation, insurance, capabilities, and seeking a fundamental understanding of their role in a disaster is vital to contributing to national preparedness.
The council is also recommending that the national flood insurance program be reformed by utilizing the private market.
They call for revising flood maps and closely tying premiums to the amount of risk one faces.
Major structural damage and sand debris following a severe hurricane.
Concerns over cost shifts
The other side:
"After a year-and-a-half of waiting to see this report, our concerns remain similar to what they have always been," said Madison Sloan of Organizing Resilience. "That there is a major shift of responsibility and costs to state, local, tribal and territorial governments with no guarantee that there will be sufficient federal funding to meet those costs or that states will be able to raise that money themselves."
Organizing Resilience supports a bill that would make FEMA its own cabinet-level agency, and require spending on mitigation efforts to make homes and infrastructure more resilient in case a storm does hit.
Legislative next steps
What's next:
The FEMA council says their reforms will help local communities take control of what they want to fix, a model that Tampa Mayor Jane Castor says has already been successful in Florida.
The recommendations will be sent to the president, but most of them would need to be passed by Congress in order to take effect.
Click here to read the report overview.
Click here to read the entire report.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from a FEMA Review Council report and executive summary, as well as statements from Tampa Mayor Jane Castor and Madison Sloan of Organizing Resilience.