Committee reviews H.397: statewide emergency-management changes, voluntary buyouts and municipal reimbursements

Senate Government Operations committee members on April 8 discussed H.397, the bill described by staff as “an act relating to miscellaneous amendments to the statutes governing emergency management and flood response,” with state emergency management officials, legislative counsel and fiscal staff walking the panel through new reporting requirements, a voluntary buyout program and a municipal reimbursement plan tied to the state’s pilot special fund.

The bill would require the Division of Emergency Management to provide annual presentations about all-action items from the state hazard mitigation plan and to collaborate with specified recovery and planning partners to assist municipalities in developing elements of the State Emergency Management Plan (SEMP). It also creates a statutory voluntary buyout program for flood-prone properties and a municipal grand-list stabilization program that would reimburse towns for lost property-tax revenue when municipalities acquire flood-prone properties and preserve them as open space.

Why it matters: committee members, sponsors and agency witnesses said the bill aims to improve coordination on mitigation and recovery after flooding while providing a predictable funding path for buyouts and short-term municipal fiscal relief after disasters.

Division duties and local vs. state planning

Tucker Anderson, legislative counsel, told the committee that Section 1 would add an annual presentation requirement to the committee and the House’s Government Operations committee on the all-hazards mitigation plan. Anderson said the bill also requires the division to provide assistance to municipalities to develop and implement components of the SEMP, and lists items the state plan must include, such as templates for municipal emergency-parking plans, systems for contacting vulnerable residents and provisions for notification systems and training.

Eric Clarkson, a Division of Emergency Management official, explained the agency already presents hazard-mitigation updates to its…