NYU Report Recommends Changes to Stafford Act

October 17, 2007 -- The cornerstone piece of Federal disaster relief legislation, the Robert T. Stafford Act, is dangerously out of date, and must be reformed to provide for rapid relief following a catastrophe, charges NYU professor of urban policy and planning, Mitchell Moss, in a new report released today, The Stafford Act: Priorities for Reform.

Moss faults the Robert T Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act for not recognizing 21st century threats like chemical, biological, nuclear or radiological attacks or accidents as legal grounds for a major disaster declaration by the President, and for failing to establish a difference between the scale of rural and urban disaster.

Report recommendations include:

• Amend the definition of a "major disaster" to recognize 21st century threats such as chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear attacks and accidents;
• Create a level of disaster specifically for "catastrophes" to cover incidents like Hurricane Katrina and September 11 and provide increased levels of aid beyond that provided at the "major disaster" level;
• Eliminate the $5 million cap on tax recovery assistance for state and local governments;
• Allow FEMA to pay, in part or in full, the salaries of public employees in areas stricken by a catastrophe;
• Expand coverage for utility providers to include private and for profit corporations;
• Provide expedited micro grants and loans to small businesses to help defer immediate costs;
• Following a catastrophe, waive proof of insurance requirements and provide immediate assistance to those in need, which can later be reimbursed to the government when insurance payments are made.