The House on Jan. 15 voted 419-2 to pass the Promoting Opportunities to Widen Electrical Resilience (POWER) Act (H.R. 164), which would help communities recover from disasters and make investments to become more resilient in the future.
The bill, which was re-introduced earlier this month by Rep. Val Hoyle (D-OR) and Rep. Mike Ezell (R-MS), makes two key improvements to the Stafford Act.
First, communities could make hazard mitigation improvements during disaster recovery; and second, communities would not be precluded from hazard mitigation assistance for systems rebuilt during recovery.
Collectively, the POWER Act alleviates the painful choice between immediate response and long-term investments, allowing communities to restore power as quickly as possible, while also taking steps to mitigate against hazards in the future.
The vote sends the bill to the Senate where APPA said it will work with other stakeholders to gather support for either introduction of a Senate version of the bill, or consideration of the House-passed bill.
In addition, APPA will continue to work to secure passage of the FEMA Loan Interest Payment Relief Act, which has not yet been reintroduced in the 119thCongress.
APPA Voices Appreciation for Prioritization of Disaster Recovery Legislation in Congress
APPA on Jan. 16 said it greatly appreciates the decision to prioritize the legislation in the opening days of the 119th Congress.
“We strongly support, the Promoting Opportunities to Widen Electrical Resilience (POWER) Act (H.R. 164) which will help communities recover from disasters, while they make investment to become more resilient in the future,” APPA said in a statement.
Every year, ice storms, tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes, and other disasters effect public power communities.
If the damage is severe enough to be declared a disaster by the President, then recovery costs are eligible for reimbursement through grants from FEMA.
To reduce the likelihood of needing such assistance, FEMA also provides funds for hazard mitigation.
“The POWER Act will allow more of these funds to be used for their intended purposes – recovery from, and mitigation against, disasters,” APPA said.