N.M. Homeland Security & Emergency Management Department Issues Public Comment on FEMA Notice

WASHINGTON, May 12 -- Chelsea Morganti, hazard mitigation officer at the New Mexico Homeland Security and Emergency Management Department, Santa Fe, has issued a public comment on the Federal Emergency Management Agency's notice entitled "Hazard Mitigation Assistance: Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities". The comment was written on May 8, 2020, and posted on May 11, 2020:

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The New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management appreciates the opportunity to comment on the proposed Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) policy, identification number FEMA-2019-0018. We offer the following comments:

Line 56-63 - New Mexico suggests that the 6% of funds from Presidential Disaster Declarations that feeds into BRIC be calculated at the "12-month lock in" similar to HMGP calculations.

Line 71-76 - The language included on the state and territory "allocation" vs. "set-aside" is very general, implying that only tribes are guaranteed a set-aside. For years under PDM the set-aside was $500,000 (or $575,000) or 1% of the congressional allocation. New Mexico cannot rely on federal disasters to keep our mitigation program active.

At a minimum, we suggest $400,000 per state or territory be set-aside in federal share. This amount could be utilized to maintain minimum eligibility for HMA project funding by updating Hazard Mitigation Plans.

Line 79-96 - We would like to express our support and appreciation that BRIC will maintain the 75% federal, 25% non-federal split, with both cash and in-kind or a combination being acceptable, and the 90% federal/10% non-federal split for small impoverished communities. As a rural state our sub-applicants rely on this kind of flexibility.

Line 102-108 - The solution proposed for tribes impacted by the seven-year eligibility limitation is a very good idea. We appreciate that tribes are eligible to apply for BRIC if they have received a presidential disaster declaration or are partially located within a state that has received a presidential disaster declaration within the last seven years. Thank you for this thoughtful solution.

Line 109-110 - The language on eligible sub-applicants as written appears to limit the current list to only two types of entities. Most of our sub-applicants do not fall under the category of local government or tribe, like our flood control authorities and soil and water conservation districts that are classified as quasi-governmental agencies.

We suggest that all entities eligible for PDM and HMGP (state agencies, local governments, quasi-governmental agencies, tribal entities, and nonprofits) should also be eligible for BRIC and be similar or match the PAPPG criteria. Limiting the pool of eligible applicants will only strain our local governments further and make it harder to accomplish good mitigation.

Line 124-131 - The eligibility language here implies that there may be room for the same kinds of projects eligible under HMGP's 5% set-aside. New Mexico supports funding for "5%"/non cost-beneficial/outreach and education projects be made available under BRIC. Outreach and education is a fundamental need of many of our programs. Without knowledge and awareness of issues we cannot encourage the public to make smart and informed decisions. In addition, there are many beneficial projects like alert notification systems and critical facility generators for rural populations that cannot meet the current BCA requirements.

Line 171-176 - The New Mexico State Hazard Mitigation Plan actions, as decided by planning committee, are based on input and coordination between state agencies and reflect state agency actions only. Actions do not tie to local or tribal mitigation actions. For example, one action within the state plan is to implement defensible space around state owned critical facilities. This action does not address the numerous wildfire thinning projects that take place to protect residential structures. State Hazard Mitigation Plans have not been required to list every possible local and tribal hazard mitigation plan action. New Mexico proposes not making this a requirement in the future.

Line 217-224 - The document indicates that pre-award is eligible, however most large-scale projects require years of design and development before they can meet the criteria for an eligible construction project. New Mexico is suggesting that the pre-award eligibility window date back to the date of the last disaster declaration or at least 12 months prior to the start of the application period. Line 220 indicates pre-award is "directly pursuant to the negotiation and in anticipation of the federal award." Does that mean only charges incurred within the application window will be eligible? In order to encourage forward thinking and large-scale projects, the pre-award window should be as flexible as possible. Pre-award under PDM was not sufficient and did not allow any time for design.

General:

One of the true successes under HMGP is the ability to phase projects. This allows for the development and design of projects with the assurance that these costs can be reimbursed and implementation achieved. The intent with BRIC seems to be to require sub-applicants adhere more strictly to a 36-month period of performance, and most phased projects have proven that additional time is needed. Design and development of large-scale projects takes a significant amount of time.

If Advanced Assistance, available under PDM but not specified so far under BRIC, will fill the gap that Phased awards have filled under HMGP, then Advanced Assistance should not be limited to the arbitrary cap established under PDM. $200,000 is not sufficient funding for a single project, much less if there are multiple Advanced Assistance applications in a single year. It will take time to build up a stock of large-scale multi-jurisdictional projects that meet BRIC's criteria and it would be wise to encourage jurisdictions to move in this direction now.

Sincerely,

Chelsea Morganti, CFM

State Hazard Mitigation Officer

New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management

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The notice can be viewed at: https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=FEMA-2019-0018-0001

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