Florida Tests New FEMA Public Assistance Initiative
Release Date: October 27, 2000
Release Number: 1345-28
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Washington, DC -- Besides engaging in disaster relief operations for the Miami floods, Florida also recently took on the separate task of testing a new FEMA initiative that for certain Presidentially declared disasters allows a qualified state to manage the agency's public assistance program.
"This is another step in our continuing effort to help speed up the rebuilding process and make it more efficient and cost-effective," FEMA Director James Lee Witt said. "What we hope to gain from this first field test is feedback that tells us what parts of the plan we need to keep and what needs to be refined."
Permission for Florida to run the pilot program was granted under President Clinton's major disaster declaration issued earlier this month for Tropical Storm Helene. The declaration made federal funds available to the state and local governments in nine panhandle counties to pay part of the costs for debris removal, emergency services and restoring damaged public facilities.
According to Witt, the initiative is specifically designed for declared disasters that are limited in scope and size and have up to $15 million in infrastructure damage. It's intended to facilitate such recoveries by minimizing FEMA's normal management role in field operations and the public assistance applicant process.
Under the pilot program, applicant procedures usually administered by FEMA for public work projects are managed by the state, including the processing of project worksheets, validating small projects and determining applicant and project eligibility. FEMA retains the authority for reviewing state-related projects and obligating program funds.
In addition, the state has the responsibility for holding applicant briefings and meetings. It also participates with FEMA in such other management functions as conducting quality-control checks of applicant projects, ensuring compliance with environmental and historic laws, determining the need to establish a joint disaster field office, and deciding the size of the state and federal field staff.
Ideally, the plan envisions that an existing state-operated field facility will be employed with a minimal federal workforce that in addition to the federal coordinating officer would include a public assistance officer, an environmental liaison officer and data processing technicians.
"By using a fixed state office and limiting the usual number of required federal workers, administrative and operational costs can be sharply reduced," Witt said. "And by eliminating the need for FEMA to review and approve every submitted project, we expect that all eligible work can be closed out within a short period of two years."
Last Modified: Friday, 07-Nov-2003 16:05:56