Natural Disaster Bill Authored by Senator Gary Peters Awaits Presidential Signature

A bill designed to help target Natural Disaster Mitigation funding is heading to the President’s desk after making it through the House.

The legislation would require the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to use information from their online National Risk Index (NRI) to designate at-risk communities that are in need of disaster mitigation projects as Community Disaster Resilience Zones. The NRI measures risk factors on a county by county basis for 18 types of natural disasters.

The bill was authored by Michigan Senator Gary Peters. He says that by using this data to help direct public and private investment to communities that face a high risk of natural disasters for mitigation, taxpayers will save money on the response and cleanup to disasters when they do happen.

The Community Disaster Resilience Zones Act passed in the House after making it through the Senate in September, and now awaits the President’s signature.