NAMIC Hails The Call For National Mitigation Investment Strategy

WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 19 – The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies echoed the call for a better approach to federal disaster policy through the adoption of a National Mitigation Investment Strategy, in a report released today by the BuildStrong Coalition.

“For too long, the federal government has dealt with natural disasters in the most inefficient way imaginable – do nothing until disaster strikes, then throw as much money at the problem as possible with no accountability or forethought, then back to step one,” said Jimi Grande, senior vice president of federal and political affairs for NAMIC. “The recommendations made in the BuildStrong report to establish a National Mitigation Investment Strategy would break this vicious cycle of destruction by building our defenses before the next storm.”

The report cites numerous statistics in pointing to our nation’s current disaster policy, including a recent Government Accountability Office study that found from 2011-2014 FEMA spent 14 times more post-disaster than on mitigation measures. Based on such findings, the report recommends investing in a comprehensive federal plan to enhance the nation’s overall disaster resilience. Specifically, the plan calls for:

• Establishing a new FEMA-administered resilient construction state and local building code grant program to help qualified states defray cost of enforcing building codes;
• Increasing FEMA’s funding for pre-disaster mitigation activities by $100 million per year from fiscal years 2016 to 2020;
• Passing new congressional initiatives to create resilient construction incentives for states, builders, and individual homeowners:
  • The Safe Building Code Incentive Act
    • R. 1748 would give a powerful incentive to states to adopt and enforce stronger statewide building codes.
  • The Disaster Savings and Resilient Construction Act
    • R. 3397 would establish a clear and permanent tax credit for owners and/or contractors who use resilient construction techniques when building and renovating homes and commercial structures in federally declared disaster areas.
  • FEMA Disaster Assistance Reform and Reauthorization Act
    • R. 1471 would establish a much-needed assessment of current federal disaster policy and recommend ways to reduce taxpayers’ exposure as well measures to reduce overall losses from natural disasters.

“These are common sense steps that could significantly reduce the need for disaster spending in the best way possible – by limiting the damage following a catastrophe,” Grande said. “Stronger, resilient construction will mean fewer losses from severe weather, and more importantly, it could save lives. We know how to build to withstand natural disasters; we just need to start doing it.”

NAMIC is a founding member of the BuildStrong Coalition, a group of insurers, emergency managers, builders and contractors, fire fighters, and code officials, dedicated to promoting stronger building codes. The full report and a short informational video explaining the proposed National Mitigation Investment Strategy can be found at sandy.buildstrongamerica.com.

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