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Representative Aaron seeks to restore $100,000 municipal disaster grant cap; Homeland Security says rules still in legal review
Summary
Rep. Judy Aaron asked the finance committee to restore a $100,000 cap for state disaster relief grants to municipalities and to clarify statutory language. Homeland Security and Emergency Management said rules for an existing 50% non‑federal match program remain in legal review; the committee voted OTP on HB165 7–0.
Representative Judy Aaron (Sullivan County District 4) urged Finance Division II to raise a statutory cap on municipal disaster grants back to the $100,000 level she said was originally intended before compromise language lowered it to $25,000.
"I'm simply asking with this bill that the original hundred thousand dollar grant amount be reestablished because we all know that $25,000 is hardly disaster relief to any community," Aaron said, citing repeated flooding events affecting small towns since 2021.
Aaron told the committee that prior measures (SB 409 and SB 402) intended to create loan and reimbursement paths for…
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