With the approval of Gov. Tate Reeves, bills aimed to help Mississippians both recover from and prepare for natural disasters are now in effect.
Winter storm recovery
Cities and counties recovering from Winter Storm Fern will now be able to apply for loans from the state as they await reimbursements from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Local entities across north Mississippi are facing strains on their budgets, largely to pay for debris removal, as officials anticipate a monthslong wait before they see funding from FEMA’s Public Assistance program.
House Bill 1646 will offer loans to recovering areas at a 3% interest rate. An earlier proposal passed by both chambers had just a 1% interest rate, but Reeves vetoed the measure because, in part, he expected the bill to have a 12% interest rate. The interest rate, though, will only apply if areas borrow more money than they receive from FEMA.
Lawmakers allocated $125 million for the program. Sen. Scott DeLano, a Republican from Biloxi, estimated in March that cities and counties had tallied over $350 million in damages to public infrastructure.
The law allows loans to be issued through the program until July 2027. The loan program took effect once Reeves signed off on the bill last week.
FEMA has so far approved 38 counties for Public Assistance to recover from the storm. Separately, the federal agency also just approved Individual Assistance for 36 counties.
As part of its disaster recovery spending, the Legislature also approved $20 million for Mississippi’s Disaster Assistance Trust Fund, which DeLano said will help cover the state’s share of the Public Assistance grants. FEMA covers 75% of those costs, while the state and local governments are each responsible for 12.5%.
Also last week, the governor approved Senate Bill 3229, which allows the state to borrow money on behalf of electric utilities, such as Entergy Mississippi, to pay for power grid damages caused by the storm. The idea is to borrow money at a lower interest rate to minimize impacts to utilities’ ratepayers. The measure does not include electric power associations.
Mitigation
Also last week, Reeves approved a bill to create the Strengthen Mississippi Homes Program. The measure, which took effect after passage, marks the farthest lawmakers have gotten in a near 20-year effort to better prepare homes in the state for natural disasters.
The program, which the state Department of Insurance will administer with the help of an advisory council, will offer grants of up to $10,000 to replace roofs to meet FORTIFIED standards set by the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety to reduce water damage and increase wind resistance.
Applicants must have wind insurance, and if in a flood zone, flood insurance as well. Only single-family, primary residence homes are eligible.
The mitigation spending will be funded through fees the Insurance Department collects from insurance agents across the state. A separate appropriations bill allows the agency to “escalate” up to $15 million for the program.
