Bill Text: NJ AR148 | 2016-2017 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Urges Congress to amend Stafford Act to require FEMA to provide financial assistance for certain personal property damaged by natural disaster.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2016-05-19 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee [AR148 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2016-AR148-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman ANNETTE CHAPARRO
District 33 (Hudson)
SYNOPSIS
Urges Congress to amend Stafford Act to require FEMA to provide financial assistance for certain personal property damaged by natural disasters.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Assembly Resolution urging Congress to amend the "Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act" to require the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide financial assistance for certain personal property damaged during a natural disaster.
Whereas, The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is the federal agency charged with providing financial assistance to victims of natural disasters, such as Superstorm Sandy in 2012, through its Individuals and Households Program and the United States Small Business Administration program; and
Whereas, Condominium and cooperative buildings generally have common areas, which are available for the use of residents of the buildings as part of their building residency, such as parking lots or garages; and
Whereas, Personal property of building residents, such as automobiles, is oftentimes damaged during, or as the result, of flooding or other bad weather resulting from such natural disasters; and
Whereas, Under the "Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act," 542 U.S.C. 5141 et seq., FEMA is not authorized to provide financial assistance for property stored in common areas of condominium and cooperative buildings; and
Whereas, Several federal bills pending before the Congress would address this issue, including H.R.1471 of 2016, currently pending in the United States Senate, which would require the FEMA Administrator to provide recommendations to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, on how common areas of condominiums and housing cooperatives may be eligible for FEMA assistance; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. This House urges the United States Congress to amend the "Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act" 542 U.S.C. 5141 et seq., to require the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide financial assistance for personal property located in a common area of a condominium or cooperative building that is damaged during a natural disaster.
2. Copies of this resolution, as filed with the Secretary of State, shall be transmitted by the Clerk of the General Assembly to the Majority and Minority Leaders of the United States Senate, to the Speaker and Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, to each member of Congress elected from this State, to the Secretary of the United States Department of Homeland Security, and to the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
STATEMENT
This Assembly Resolution would urge the United States Congress to amend the "Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act," 542 U.S.C. 5141 et seq., to require the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide financial assistance for personal property located in a common area of a condominium or cooperative building that is damaged during a natural disaster.
