NAMIC Urges Action on FEMA Reform Bill

As Congress returns to work, the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies is calling on U.S. House leaders to pass the Fixing Emergency Management for Americans Act, or HR 4669.

In a letter addressed to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., Jimi Grande, NAMIC senior vice president of federal and political affairs, said the legislation enjoys broad bipartisan support, having passed out of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee by an impressive 57-3 margin.

“This level of support and the proposal’s thoughtful and pragmatic approach are signs that the bill balances needed public policy reforms without the risk of upending the U.S. emergency management mechanism,” Grande said. “For months prior to the bill’s introduction, the sponsors spent extensive time considering feedback across hundreds of industries touched by emergency management and disaster response planning.”

Introduced by Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair Sam Graves, R-Mo., and Ranking Member Rick Larsen, D-Wash., the bill would return the FEMA administrator to a cabinet-level position to increase accountability and efficiency at the agency. It would streamline the federal disaster response and recovery system to reduce bureaucracy and incentivize loss prevention and mitigation projects at the state and local levels. There are additional provisions to address depoliticization and modernization of an agency that both parties agree is fundamentally broken amid increasingly frequent extreme weather events.

“Mitigation funding that provides flexibility, retrofits for aging housing stock, and increased adherence to modern building codes will both stabilize building costs and reduce back-end financial burdens to taxpayers,” Grande told congressional leaders. “Rethinking FEMA’s role and operations to prioritize mitigation at scale in charting the direction for America’s built environment will mean fewer homes destroyed by catastrophes and, in turn, more stability for families, communities, and markets.”