The Ferguson Group Blog

FEMA is Seeking Comments on a Local Disaster Recovery Framework

The National Disaster Recovery Framework provides guidance to recovery managers and government agencies in coordinating recovery efforts from national disasters, i.e. those that receive a presidential declaration under the Stafford Act. Coordination of federal programs is especially important in disaster recovery efforts, and the framework ensures that resources provided by federal agencies are able to meet the specific needs of communities impacted by national disasters.

However, most incidents do not receive presidential declarations, and are managed by state, tribal, territorial, or local governments. For these incidents, coordination can be difficult because state and local recovery managers must combine resources from federal agencies with other disparate sources that may not align neatly with their community’s needs. Yesterday, FEMA issued a draft guidance document, Effective Coordination of Recovery Resources for State, Tribal, Territorial, and Local Incidents, that applies the practices and principles outlined in the National Disaster Recovery Framework to incidents that do not receive a national disaster designation. The guidance is intended to help state, tribal, territorial, and local recovery managers identify recovery needs and priorities, reallocate existing resources, identify and synthesize available federal programs and other assistance, and engage traditional and non-traditional partners.

FEMA is seeking comments from stakeholders on the draft guidance through October 22^nd. If you would like to provide feedback, comments can be sent to [email protected] using the comment matrix that FEMA has provided.  

FEMA Expands Funding Eligibility for Flood Risk Reduction Projects

Following a review of relevant legislation, regulations and policy, FEMA has revised the Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) Program’s guidance concerning the types of physical flood risk reduction projects it will consider funding. FEMA’s HMA Programs include Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP), the Pre-Disaster Mitigation Program (PDM) and the Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) program. The programs aim to support mitigation against flooding and other natural disasters.

Prior to review, the 2013 HMA Unified Guidance stated that only “minor localized flood reduction projects” were eligible for funding. This definition did not include “major flood control projects” related to the construction, demolition, or repair of dams, dikes, levees, floodwalls, seawalls, groins, jetties, breakwaters and erosion projects related to beach nourishment or re-nourishment.

 

Publishing new policy on June 18, 2014, “Eligibility of Flood Risk Reduction Measures under the Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) Programs,” FEMA has revised the guidance allowing for the construction, demolition, or mitigation of dams, dikes, levees, floodwalls, seawalls, groins, jetties, breakwaters and erosion projects related to beach nourishment or re-nourishment under the HMGP and PDM programs. 

How does the expansion of eligible projects under HMA impact your local flood mitigation efforts?

Wednesday News Roundup

Every Wednesday, The Ferguson Group (TFG) blog posts a series of articles published over the previous week that discusses topics of interest to local governments. Learn about emerging trends and keep up on key policy issues by browsing the TFG Wednesday News Roundup!

 

White House Delays Health Insurance Mandate For Medium-sized Employers Until 2016

 

Under new rules released Monday by the U.S. Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service, employers with 50 to 99 employees will be given until 2016 before they are responsible for paying a employer shared responsibility penalty if they don’t offer their full-time workers health insurance. The mandate gives mid-sized employers an extra year to comply with the regulations. However, employers with 100 or more employees will still be required to begin implementing these new regulations starting in 2015.Read More…

 

What Government Can Learn From Colleges About Transportation Policy

 

A new report, released by the Frontier Group and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, suggests that transportation policies on college campuses could help cities promote public transportation, and bike and car sharing programs in their communities.  The report authors argue that cities and colleges share some of the same incentives for reducing car-related commuting, such as reducing congestion, promoting efficient land use, attracting youth to the area, and reducing environmental impacts. Read More…   

 

Philly Teaches Officials With New Innovation Academy

 

Philadelphia is taking municipal innovation to the classroom by enrolling 19 of the city’s officials in a new eight-week program that aspires to institutionalize some of the processes and ideas driving government innovation. The Municipal Innovation Academy was designed in partnership with Philadelphia University, which is currently piloting its own undergraduate innovation program. The Municipal Innovation Academy will have lessons ranging from the basics of innovative thinking, to more advanced principles such as design thinking, the use of analytics, systems thinking, and problem solving strategy.Read More…

 

FEMA: Caught Between Climate Change and Congress

 

As we have seen in the past few years, FEMA has had to deal with its fair share of extreme weather disasters, and the agency has had a hard time keeping up. Some experts say that the agency is failing to properly account for climate change when planning its yearly budget and resource allocations, which is one of several critical reasons FEMA is struggling to function. Another impediment to FEMA's functionality is an annual budget that has roughly stayed the same since the 1980's. The budget can only increase at the hand of Congress, and that prospect looks grim.Read More…

 

Latest Senate Attempt to Revive Jobless Benefits Falters

 

On February 6^th, the Senate failed to move forward on a three-month extension of long-term unemployment benefits (S. 1845), falling one vote short of the 60 votes needed to proceed. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has not said when he will schedule another vote on S. 1845.  Meanwhile, Reid moved S. 1963, a bill restoring earned retirement pay for military retirees. The Senate will likely revisit the legislation upon its return from the week-long President’s Day recess.Read More…

Senate Passes Flood Insurance Delay Bill

After weeks of floor debate and herculean efforts by a handful of determined Senators, on Thursday afternoon, the Senate passed the Homeowners Flood Insurance Affordability Act (S. 1926) by a strong vote of 67-32.  The bill now heads to the House, where the legislation will face a tough journey towards final passage, unarguably more difficult than its Senate run.

The homestretch for S. 1926 began Monday evening when the Senate agreed to end debate, allowing them to proceed on voting up or down on seven amendments. On Wednesday afternoon, however, Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) brought a budget point of order to the floor, saying that the bill violated the Budget Act of 1974 because bill activities added to the deficit.  A motion to waive all applicable budgetary discipline was quickly launched. The motion to waive any violations to the Budget Act of 1974 was agreed to after a couple short hours of debate. Later that evening, the amendments offered by Senators Reed, Whitehouse and Gillibrand were quickly passed by voice vote. On Thursday morning, the Senate shot down the Toomey, Coburn, and Heller amendments. Senator Merkley withdrew his amendment from consideration. After a short lunch recess, Senators reconvened in the chamber at 1:50PM, strongly passing the bill a short time later.  

In general, S. 1926 calls to delay the implementation of certain parts of Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reauthorization Act of 2012 for four years to allow for FEMA to address affordability and mapping issues before rate premium changes are implemented.  Although the “as amended” text version of S. 1926 (S. 1926 including the Reed, Whitehouse, and Gillibrand amendments) will not be available for a couple of days, the bill can be found at Congress.gov here, which will be updated as soon as the amended version is available. 

Is Relief from High Flood Insurance Rates on Its Way?

A month in to the latest round of National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) premium increases, a bipartisan group of House Members and Senators introduced legislation last week to delay certain aspects of last year's Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012. Insurance premium rates increased under the NFIP on October 1st and many homeowners and businesses are finding the higher rates to be unaffordable. One of the most affected groups is new policy owners who are now having to pay flood insurance rates which far exceed historic rates for the property. Many experts believe the rate increases will dramatically impact real estate markets by driving down the worth of homes located in the floodplain. Others fear the impacts to businesses could force many to close their doors.

The bills introduced last week call for a four year delay of many Biggert-Waters 2012 provisions and make it mandatory for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to complete a study on the affordability of the rate increases. The bill also requires that FEMA's recently remapped flood maps be certified before rate increases go into effect.

The outlook for passage of the bill could be tough as leaders deal with final budget plans and other issues before adjourning for the year. But the support is strong with nearly 100 supporters in the House and 17 in the Senate. Perhaps this is one issue this Congress can agree upon.

Is Your City as Resilient as You Think?

If your city is preparing now to withstand any number of potential natural and manmade catastrophes in the future, then it’s time to think about competing in the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities Centennial Challenge.  This competition is open to municipal governments with a population of over 50,000 people and will provide technical support and resources for developing and implementing urban resilience plans. 

The Rockefeller Foundation's partners will choose 100 cities to work with on establishing a suite of financial and technical assistance support to develop and implement the resilience plan. Each selected community is expected to be an integrated member of the 100 Resilient Cities Network and create or expand the role of a Chief Resilience Officer within the municipal government.

 

Registration is required by Sept. 23, 2013 in order to receive the application.

  

For more information, visit the Centennial Challenge webpage.

 

FEMA Final Rule Provides Arbitration Alternative to Public Assistance Appeal Process

On Friday, August 16, 2013, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) published a final rule outlining a new arbitration option for applicants dissatisfied with public assistance determinations.

Until now, cities and counties unhappy with FEMA disaster assistance determinations had but one course of action available – a two-level appeal process requiring a regional office or headquarters to find decisions made by FEMA field staff arbitrary, capricious, or an abuse of discretion or in violation of law. Some appellants found the appeal process unhelpful because upper level FEMA officials reviewed field workers’ decisions – a less than optimal situation from the appellant’s perspective.

Under the new arbitration option, FEMA must choose an arbitration sponsor that is unaffiliated with the dispute to ensure independence of the arbitration process. The sponsor is responsible for choosing the panel which will be comprised of three members who are qualified to review and resolve disputes. The arbitrators must be neutral and independent and must not have had any prior involvement with the contested appeal.

Under the new rule, the arbitration panel is required to issue a written and reasoned decision within 60 days of the arbitration hearing or administrative conference. Some recent appellants will appreciate this timeline as the old appeals process has, in some cases, taken many months and even years. The standard of review under arbitration does not appear to differ from the existing appeals process; the arbitration panel will only set aside the agency determination if it is arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law. In the case of a FEMA finding of material fact adverse to the applicant on the first appeal, the panel will only set aside or reverse such a finding if the finding was clearly erroneous. The lack of authority to review the case de novo makes arbitration less attractive to some applicants.

Arbitration will be available for disputes related to disasters declared on or after October 30, 2012, in an amount equal to or greater than $1,000,000, for projects with a non-Federal cost share requirement, and for applicants that have completed a first appeal. The arbitration decisions will be binding. The authority for the arbitration option sunsets on December 31, 2015. FEMA’s final rule is located here.

 

Agriculture in the Regulatory Floodplain

Do you live in a rural, agricultural area that is located in the regulatory floodplain?  Are the regulations of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) impacting the agricultural industry around you?  If so, the Agricultural Floodplain Management Alliance (AFMA) wants to hear from you!

AFMA is an alliance of landowners, local governments, local floodplain management agencies, and state associations working together to preserve and protect the agricultural industry located in the nation's floodplain.  To this end, AFMA has been working with congressional sponsors in Washington D.C. to authorize a study that would assess the impact of federal floodplain regulations on agricultural areas and the rural communities that have historically supported the agricultural industry.  

The Agricultural Floodplain Management Study is slated to begin this month and AFMA is looking for examples of the impacts of the NFIP on farmers, landowners, business owners, and rural communities.  If you would like to share your story or learn more about AFMA's missions, please visit www.afmalliance.com.  

FEMA Offers Grant Assistance to Retain and Rehire Firefighters

With tight city budgets, fire departments across the nation have been confronted with firefighter layoffs. Staffing reductions could potentially impact firehouses’ ability to effectively and safely respond to emergencies, threatening the safety of firefighters as well as citizens.

Starting Monday July 29, 2013, fire departments and national, state, local, or tribal organizations representing the interests of volunteer firefighters are encouraged to apply for FEMA’s Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant Program. The SAFER Grant program has dedicated $320,920,083 to assist Fire Departments in increasing the number of firefighters, help communities meet industry minimum standards, and to attain 24-hour staffing to provide adequate protection from fire and fire related hazards.

The SAFER grant program eligible activities include:

1.       Hiring of Firefighters

·         First Priority: Rehiring laid-off firefighters

·         Second Priority: Retention of firefighters who face imminent layoffs or filling vacant positions

·         Third Priority: Hiring new firefighters

2.       Recruitment and Retention of Volunteer Firefighters

·         Assist departments experiencing a high rate of turnover and with staffing levels significantly below the ideal staffing level required to comply with National Fire Protection Association standards 1710 or 1720.

SAFER funding will pay for the total salary and benefit costs for each full-time funded position.

The application period is open from July 29, 2013 through August 30, 2013. Detailed information on how to apply can be found on the SAFER Grants Web Page.

DHS Top Job Demands Local Law Enforcement Knowledge

If you watched the Sunday morning “Inside the Beltway”  television programs this week, no doubt you heard some discussion of potential successors to Secretary Janet Napolitano, who is leaving the Department of Homeland Security to head up the California University system.

His picks  included retired Coast Guard commandant Thad Allen; New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly; and William Bratton, who has led police departments in Boston, New York, and Los Angeles. Two of the three come from a local law enforcement and homeland security background, which could be an asset as federal mandates and decreasing funding to key FEMA state and municipal government funding programs are further squeezing local agencies.

These are some good choices and we will no doubt hear many more. My vote is for a veteran of local law enforcement who has the on the ground knowledge that effective DHS leadership requires.