FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 18, 2006
CONTACT: Jamie Loftus
SENATOR HUTCHISON'S LEGISLATION ENACTED BY FEMA, HURRICANE RITA
REIMBURSEMENT RAISED TO 100 PERCENT
WASHINGTON, DC -- Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today announced FEMA has enacted the Hurricane Rita equality legislation she secured in the Hurricane emergency supplemental appropriations bill. Sen. Hutchison’s legislation successfully ensured states impacted by Hurricane Rita would be treated equally for the purposes of cost share adjustments. Claims submitted by June 30, 2006 will now be reimbursed entirely at 100 percent. All claims submitted after that will be reimbursed at a 90 percent federal, 10 percent local rate.
“Hurricane Rita didn’t discriminate along state lines and neither should the federal government,” Sen. Hutchison said. “As I stressed to FEMA, it is only fair that East Texas communities receive the same reimbursement rate as Louisiana parishes directly across the river recovering from the same hurricane.”
Claims are retroactive to the date of the President’s federal disaster declaration on September 24, 2005. Before Sen. Hutchison’s legislation, the standard FEMA reimbursement rate for damage claims was 75 percent federal with a 25 percent contribution from the state and local government. This could mean up to $300 million in added reimbursements to these counties.
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