86R35900 BPG-F

By: Alvarado, Kolkhorst S.R. No. 816

R E S O L U T I O N

WHEREAS, Hurricane Harvey struck the Texas coast on August 25, 2017, causing an estimated $125 billion in damage; and

WHEREAS, The second most destructive storm in American history, the hurricane impacted approximately 30 percent of the population of Texas, destroying homes, damaging infrastructure, and displacing thousands of families along the coast; and

WHEREAS, The Federal Emergency Management Agency received nearly 800,000 applications from affected Texans for some form of assistance; as many as 83 percent of the people whose homes flooded did not have flood insurance, creating unprecedented demand for state and federal disaster recovery assistance; and

WHEREAS, The FEMA application process is so duplicative and confusing, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development regulations are so complex, that many survivors give up trying to navigate the system and, therefore, receive no assistance; and

WHEREAS, Consolidating funding for recovery housing programs into a single Disaster Housing Response and Recovery Block Grant would increase efficiency, save taxpayer dollars, and speed the recovery process by combining FEMA's short-term programs and HUD's long-term programs; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the Senate of the 86th Texas Legislature hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress to enact legislation to consolidate disaster recovery housing funding into a single Disaster Housing Response and Recovery Block Grant; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That the secretary of the senate forward official copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.