According to the Fiscal Year 2003 Budget of the US Government, a proposal was made to replace the formula-based Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) with a pre-disaster competitive grant program.  The HMGP was funded through the Disaster Relief Fund and available to State and local governments, Indian tribes or other tribal organizations, and certain private non-profit organizations.  The program was available only following a Presidentially declared disaster and provided “grants to States and local governments to implement long-term hazard mitigation measures after a major disaster declaration.”  The HMGP was shown to be unproductive when FEMA provided Congress with the information that 45 percent of HMGP were either minimally cost effective or not cost effective in the year 2000.

The new pre-disaster mitigation program will award grants on a competitive basis.  The Budget devoted $300 million to the program and designed it to replace completely the HMGP.  The new program will function autonomously from the disaster relief programs.  This change allows the funds to remain stable and not fluctuate according to disaster activity.  According to a statement made by Joe M. Allbaugh, Director of FEMA, before The Appropriations Subcommittee on VA-HUD and Independent Agencies, United States House of Representatives, March 6, 2002, “mitigation should be a regular investment priority and should not track the unpredictable level of disaster activity in a given year.  The new competitive process will make sure the best thought out and cost-effective programs get funded every year.”  In the same statement, Allbaugh also illuminates the goal of the new program as “to fund activities that will reduce the risks of future damage in hazard prone areas, thereby reducing the need for future disaster assistance.”  The statement also informs of the eligible activities as: “vulnerability assessments; State and local mitigation planning; the reinforcement of structures against seismic, wind, and other hazards; elevation of flood-prone structures; acquisition or relocation of structures at risk; and minor flood control or drainage management projects”. (For the full statement, please visit: http://www.fema.gov/library/jma030602.shtm)  

In August of 2002, FEMA published a request for comments to the proposed program.  FEMA sought “ideas and recommendations on ways that FEMA can structure a competitive grant process that encourages state and local governments to collaborate on natural hazards reduction built upon strong mitigation planning.”  Additionally, FEMA sought “suggestions regarding eligibility criteria and factors that should be considered when determining how much grant recipients should receive.”  Comments were to be received by September 30, 2002.  For more information, please visit:  http://www.fema.gov/fima/planning7.shtm.
For the full Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2003, please visit URL: http://www.gpo.gov/usbudget/fy2003/pdf/bud26.pdf or http://www.gpo.gov/usbudget/fy2003/pdf/app23.pdf.  For more information on FEMA’s mitigation grant programs, please visit:  http://www.fema.gov/fima/mitgrant.shtm or for Mitigation Grant Programs, Pre-Disaster Mitigation Program visit http://www.fema.gov/fima/pdm.shtm.