* WARNING: THIS IS AN UNOFFICIAL, INTRODUCTORY COPY OF THE BILL.
THE OFFICIAL COPY CONSIDERED BY THE CITY COUNCIL IS THE FIRST READER COPY.
INTRODUCTORY*
CITY OF BALTIMORE
COUNCIL BILL R
(Resolution)
Introduced by: Councilmember Holton
A RESOLUTION ENTITLED
A COUNCIL RESOLUTION concerning
Title
In Support of Federal Legislation - ( HR 4197) - The Hurricane Katrina Recovery, Reclamation, Reconstruction and Reunion Act of 2005
FOR the purpose of expressing support for the Congressional Black Caucus' Hurricane Relief Legislation that seeks to provide for the recovery of the Gulf Coast region and for the reunion of families devastated by Hurricane Katrina and urging members of the Maryland State Delegation to the 109th Congress to work to secure passage of this comprehensive legislative response to the spiritual, emotional, and economic toll exacted by the wrath of Katrina.
Body
Recitals
On November 3, 2005, all 42 House members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) introduced this Hurricane Katrina relief legislation to provide for the recovery of the Gulf Coast region and for the reunion of the families torn apart and forever impacted by the fury of the hurricane and called on the President and on Democratic and Republican members of the House and Senate to support the measure and to make a commitment to eradicate issues of poverty exposed by the hurricane.
In short, the bill provides for the determination of eligibility for compensation for any individual, or relatives of a deceased individual, who sustained economic or non-economic losses as a result of Hurricane Katrina so that the individual or the relatives are restored as nearly as possible to their condition before Hurricane Katrina. Specifically the bill:
* Title I - Victim Restoration Fund: Appoints a Special Master to determine what compensation is necessary to restore each individual claimant to his or her pre-Katrina condition, offsetting recoveries to each claimant from collateral sources and utilizing non-government funds to help reduce the financial burden on the federal government.
* Title II - Environmental Provisions: Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to develop a Comprehensive Environmental Sampling and Toxicity Assessment Plan, including public health assessments and monitoring, training of clean up workers, notification to the public of risks, a step-by-step process for allowing residents to return to their property, a process for compensating those unable to return because of environmental conditions, and an independent review of determinations.
* Title III - Health Provisions: A) Authorizes grants to rebuild and repair medical facilities destroyed or damaged by the hurricane and to help close health access and outcome disparities between minorities and others and provides Medicaid for each survivor under certain income levels; B) Authorizes 100% federal payment for states to provide emergency Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF); C) Provides 100% federal coverage of unemployment benefits for 26 additional weeks; and D) Provides federal payments to private health insurance premiums for at least 12 months for employees and employers who could not continue to pay premiums, as the result of Katrina.
* Title IV - Housing and Community Rebuilding Provisions: Authorizes additional federal funds for Public Housing Capital Funds, HOPE VI Community Revitalization; HOME; Community Development Block Grants (CDBG); YouthBuild; HUD Demonstration Act Funds; Funding for 300,000 additional Section 8 Vouchers; Fair Housing Enforcement; and Housing Counseling for families in temporary shelters. It also prohibits placement of Katrina victims in substandard housing, provides for more vigorous enforcement of Fair Housing laws, gives them preference for HUD properties, and established a mortgage payment fund.
* Title V - Education Provisions: Allows additional emergency funding for Child Care Development Act Grants and Head Start Services; provides additional funding for elementary and secondary schools to help relocated students and the systems to which they are relocated, to help rebuild and restart schools in Katrina areas, to help homeless youth, for community learning centers, for construction, modernization of damaged schools, and teacher incentive programs; provide loan forgiveness for college students, grants for reconstruction and renovation of colleges, and grants for recruitment and retention of students and faculty at colleges impacted by Katrina.
* Title VI - Voting Rights: Provides Katrina evacuees the same absentee ballot and registration provisions available to military personnel and authorizes up to $50 million in grants for restoration and replacement of election materials.
* Title VII - Financial Service Provisions: Waives certain regulations, capital requirements, and fees and customer identification requirements to facilitate financial transactions for Katrina victims and provide technical assistance to minority financial institutions.
* Title VIII - Expanded Opportunity and Small Business Provisions: Reinstates Davis-Bacon wage requirements, set small and minority business, local business and local employee participation goals in post-Katrina contracting, requires financial incentives to be provided to meet these goals, requires contractors to provide apprenticeship opportunities and reinstate affirmative action requirements suspended by the President after Katrina. It also authorizes additional funding for new SBA disaster loans and increases loan caps on SBA loans to small businesses impacted by Katrina; allows the SBA to defer payments and refinance existing loans; authorizes additional funding for business counseling, small business development centers and HubZones; and increases surety bonding threshold for hurricane-related procurement contracts.
* Title IX - Tax Provisions: Provides tax credits of up to $5,000 for persons or families displaced by Katrina who purchase or construct homes in the hurricane area, increases the low-income housing credit dollar amount, and allows the issuance of federally guaranteed, tax exempt bonds for reconstruction of the Katrina disaster area.
* Title X - Bankruptcy: Exempts victims of natural disasters from most provisions of the Bankruptcy reform law that recently became effective.
* Title XI - Miscellaneous Provisions: Requires FEMA to reimburse entities that preformed services that should have been performed by FEMA following Hurricane Katrina if requested and allows retroactive purchase of flood insurance by victims who did not live in a designated flood plain.
* Title XII - Eradicating Poverty: Expresses the sense of Congress that the President should present within 6 months a plan to eradicate poverty in the United States within 10 years.
This legislation is a thorough, scholarly, and compassionate approach to making whole those who have suffered from an immediate disaster in which they have had no part in creating and in addressing long-standing systemic wrongs of which they have for too long been victim.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE, That this Body supports passage of the Congressional Black Caucus' Hurricane Relief Legislation that seeks to provide for the recovery of the Gulf Coast region and for the reunion of families devastated by Hurricane Katrina and urges members of the Maryland State Delegation to the 109th Congress to work to secure passage of this comprehensive legislative response to the spiritual, emotional, and economic toll exacted by the wrath of Katrina.
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this Body urges the Honorable Chairs and Members of the Subcommittees to which the various provisions of the legislation have been assigned to adopt the respective provisions of HR 4197.
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be sent to the President of the United States, the Honorable Chair and Members of the Legislative Black Caucus, the Honorable Chairs and Members of the following House Committees: Committee on Ways and Means; the Judiciary; Financial Services; Energy and Commerce; Transportation and Infrastructure; Education and the Workforce; Small Business; Government Reform; the Budget; and the Health Subcommittee of Ways and Means; the Members of the Maryland Delegation to the 109th Congress; the Mayor; the Honorable Chairs and Members to the Baltimore City Senate and House Delegations to the 2006 Maryland General Assembly, and the Mayor's Legislative Liaison to the City Council.
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