Congress should confront the nation’s rising disaster risks with a unified, all-of-government approach that helps communities make smarter land use decisions; rewards use of risk-based building codes and standards for land use and development; and invests in resilience before disasters strike. Congress also must prioritize assistance to frontline communities and accelerate the pace of recovery so that communities rebuild stronger.
Buy down risk before disasters strike, when taxpayer dollars can go as far as possible, by increasing funding for pre-disaster mitigation; helping communities with voluntary, just, and planned transitions from the riskiest areas; advancing innovative revolving loan strategies for resilience project finance; investing in climate resilient small businesses; and restoring ecosystems that can reduce flood and wildfire risk.
Accelerate disaster recovery by permanently authorizing community disaster recovery programs to reduce delays and by increasing the role of insurance and innovative finance to provide rapid payout and to support resilient recovery from disasters.
Improve access to affordable, climate resilient housing by ensuring that federally funded construction and retrofits are resilient against flood, wildfire, and other climate risks and by prioritizing funding for hazard mitigation in frontline communities.
Increase private and local investment in resilience by reforming the tax code to provide incentives and by helping communities attract resilient economic development.
Reduce the threats of toxic releases in storms by establishing financial assurance requirements for industrial facilities and increasing federal funding to clean up and reuse contaminated properties.