Hurricane Loss Mitigation Program
Recommendations
The array of projects being implemented by the Department in State Fiscal Year 2000-2001 promote the interests of the insurance industry, the building community, and the mobile home industry. The Department projects support a range of applied research outside of the scope of that legislatively mandated to support the Florida International University, continuing such successful initiatives as the Florida Coastal Monitoring Project and the Homeowners Incentives Team. Finally, they emphasize the continued need for public outreach and education through the support of mitigation related conferences and the critical mission of the Florida Alliance for Safe Homes in educating all Floridians on the need to take personal responsibility for ensuring the safety and security of their homes.
The amendments to the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Recovery Act reward states for pre-disaster mitigation initiatives. It is imperative that future projects funded under the Hurricane Loss Mitigation Program relate to the kinds of initiatives outlined in the Stafford Act. One way to ensure this occurs is to link future projects to the goals outlined in the State Mitigation Strategy (also known as the Section 322 State Mitigation Plan). Linking Hurricane Loss Mitigation Program projects to these goals serves two major purposes. First, it allows the state to be rewarded under the Stafford Act and gain both access to pre-disaster mitigation funds as well as supplemental post-disaster mitigation resources. Second, appropriately linked projects may be credited as requisite non-federal match for future disaster grants, ensuring full leveraging of the $7 million allocation.
As the Department continues to manage the Hurricane Loss Mitigation Program, more emphasis must be placed on ensuring that projects support the State Mitigation Strategy. The advisory council may be provided with a defined list of program priorities as outlined in the State Mitigation Strategy to assist in their crafting of future program guidance. In addition, the Department must ensure that the research undertaken by Florida International University support the full range of interest groups and is more closely aligned with overarching state goals. The tightening of programmatic oversight by the Department, as outlined, will ensure that the nation's most creative and effective state sponsored mitigation program becomes even better.
Future options also include the possible privatization of the Hurricane Loss Mitigation Program. Under this system, a single non-Department contractor would manage the program. The purpose of this interdisciplinary, public policy center will be to evaluate the natural disaster risks facing this state (hurricanes, wildfires, floods, tornados, etc.,) and emerging technologies and public policies to reduce the number of persons and value of properties at risk through individual or government actions (home repairs, new building standards, insurance pricing, land use controls, etc.). The Department's Fiscal Year 2001-2002 budget request includes a Legislative Budget Issue to study the feasibility of creating this think-tank, research based mitigation center.