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Senate subcommittee backs $20 million capex transfer to disaster fund after ice storm
Summary
The subcommittee advanced companion bills to put $20 million from the capital expense fund into the Disaster Assistance Trust Fund to ensure early liquidity for state mobilization costs from a recent ice storm; senators emphasized FEMA rules, insurance exhaustion, and that the fund does not cover individual assistance.
Senator Wiggins described companion bills (SB 2898 and SB 2924) to transfer $20 million from the capital expense fund into the Disaster Assistance Trust Fund administered by MIMA to ensure cash is available as state agencies mobilize following a widespread ice storm. "The idea here is to put $20 million into the disaster assistance trust fund...so they know that they're not going to have any problems getting to cash to take care of this early on," he said.
The sponsor explained existing requests to MIMA already totaled about $8 million and that state mobilization costs (National Guard, DPS and other state agencies) require up-front cash while federal reimbursement is slower. He said a federal disaster declaration would trigger federal public-assistance and individual-assistance programs but that state transfers cannot substitute for FEMA's individual assistance rules.
Senator Sparks and others clarified that the Disaster Assistance Trust Fund is not intended for individual assistance and that public-assistance reimbursements typically follow a 75% federal / 25% nonfederal split, with the local share of the nonfederal portion commonly around 12.5% and the state covering the remaining 12.5%.
The committee approved 'title sufficient do pass' on both the general bill and the appropriations handout by voice vote.
