[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 113 (Thursday, August 1, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6220-S6221]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. REID (for Ms. Landrieu):
  S. 1440. A bill to amend the Small Business Act to allow the use of 
physical damage disaster loans for the construction of safe rooms; to 
the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to speak on an 
issue that is of great importance to my home state of Louisiana: 
disaster preparedness. As you know, along the Gulf Coast, we keep an 
eye trained on the Gulf of Mexico during hurricane season. This is 
following the devastating one-two punch of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita 
of 2005 as well as Hurricanes Gustav and Ike in 2008. Unfortunately, 
our region also has had to deal with the economic and environmental 
damage from the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010 and more recently 
Hurricane Isaac. For this reason, as Chair of the Senate Committee on 
Small Business and Entrepreneurship, ensuring Federal disaster programs 
are effective and responsive to disaster victims is one of my top 
priorities. While the Gulf Coast is prone to hurricanes, other parts of 
the country are no strangers to disaster. For example, the Midwest and 
Southeast have tornadoes, California experiences earthquakes and 
wildfires, and the Northeast sees crippling snowstorms. So no part of 
our country is spared from disasters--disasters which can and will 
strike at any moment. This certainly hit home when the northeast was 
struck by Hurricane Sandy in October of last year and when Moore, 
Oklahoma was hit by a massive tornado earlier this summer. With this in 
mind, we must ensure that families have the resources they need to be 
better prepared the next time disasters strike their communities.
  In order to give families in tornado prone areas more resources to 
protect lives and property, I am proud to file the Tornado Family 
Safety Act of 2013. Representative Tom Cole from Oklahoma is filing the 
House companion bill today as well. I want to thank him for being my 
partner in this effort as his district has seen firsthand how 
destructive these tornadoes can be to homes and businesses. In 
particular, our bill would allow U.S. Small Business Administration, 
SBA, disaster home mitigation loans to go towards the construction of 
tornado safe rooms. Under current law, SBA can increase the size of a 
home disaster loan by 20 percent of the total damage to decrease future 
disaster risk. The Small Business Act lists out examples of mitigation 
activities such as ``. . . retaining walls, sea walls, grading and 
contouring land, relocating utilities and modifying structures . . .'' 
The bill would add safe rooms as an eligible activity so homeowners 
would have access to these low-interest loans. It does not replace or 
duplicate other programs, but instead provides a backstop for families 
in disaster prone areas.
  Under guidelines from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, 
and the International Code Council, ICC, a safe room should withstand 
250 mph winds and the impact of a 15-pound plank hitting a wall at 100 
miles per hour, according to the Insurance Institute for Business and 
Home Safety, IBHS. Safe rooms designed to the FEMA and ICC standards 
are recommended for both tornadoes and hurricanes. For individual 
homes, a safe room could range anywhere from $3,000 to $12,000.
  The concept for the bill came about after discussions with the FEMA 
and the SBA on recent disasters. We learned that safe rooms are not 
allowable under FEMA preparedness grant programs. Safe rooms would be 
considered construction and FEMA only allows for limited construction 
under the preparedness grants for very specific items, such as 
communications towers, as specified in the appropriations acts. Safe 
rooms are an eligible activity under the FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant 
Program, HMGP. States decide how they use their HMGP, and reimbursing 
safe room construction for homeowners could be eligible. However, given 
the larger cost involved in reimbursing individual homeowners, HMGP 
funded safe rooms are oftentimes community-owned not residential.

[[Page S6221]]

  As I have indicated, FEMA Individual Assistance does not allow the 
construction of safe rooms. FEMA does allow HMGP grants for safe rooms 
and states can decide to reimburse safe room construction for 
homeowners. However, most are typically community-owned not residential 
since HMGP funds both single and multi-use facilities--schools, 
community centers, etc. For example, according to FEMA data, out of 21 
states funding safe rooms, only four states, Oklahoma, Alabama, 
Mississippi, and Arkansas, represent the bulk of residential safe 
rooms, appproximately 21,600 of the 21,880 funded.
  But let me give you an example of how the needs for these types of 
structures are often outpacing the resources currently available. 
Following the May 20, 2013 tornado there, Moore, OK, Mayor Glenn Lewis 
proposed a requirement that all new homes built in the city include a 
safe room. Oklahoma Governor Fallin also told the Associated Press that 
only 100 of the 1,752 public schools in Oklahoma have a safe room. In a 
subsequent June 9, 2013, interview, Albert Ashwood, Director of the 
Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management, estimated that putting 
safe rooms in 1,000 Oklahoma schools, via traditional FEMA grant 
programs, would cost between $500 million to $1 billion alone. So in 
the near future, there is likely to be less, not more, Federal funding 
available at the State level for these types of residential safe rooms. 
Our bill would allow a backstop to homeowners in the event that other 
Federal/State funds are not available for safe rooms for that 
particular disaster.
  In closing, I believe that this commonsense disaster reform will 
greatly benefit homeowners impacted by future tornadoes and other 
disasters.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                S. 1440

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Tornado Family Safety Act of 
     2013''.

     SEC. 2. USE OF PHYSICAL DAMAGE DISASTER LOANS.

       Section 7(b)(1)(A) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
     636(b)(1)(A)) is amended--
       (1) by striking ``the Administration may increase'' and 
     inserting ``the Administration may, subject to section 18(a), 
     increase''; and
       (2) by striking ``and modifying structures'' and inserting 
     ``, and modifying structures (including construction of a 
     safe room or similar storm shelter designed to protect 
     property and occupants from tornadoes or other natural 
     disasters)''.
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