FEMA Pre-Disaster Mitigation Program Reauthorization
On 30 April the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure held a hearing on “Saving Lives and Money through the Pre-disaster Mitigation Program” to review reauthorization of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Pre-disaster Mitigation (PDM) Program.
The program gives grants to states and communities to reduce hazard vulnerability and loses through pre-disaster mitigation. Groups apply for grants by submitting plans for a project they believe will reduce disaster vulnerability in their community. The range of projects is as diverse as the communities who apply and the possible disasters for which they are planning. If the PDM program is not reauthorized, it will sunset (expire) on 30 September 2008.
Mr. Brent Woodworth, Chairman of the Multihazard Mitigation Council at the National Institute of Building Sciences, testified that his organization did a cost-benefit analysis of FEMA's PDM program. The study found that $3.5 billion had been spent on the program, and the value of the projects had an estimated value (in reduced loses) of $14 billion, giving a benefit-cost ratio of 4-1. The report concluded that the PDM program is cost effective and should be funded continuously.
Witnesses also had suggestions for PDM program changes. Mr. James Mullen, Chairman of the Mitigation Committee at the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA), recommended that additional technical assistance should be provided during the application process, especially to rural communities, to enable more groups to apply. Mr. Mullen also stated that the competitive grant program could increase success in some areas if it instead gave grants based on population and used a longer, rolling application window.
Subcommittee Chairwoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) agreed that FEMA should improve the application process to ensure that the greatest number of people receive grants through the program, especially by enabling access to technical assistance. All witnesses and Representatives present concurred that the program should be reauthorized in 2008.
