Clean Water Current

The U.S. House of Representatives last week passed bipartisan legislation that will help expedite the ability for communities, especially smaller and rural, to access Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) disaster assistance for relatively small projects.

The legislation, H.R. 5641, the Small Project Efficient and Effective Disaster (SPEED) Recovery Act, previously passed the Senate and is now on its way to President Biden to be signed into law.

H.R. 5641 increases the threshold to $1 million for what FEMA qualifies as a “small project” for states and local governments seeking disaster assistance, including for a public facility or private nonprofit facility.  This definition would include public clean water utilities. Under current law, small projects utilize expedited and simplified procedures when applying for assistance. 

The small project threshold was originally set statutorily in 1988 at $35,000 and has not kept pace with inflation and modern construction costs. As of 2022 it was only updated to $139,000, leaving many communities with more paperwork and delays in getting reimbursed from FEMA for eligible response and recovery activities. 

H.R. 5641 ensures that approximately 95% of projects qualify as small projects and will better help communities be eligible for simplified procedures to more quickly rebuild.

Please contact Jason Isakovic with any questions or to discuss further.