Rep. Sara Jacobs Introduces Bill to Improve Federal Disaster Recovery Efforts
Following the severe flooding and storms in San Diego in January, Rep. Sara Jacobs (CA-51) introduced legislation to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the federal government’s disaster recovery efforts.
More than 30 federal entities contribute to the federal government’s response to natural disasters. Following the storms in San Diego, constituents struggled to navigate the multiple federal recovery programs and their differing requirements and deadlines and were frustrated by lags in response times and insufficient support.
Rep. Sara Jacobs said: “Severe natural disasters have hit every part of our country, wreaking havoc and leaving communities including San Diego devastated. While we need to address the climate crisis fueling these disasters, we also need to improve the coordination, efficiency, and effectiveness of the federal government’s disaster recovery efforts. Since January, I’ve heard from constituents who didn’t know where to turn for help or which program provided what support, and if they could navigate the process, responses were slow and the help was too little too late. Disasters are devastating and traumatizing enough, and our federal response to them shouldn’t prolong the suffering. That’s why I’m proud to introduce this legislation to make the federal government’s response to disasters more efficient and effective.”
The legislation requires the FEMA Administrator and HUD Secretary to take steps to address the fragmentation across disaster recovery programs and to consider implementing additional ideas including simplifying and standardizing the requirements of federal disaster recovery programs, developing a single online application portal for disaster recovery that feeds into a single repository, prioritizing disaster recovery funding for vulnerable communities, and more.
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