The Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act is the 1988 Act of Congress that controls the efforts of disaster responders like FEMA, the Corps of Engineers and other federal authorities.
- FEMA is breathtaking in its application of the Stafford Act with an overwhelming amount of red tape in execution but little in the way of auditability.
- When
the N.O. municipal government appeared on the verge of shutting down, they
managed to get an amendment to the Stafford Act
passed that would allow FEMA funds to be used for operation of local
governments, but at the last minute Congress mandated that the funds be
considered loans not grants and tacked on a provision that would prohibit
forever forgiving these loans.
- Local
governments facing uncertain futures have had to toe the line to use these funds.
New Orleans’ decision to lay off 3,000 city workers stands. In 2005 the
District Attorney reported that he’ll have to shutdown his office within 90
days. Red tape in actually obtaining any money seems to be further
stymieing its use.
- In 2006 New Orleans bureaucrats and Federal bureaucrats are doing better. Work requests are actually resulting in a little of the federal recovery money flowing to useful purposes.
- Curiously Stafford requires a local match of 10-25% for federal funds. New Olreans and Louisiana are using CDBG grants to pay the local match.
Beyond Stafford there are other laws that clutter the post K landscape:
- Posse Comitatus of course explians why federal authorities were so slow to respond.
- Bankruptcy
laws changed effective October 18, 2005 eliminating the provisions
so many had used to duck credit card debt but the timing couldn't’t have
been worse for New Orleanians. Hundreds stood in line to file on Friday
the 15’th before the changes took effect.
- President Bush suspended the Davis-Bacon act which governs
prevailing wage laws for disaster cleanup, handing yet another windfall
to corporate contractors. Under pressure he decided to rescind the
suspension as of November 8'th.
- As of October 29th Federal aid was
still extraordinarily slow in reaching the city so Congress and the President to action to increase the aid and redirect parts of the original $62 billion.
- CDBG grants are administered under HUD and have their own rules and regulations that have effectively slowed any application of thoses Funds. In Louisiana $4.2 billion of CDBG grants was approved in February 2006. As of November 2006, nealy 15 months after the storm 16 checks totalling just over $600,000 had been written.