By WMBD-TV

WASHINGTON – As severe weather continues to impact Illinois, U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) introduced the Fairness in Federal Disaster Declarations Act.

According to a Senate news release, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) would be reformed to allow more transparency and equity for small and rural communities.

“Illinois often struggles to receive adequate aid from the federal government after severe weather strikes a community, causing serious damage.  We must fix the broken metrics FEMA uses to determine disaster assistance and increase fairness in the process.  Illinois taxpayers shouldn’t have to foot the entire bill when disasters strike,” said Durbin.

Larger states like Illinois can struggle to qualify for federal disaster aid due to current FEMA metrics. There is currently no standard for weighing the importance of each factor in a disaster.

“As Americans, it’s our responsibility to support one another in times of need, especially when our communities are devastated by disasters and severe weather.  Unfortunately, the current FEMA formula fails to provide many smaller, rural communities in Illinois with the resources they need to rebuild and recover,” said Duckworth.

The bill would assign specific weight to each factor used by FEMA which can be read below.

1. Estimated cost of the assistance (10 percent) – Currently, this is a key component to FEMA’s declaration process, calculated at $1.77 times the state population.  This legislation will make it less of a factor by weighing it significantly lower than localized impacts.
2. Localized impacts (40 percent) – The legislation would put greater weight on the damage assessment on a specific area, as opposed to statewide.
3. Insurance coverage in force (10 percent) – Currently, FEMA deducts the amount of insurance that should be held by a government and non-profits from the total eligible amount.
4. Hazard mitigation (10 percent) – If the cost of damage falls short of the cost of assistance threshold due to mitigation measures that lessened the disaster’s impact, FEMA will take this into consideration by doing a cost-benefit analysis.
5. Recent multiple disasters (10 percent) – FEMA would take any disasters occurring within the previous 12 months into consideration and evaluate the funds that the state has committed and their impact on the state and its residents.
6. Programs of other Federal assistance (10 percent) – FEMA would take into consideration whether or not other agencies will be contributing.
7. Other economic circumstances (10 percent) – Currently these are factors not considered by FEMA.  This legislation would require FEMA to consider the local assessable tax base and local sales tax, the median income in comparison to the state, the poverty rate in comparison to the state, and the unemployment rate of the state in comparison to the national rate.

The bill was originally introduced by Durbin back in 2012 after FEMA denied Harrisburg and Ridgeway federal assistance following an outbreak of tornadoes.

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