86R35900 BPG-F
By: Alvarado, Kolkhorst S.R. No. 816
R E S O L U T I O N
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 U.S. 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 86th Texas 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.