Fairness in Disaster Declarations Act

Floor Speech

Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, this week, Senator Kirk and I introduced the Fairness in Federal Disaster Declarations Act. It is designed to ensure fairness in FEMA's consideration of whether a community will be granted Federal assistance after a disaster.

This legislation is necessary because the way FEMA evaluates whether to declare an area a Federal disaster is not working. It works against States with large populations.

From 2002 to 2012, Illinois was denied Federal disaster assistance six times. Texas was denied 11 times--for damage caused by everything from wildfires to tropical storms. Florida was denied Federal disaster assistance six times during that 10 year period, and California, New Jersey, and New York were each denied four times. FEMA's formula does not work for large, populous States, particularly those with a concentrated urban area, like Illinois.

It is not enough just to talk about the numbers, though. Each one of these disasters devastated communities. In each one of these disasters, people saw their homes and their towns destroyed.

This past November, tornadoes swept through Illinois, killing six people and destroying whole towns in my State. The cities of Washington, Gifford, and New Minden, IL, experienced some of the worst tornado damage I have ever seen. Power lines were down and public infrastructure was decimated, but because Illinois did not meet one of FEMA's criteria, we were denied Federal public assistance.

Governor Pat Quinn is going to appeal that denial, and he has Senator Kirk's and my full support for that appeal.

Illinois also was denied Federal disaster assistance after tornadoes destroyed the towns of Harrisburg and Ridgway in 2012. Eight people died after tornadoes with winds up to 200 miles per hour splintered homes, businesses, churches, and public infrastructure in those two towns. Nevertheless, the State was denied public assistance. FEMA said because Illinois has a large population, we should be able to absorb those recovery costs. When similar tornado damage happened in neighboring Joplin, MO--which has a smaller population--Federal assistance was granted.

It is not just tornado damage in Illinois that has resulted in denials from FEMA for Federal assistance, and it is not just the State's per capita that has been used as FEMA's justification for the denials. Counties with a high population also have been denied. Last April, Illinois experienced major flooding both along the Mississippi River and resulting from flash flooding due to major storms.

Many communities in Cook County, including Chicago and its suburbs, experienced unprecedented flooding. But because the damage in Cook County did not meet FEMA's per capita requirement, Cook County was denied individual assistance. All of the neighboring counties were approved. Cook County was denied.

When questioned about these decisions, FEMA pointed to the factors it considers when determining if a Federal declaration is warranted. One of these factors has to do with the population of the State. If a State has a large population--more than 10 million people--it is analyzed differently than if it were smaller. The thinking is that large States have the resources necessary to absorb the recovery costs. Well, I can tell you--Illinois does not have the resources to absorb the costs of these tornadoes and flooding. Whole towns were devastated in these disasters.

The bill Senator Kirk and I introduced assigns a value to each of the six factors considered in the disaster declaration analysis. When FEMA considers individual assistance--help for people to rebuild their homes and pay for temporary housing--it will use the same, consistent factors, no matter where the disaster strikes.

The population of the State will constitute 5 percent of the analysis. Consideration of the concentration of damages will be 20 percent. The amount of trauma to the disaster area will be 20 percent. The number of special populations--such as elderly or unemployed people--will be 20 percent of the analysis. The amount of voluntary assistance in the area will be 10 percent. And the amount of insurance coverage for the type of damage incurred will be 20 percent of the analysis.

Our bill also adds a seventh consideration to FEMA's metrics--the economics of the area, which will receive 5 percent consideration. This includes factors such as the local assessable tax base, the median income as it compares to that of the State, and the poverty rate as it compares to that of the State. It is reasonable that FEMA should take into consideration the size of the State, but as the regulations stand, large States are being penalized. Assigning values to the factors will ensure that the damage to the specific community weighs more than the State's population.

After the tornadoes hit Harrisburg and Ridgway, the head of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, Jonathon Monken, worked with locals and people from the FEMA regional office to determine if the State could apply for public assistance--money to help Mayor Gregg and others pay for the overtime accrued by all the people working around the clock to help the community dig out of the destruction. What Director Monken and the others discovered was that it would have been a waste of the State's time and resources to even apply for Federal public assistance. We did not meet FEMA's threshold.

Currently, FEMA multiplies the number of people in the State by $1.35 to determine a threshold of the amount of damage a state would have to have incurred to be considered for public assistance. In Illinois, that figure is about $17 million. Well, Harrisburg, Ridgway, and the surrounding communities had about $5.5 million in public assistance damages, and $5.5 million is a lot of loss, particularly in a rural area, but not enough to qualify for Federal assistance under FEMA's rules.

In the same way this bill assigns values to the factors FEMA considers for individual assistance, it assigns values to the six factors the agency considers for public assistance. The per capita consideration will be 10 percent of the analysis. Localized impacts of the disaster will make up 40 percent of the analysis. The estimated cost of the assistance needed will constitute 10 percent of the analysis. The insurance coverage in force will be 10 percent. The number of recent multiple disasters will be 10 percent. And an analysis of the other Federal assistance for the area will make up 10 percent of the evaluation.

The bill also would add a seventh consideration for public assistance--the economic circumstances of the affected area--which would be considered at 10 percent of the analysis. This would include the same information as it would for individual assistance--the local assessable tax base, the median income of the area as it compares to that of the State, and the poverty rate as it compares to that of the State.

Illinois is a relatively large State, geographically, and has a concentrated urban area. The State--particularly downstate--is being punished for this fact. If the cities of Washington and Gifford--and Harrisburg and Ridgway--do not qualify under FEMA's current criteria for federal assistance, something is wrong.

These towns were struck by category 4 and category 3 tornadoes, respectively, and the damage is devastating. The people of these communities are being punished for living within a populous State. Let's fix the metrics FEMA uses to make this analysis so that they are fair to every state.

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