LegiStorm

Summary:

The Robert T. Stafford Emergency Relief and Disaster Assistance Act (P.L. 93-288, as amended) authorizes the President to issue declarations for incidents ranging from destructive, large-scale disasters to more routine, less damaging events. Declarations trigger federal assistance in the forms of various response and recovery programs under the Stafford Act to state, local, and tribal governments. The Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA's) Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) is the primary funding source for disaster response and recovery. Funds from the DRF are used to pay for ongoing recovery projects from disasters occurring in previous fiscal years, meet current emergency requirements, and as a reserve to pay for upcoming incidents. The DRF is funded annually and is a "no-year" account, meaning that unused funds from the previous fiscal year (if available) are carried over to the next fiscal year. In general, when the balance of the DRF becomes low, Congress provides additional funding through both annual and supplemental appropriations to replenish the account. The federal government provides a significant amount of money to state and local governments each year for emergency and major disasters. For example, Congress provided roughly $120 billion for Hurricane Katrina and $60 billion for Hurricane Sandy recovery. Even in years with relatively few major disasters, it is not uncommon for the federal government to annually appropriate between $2 billion and $6 billion to help pay for recovery projects. Studies and analyses of disasters indicate that there has been an uptick in the number of major disasters declared each year. In addition, scholars of disaster policy and other experts such as climatologists expect disasters to increase in both frequency and in costs in the near future. Federal disaster assistance expenditures are influenced by both external and internal factors. External factors that increase federal spending on disaster costs include increases in the frequency and magnitude of weather related events, and increases in population size and development—especially in coastal and other flood prone areas. Internal factors also influence how much assistance is provided and include disaster assistance policies that have evolved over time that have expanded the federal role in emergency and major disaster declarations such as altering declaration criteria and adjusting the federal cost-share for response and recovery. Congressional interest in disaster assistance has always been high given the amount of money provided to states and localities, but also because of increasing disagreements over the appropriate role of the federal government in providing assistance. Other congressional concerns include the use of supplemental appropriations to pay for disaster relief, offsetting expenditures for disaster assistance, and whether some of the federal burden for disaster assistance should be shifted to states and localities. This report describes the declaration process and the types of declarations that can be issued under the Stafford Act: (1) emergency and major disaster declarations, and (2) Fire Management Assistance Grants. The report also examines how the DRF is financed. This discussion is followed by an analysis concerning the issues related to the DRF including the debate over supplemental appropriations, how the DRF is budgeted, and the influence the Budget Control Act has had on the DRF. Some argue that the current method of funding and providing federal assistance for disaster response and recovery is functioning correctly and should not be changed. Others argue that the federal government should increase the amount of funding provided to states and localities for emergency and major disaster declarations. Still others argue that policy options that reduce federal costs for emergency and major disaster declarations or reduce the number of supplemental appropriations needed (or both) should be pursued. Policy proposals that could help achieve these ends include: appropriating more funds for the DRF to reduce the need for supplemental funding, restructuring the budget procedures for disaster assistance, creating alternative funding methods such as a rainy-day fund or a contingency fund, reducing federal costs by eliminating unrelated spending in disaster funding bills, altering policies that would limit the number of declarations issued each year, and converting some or all disaster assistance to disaster loans. This report concludes with policy questions that may help frame future discussions concerning federal emergency and disaster relief. This report will be updated as events warrant.