A move to streamline the administration of federal disaster assistance is moving forward in Washington.
The Disaster Assistance Simplification Act has won the approval of the U.S. Senate and has since been sent to the House. It will, upon becoming law, not only expedite the process of disaster assistance, but will also create a new disaster intake system.
Such a system, remarked Michigan Democrat Senator Gary Peters in a letter to the Western Governors Association, would “improve information flow within the expansive, multi-agency system of disaster assistance programs.”
By so doing, a “single, comprehensive point of contact” would do away with “burdensome, duplicative application processes for people and communities recovering from a disaster.”
As written, the bill would make it possible for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to share information on disaster survivors with other federal agencies in an effort to make things easier for the survivors themselves.
FEMA would also become the lead agency in implementing assistance for all disaster victims.
In arguing for the legislation, Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul remarked: “We live in a digital age, for goodness sakes. People shouldn’t have to fill out so many forms.”
Added Rand: “We want the portal to be easier, easier to access for people to get into the computer, to fill out the forms, and one form instead of many forms.”
The new bill is particularly important to residents living in the West where natural disasters have been occurring with greater frequency in recent decades. Those disasters, notes a statement from the Western Governors Association, include “floods, droughts, tornadoes, mudslides, earthquakes, hurricanes, and, particularly, wildfires.”
By Garry Boulard
