10 Completely Unofficial and Entirely Unsolicited Ways to Improve FEMA

ByChad Berginnis, CFM

Given this month’s issue of News and Views focuses heavily on the FEMA Review Council report, I thought I would dedicate my column to the unauthorized, unsanctioned, and entirely unsolicited top 10 recommendations to improve FEMA from yours truly! Of course, one would expect a natural bias toward strengthening the NFIP and hazard mitigation programs. Guilty as charged. 

OK, here we go:

  1. Get FEMA out of DHS and make the FEMA Administrator a Cabinet-level position. Exhibit A to support this argument: pretty much everything we watched unfold the past year or so. Any questions?
  2. Reform the NFIP by making the program’s minimum land use and development standards at least as stringent as ASCE 24-24. Raise your hand if you’re tired of a 53-year-old national standard while we are up to our eyeballs in flood damages. This is something that truly could be done by the Administration without congressional approval. Seriously.
  3. Authorize CAP-SSSE and the CTP programs into law. If you want states and communities to do more, invest in the programs that build and maintain their capability to succeed. Let’s show these two proven programs a little love! 
  4. Authorize a CAP-like program to build and maintain state hazard mitigation capability. It is a proven model, it works, and it even aligns with the President’s goal of having states take on more responsibility.  FEMA Direct Technical Assistance? Not so much.     
  5. Finish the Job of Developing Flood Maps for the Nation. Yes, it will cost money up front — but not too much.  It will basically cost the same as about 25% of our nation’s average annual flood losses.  Seems like a pretty good return on investment to me. And just think of all of the long-term savings by having our nation’s flood hazards identified!  
  6. Develop and implement a strategic goal for FEMA mitigation projects to be approved within one year.  There is really no good reason for it to take longer. Joint Field Office operations, FEMA administrative procedures, and state processes should all be aligned to make this happen.  Let’s start mitigation while the carp are still flopping on the couch.  
  7. Make hazard mitigation mandatory for Public Assistance projects. Right now, it is more of an opt-in and there isn’t any penalty for simply repairing and rebuilding to the same at-risk condition and calling it recovery. That’s an awfully expensive way to learn nothing, all while wasting taxpayer money.  
  8. Right-size FEMA’s workforce and protect staff so they can effectively deliver FEMA programs. I don’t buy the FEMA Review Council’s claim that the agency is “bloated.” Too many past National Advisory Council (NAC) reports have documented understaffing, burnout, and workforce strain. This should be about delivering FEMA programs to individuals and businesses in their time of need. Frankly, we’ve been exceedingly lucky this past year that we didn’t have any hurricanes make landfall. By the way, Congress supports this too if you read the most recent, way-too-late appropriations bill and report.
  9. Put the NFIP on sound financial footing. Forgive the debt already! The federal government paying itself roughly $700 million a year in interest is not exactly a brilliant financial strategy. Just think of the opportunity costs. I am so sick and tired of hearing that the debt proves the program as it exists today doesn’t work. There have been several changes made over the past decade to strengthen the program. Did you know that every four years Congress subsidizes crop insurance by the same amount of debt that the NFIP has incurred since it was created in 1968? Interesting how nobody treats that as proof the whole program is broken.   
  10. Make BRIC a majority allocation program. For 25 years, states and communities have been doing hazard mitigation planning, and all states have high-priority, cost-effective hazard mitigation needs.  Let every state have the ability to get some of this mitigation work done instead of concentrating the funding in roughly the same dozen states every year. 

Your partner in loss reduction,

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