By: Alvarado, Kolkhorst S.R. No. 816
SENATE RESOLUTION
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 United States 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 State of Texas, 86th
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.
_______________________________
President of the Senate
I hereby certify that the
above Resolution was adopted by
the Senate on May 24, 2019, by the
following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate