State Legislatures to Continue Disaster Policy in 2023
As the 2023 hurricane season officially begins, state legislatures have thus far kept pace with related legislative activity from previous years.Resilience bills enacted so far reflect a range of similar but distinct themes 2021-22 Trends. These results, and the methodology behind them, can be found in a December report Report in the 2022 legislative session Columbia Climate Schoolof National Disaster Preparedness Center.
Total bills enacted by state through late April 2023.
As of the end of April, 25 states had passed 103 resilience-related bills. West Virginia and New Mexico topped the list with 16 and 15 bills, respectively, accounting for about a third of all disaster bills, while North Dakota and Utah followed with 11 and 10 bills, respectively.
At the time of this sampling (late April), 13 states—Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, South Dakota, Kansas, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia , West Virginia and Virginia — all have adjourned their regular sessions this year. Other states are also rapidly recessing this time of year, with at least 11 more since April. That still leaves about half of the states still in session — including key states for disaster preparedness like Texas, Florida, California, Hawaii and New York — so there’s plenty of time to do so in the coming months. Additional legislative activity.
The disaster bills already enacted reflect an interesting snapshot of the 2023 legislative session.conform to last yearThe NCDC’s Funding, Governance, and Safety and Security categories dominated state disaster policy trends by far, covering 62%, 41%, and 35% of enacted bills, respectively.
At least 16 states also passed a single chamber with 78 disaster bills — a major hurdle that bodes well for the bills being likely to pass or be considered in future sessions. Of those states, six have not adjourned this year.
funds
So far in the 2023 legislative session, 22 states have enacted 64 bills that appropriate or allocate funds for mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. The bills account for nearly two-thirds of all disaster legislation enacted so far in this session. Of these, 47 fund state agencies and programs, 30 are related to federal funding, 28 provide funding to counties or other political subdivisions, 20 provide assistance to individuals or families, and 18 fund resiliency through cost-sharing and matching mechanisms, Twelve provide funding to the private and non-profit sectors, and three involve insurance mechanisms to finance disaster mitigation.For example, North Dakota enacted the HB 1070a bill that would harness the federal protections of tomorrow through continuous risk mitigation (storm) to use funds to establish a program to provide low-interest loans to counties and cities for disaster risk reduction projects.
Meanwhile, 14 states passed a single chamber with 45 appropriations bills this session, as states typically move on to deliberating on large grant packages before the session ends.
governance
During the 2022-23 legislative session to date, 15 states have enacted at least 43 bills related to changes in emergency management governance, including administrative, jurisdictional, and reporting changes. Nearly half of all disaster bills enacted to date contain governance provisions. Many states created disaster recovery funds or redefined eligibility guidelines. The governance bill largely overlaps with the safety and security category, focusing on establishing new agencies and roles to improve national disaster management capabilities, reforming the National Guard activation process, and intergovernmental cooperation in disaster operations.For example, West Virginia SB 128 Limit and clarify the powers of the Governor during and when a state of emergency is declared.
Meanwhile, 11 states have passed 28 governance bills through a single chamber.
security
So far in this session, 15 states have passed 36 security-related bills and passed 25 bills. These bills now account for one-third of all disaster bills passed, as well as bills that have passed one chamber. They typically aim to modify the responsibilities, compensation, and protections of disaster response and recovery personnel, as well as create new categories of first responders and emergency managers to address new or heightened disaster risks. Such bills jumped from just 6 percent of disaster bills passed in the last session to 25 percent so far this year.eg, kentucky HB 157 Created and funded the Kentucky Urban Search and Rescue Program to develop state search and rescue efforts and coordinate other state and federal responses.
Health and Human Services: Housing, Health and Medical, Food and Water
Fifty-two health and human services-related bills have been enacted in 14 states, which means that half of the disaster bills enacted to date are related to health and human services. There were 30 food and water bills, with water reform in particular dominating the category, many of them from the New Mexico legislature. Some states in the Colorado River Basin have recently negotiated cuts in use because of the drought. Countries have sought to address drought and water scarcity by passing legislation establishing agencies primarily responsible for water resilience and setting up funding for water and agricultural projects to mitigate the effects of increasingly common droughts and wildfires. The health and medical category also makes up a large portion of the 22 bills. While these bills focus on providing virtual health care during emergencies and establishing health-related disaster and crisis support teams, they also overlap with declared disasters or health emergencies. Housing occupies the smallest part of the nine banknotes. These bills focus primarily on building heating and cooling reliability, disaster property recovery, and establishing construction standards.
e.g. Utah HB 150 Allows the governor to declare a temporary water emergency by executive order In addition to drought, During this period, the state can take water from farmers for drinking, sanitation, fire fighting, power generation, etc.
Critical Infrastructure: Energy, Transportation, Communication
To date, 13 states have enacted 32 critical infrastructure resiliency bills. The bills account for one-third of all legislation enacted by state legislatures so far this session. Of these, 16 were related to energy – including grid resilience, energy efficiency, and often overlapping with renewable energy investments. Fourteen bills contain transportation provisions, including resilient upgrades and expansions of existing road and highway infrastructure, investment in public transportation, and maintenance of emergency evacuation and delivery routes during disaster events. In addition, 18 of the bills address communications systems, including upgrades to 9-1-1 services, communications equipment for first responders and emergency managers, and data security for basic emergency communications technology.
eg washington HB 1329 Prevent power outages for non-payment during extreme heat waves and require utilities to offer payment plan options to low-income residents.
These findings reflect last year’s trends as well as those reflected in 2023 Pre-Filing Act; however, it will be interesting to monitor how these trends evolve over the rest of the state’s legislative session. With about half of the states not yet adjourned (at the time of this sample), we expect a lot of activity on these issues in the coming months.
Lucia Bragg is policy manager at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at the Columbia Climate Institute.
Abigail Menendez is an intern at the Columbia Climate Institute’s National Center for Disaster Preparedness and a 2023 master’s graduate of the Columbia Climate Institute’s Climate and Society Program.
Gillian McBride is a student employee at the Columbia Climate Institute’s National Center for Disaster Preparedness and a MPA Class of 2023 graduate of the Energy and Environmental Policy Program at the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs.
