Senators back change to disaster declarations

HARRISBURG, Ill. — A measure pending in Congress would bring consistency and fairness to how communities hit by natural disasters are chosen for federal relief, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin said Thursday.

The Fairness In Federal Disaster Declarations Act supported by Durbin, a Springfield Democrat, and Mark Kirk, a Highland Park Republican, comes after Harrisburg, nearby Ridgway and other southern Illinois communities devastated by Feb. 29 tornadoes were denied federal aid.

The lawmakers said the measure would require the Federal Emergency Management Agency to give a specified weight to each of the factors considered when determining which communities are eligible for federal help. It also requires FEMA to consider local economic factors such as the assessable tax base, median income and poverty rate in comparison to that of the state.

Durbin said FEMA’s denial of federal aid to Illinois communities affected by the February tornadoes was based on its determination the damage did not meet an internal threshold it uses for more-populated states.

“The thinking is that large states have the resources to absorb the recovery costs,” said Durbin, the senior senator from a state with more than 10 million people. “Well, that’s just not the case in Illinois, and it’s certainly not the case for these communities.

“If these towns don’t qualify for federal assistance, something is wrong,” added Durbin, who said the legislation “will put some fairness back into the system so that people in Illinois are not unfairly punished for living in a populous state.”

The lawmakers said that while FEMA never has specified how it determines who’s worthy of a disaster declaration, the agency has said it considers six factors to determine eligibility for individual and public assistance, with the weight of each father unclear and perhaps even fluctuate.

The pending legislation would weight by percentage the criteria.

“This proposal will level the playing field for communities throughout Illinois and across America so that when a disaster strikes, their applications for federal help will receive more comprehensive and fair consideration,” Gov. Pat Quinn said in a statement. “Small communities in big states that have suffered tremendous losses from a disaster would no longer be penalized.”

FEMA, in an email to The Associated Press, declined to comment.