December 28, 2020 By David Murray
Both houses of Congress passed a measure long sought by flood-vulnerable towns and rivers bordering the Mississippi River: the Resilience Revolving Loan Fund Act. The bill was passed on its own December 17, separately from the omnibus bill that included the Water Resources Development Act. All that remains is for President Donald Trump to sign it into law.
The bill authorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to enter into agreements with any state or Indian tribal government to make capitalization grants for the establishment of hazard mitigation revolving loan funds. The bill specifies, “Such funds shall provide funding assistance to local governments to carry out projects to reduce disaster risk in order to decrease the loss of life and property, the cost of insurance claims and federal disaster payments.” The loans will be provided at a rate of 1.5 percent, a rate
WBGZ Radio 12/19/2020 |
By Doug Jenkins - WBGZ Radio
This week, the United States moved closer to creating a Resilience Revolving Loan Fund for states and local governments. It’s said to be one of the most valuable resilience tools across the entire federal portfolio. The legislation allows states to offer low-interest loans to counties and cities for disaster mitigation projects.
Grafton Mayor Rick Eberlin says the fund is critical to towns still struggling to recover from the Flood of 2019.
Click here for Eberlin s comments
Eberlin made his comments during a virtual meeting of the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative.