Mississippi Senate adopts substitute and advances appropriation vehicle for disaster assistance fund
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Summary
The Senate adopted a committee substitute and passed an appropriation vehicle intended to add funds to the state disaster assistance trust fund for MEMA, with senators clarifying the money is for state response costs and not direct household assistance.
The Mississippi Senate on the floor advanced measures intended to bolster the state's disaster response funding, adopting a committee substitute and passing an appropriation vehicle that legislators said would direct money into the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency's (MEMA) disaster assistance trust fund.
Senator Hobson, speaking to item 5 on the calendar, described two related measures as a general bill and an appropriations bill that "will provide $2,020,000,000 dollars to MEMA to go into the disaster assistance trust fund," and said a committee substitute proposed adding $20,000,000 to the trust fund to cover state response and mobilization costs, including National Guard deployments and expenses for state agencies such as the Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Public Safety.
The proposal drew immediate questions about eligible uses. "This money is not going to be used to purchase generators or provide fuel for homeowners, correct?" asked Senator Delano. Senator Hobson replied, "That's correct," adding the appropriation is intended for state response and recovery costs, not individual assistance. Hobson urged residents to keep receipts in case separate individual assistance programs become available.
Senator Barnett asked whether the funding would be a revolving fund and whether the state would take steps to help counties that do not meet federal thresholds for reimbursement. Senator Hobson said the funds would be placed into MEMA's disaster assistance trust fund ("This will be money that is put into the disaster assist trust fund that MEMA uses"), not a revolving fund, and reiterated the standard FEMA cost-share formula: FEMA covers 75 percent of eligible costs while the remaining 25 percent is split between the state and local government (roughly 12.5 percent each for the state and local governments on local obligations).
Senator Hobson also noted there have been federal changes to emergency management programs and that counties and MEMA officials have raised concerns about reimbursement and capacity. "There are changes to that," he said regarding FEMA programs, and he pledged to gather more information later in the session while the MEMA-related bills are further considered.
After discussion, the Senate approved the motion "to adopt the committee substitute in lieu of the original bill" by voice vote, and the appropriation vehicle identified in the clerk's reading as "Senate Bill 29 24, appropriation ... for purposes authorized under the disaster assistance trust fund" passed by use of the morning roll call as requested. Senator Hobson then moved for immediate release of the two items, which the body granted without objection.
Several senators asked to be added as coauthors or cosponsors on the two items. The presiding officer indicated the additions would be treated as unanimous unless a senator objected.
Next steps: Senate leaders indicated further review and committee work on MEMA-related matters during the remainder of the session, and Senator Hobson said he would seek additional information about federal program changes and county-level impacts before final appropriations are completed.