Coalition Letter - 2024 Resilience Priorities

Dear Chairs Peters and Graves and Ranking Members Paul and Larsen:

            The undersigned organizations —representing a broad group of leaders from business, conservation, environment, open space, and state and local government—urge you to include resilience and adaptation as a priority for the work of your committees in 2024. 

Building smart, modern, and resilient infrastructure has been among our top priorities. Our suggestions would add value and improve the successes in the resilience and predisaster policy space, from implementation of the Safeguarding Tomorrow through Ongoing Risk Mitigation Act and the Community Disaster Resilience Zones Act to the resilience provisions of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. 

More tools are needed for companies and communities alike to fund resilience technologies, projects, and measures to assess and address climate risk. The following underscores several important issues for your consideration and support for the remainder of the 118th Congress and beyond:

·       Elevating resilience as a national priority by establishing a chief resilience officer at the White House and calling for interagency coordination and development of a national resilience strategy.

·       Increasing the portion of postdisaster funding directed for predisaster mitigation purposes (e.g., for retrofitting older homes and structures or updating the most recent editions of building/construction codes), especially in FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program.

·       Promoting incentives, including tax credits for individuals and businesses, for predisaster mitigation measures and expenses.

We commend your strong support for predisaster mitigation and its unparalleled return on investment for the American taxpayer with an estimated benefit-cost ratio of up to 6-to-1. Resilience is, simply put, good public policy for our environment and our economy.

Chuck Chaitovitz with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce will be in touch with your staff to follow up.

Sincerely,

American Council of Engineering Companies

American Property Casualty Insurance Association

American Society of Civil Engineers

American Society of Landscape Architects

BuildStrong America

Center for Climate and Energy Solutions

City Parks Alliance

Ecological Restoration Business Association

Geos Institute

Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety

International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials

Interstate Council on Water Policy

Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative

National Association of Counties

National Association of Flood and Stormwater Management Agencies

National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies

National League of Cities

Reinsurance Association of America

Resilience Innovation Hub

U.S. Chamber of Commerce

cc: Members of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs

      Members of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure