PRINTER'S NO. 1197
No. 1022 Session of 2003
INTRODUCED BY DALEY, TIGUE, DeWEESE, McCALL, GEORGE, THOMAS,
BELFANTI, MARKOSEK, LEVDANSKY, JOSEPHS, CAWLEY, BUNT, CIVERA,
PISTELLA, SAINATO, SOLOBAY, COSTA, READSHAW, STURLA, PALLONE,
LEDERER, SCHRODER, J. WILLIAMS, HALUSKA, WALKO, BEBKO-JONES,
RUFFING, CURRY, CASORIO, HORSEY, GORDNER, YOUNGBLOOD,
YUDICHAK, HARHAI, SCRIMENTI, CRAHALLA, KELLER, PETRARCA,
ALLEN, LaGROTTA, TRAVAGLIO, JAMES, HARPER AND MYERS,
APRIL 2, 2003
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS AND EMERGENCY
PREPAREDNESS, APRIL 2, 2003
AN ACT
1 Establishing the PENNCrisis Fund; providing for small disaster
2 assistance, for low-interest loans and grants to small
3 disaster victims, for business, municipal and residential
4 loans and for training, administration, operations and
5 insurance coverage; and making an appropriation.
6 TABLE OF CONTENTS
7 Section 1. Legislative findings.
8 Section 2. Definitions.
9 Section 3. Small Disaster Assistance Fund.
10 Section 4. Low-interest loans to small disaster victims.
11 Section 5. Business and municipal loans.
12 Section 6. Residential loans.
13 Section 7. Grants to small disaster victims.
14 Section 8. Small disaster mitigation loans and grants.
15 Section 9. The PENNCrisis Fund.
16 Section 10. Training, administration and operations.
1 Section 11. Insurance coverage.
2 Section 12. Appropriation.
3 Section 13. Effective date.
4 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
5 hereby enacts as follows:
6 Section 1. Legislative findings.
7 The General Assembly finds that many communities in this
8 Commonwealth frequently are subject to natural and manmade
9 disasters which cause significant damage and disruption in the
10 life of the community but which are not of sufficient magnitude
11 to qualify for Federal disaster assistance programs.
12 Nevertheless, these losses are of considerable importance to
13 those directly affected and their communities and to the health
14 and welfare of the citizens of this Commonwealth's many small
15 communities.
16 Section 2. Definitions.
17 The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
18 have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
19 context clearly indicates otherwise:
20 "Agency." The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.
21 "Business." The term includes nonprofit organizations and
22 the nonsectarian portion of religious facilities.
23 "Cost-of-living increase." The total annual increase in the
24 federally published Consumer Price Index for the calendar year
25 prior to the disaster event.
26 "Fund." The Small Disaster Assistance Fund created under
27 this act.
28 "Small disaster." An event which results in total uninsured
29 losses, for all affected individuals and businesses, of not more
30 than $2,000,000 and which occurred after June 30, 2000, and
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1 falls below the current Federal guidelines for Federal disaster
2 assistance but which involves:
3 (1) damage exceeding 40% of the total value of a
4 structure and contents of each of at least five homes or two
5 businesses;
6 (2) loss of life; or
7 (3) total estimated damages of at least $250,000 to
8 public facilities.
9 Section 3. Small Disaster Assistance Fund.
10 (a) Fund created.--There is created within the PENNCrisis
11 program a Small Disaster Assistance Fund to assist the victims
12 of natural and manmade disasters with low-interest loans and
13 grants. Except as otherwise provided in this act, assistance
14 shall not be available to a person that owns property within a
15 100-year flood plain and that does not have flood insurance. All
16 loan repayments shall be placed in the fund to be used for the
17 purposes of this act.
18 (b) Coordination and administration of fund.--All field and
19 other activities of the fund shall be coordinated by the agency,
20 including budgetary allocations from the PENNCrisis Fund to the
21 various objects of PENNCrisis and reports to the General
22 Assembly on program performance and needs. Final authority on
23 all individual requests for assistance from the fund shall rest
24 with the administering agencies. Program elements of the fund
25 shall be administered as follows:
26 (1) For residential housing needs, the Pennsylvania
27 Housing Finance Agency.
28 (2) For residential contents and vehicles, the
29 Department of Public Welfare.
30 (3) For business and municipal programs, the Department
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1 of Community and Economic Development.
2 (c) Small disaster declarations.--
3 (1) A county emergency management director may petition
4 the agency for a declaration of a small disaster. The
5 agency's determination on the petition shall be deemed a
6 final order, subject to review under 2 Pa.C.S. Ch. 7 Subch. A
7 (relating to judicial review of Commonwealth agency action).
8 (2) A declaration of small disaster shall extend the
9 assistance available under this act to all persons,
10 businesses and municipalities within a county that suffered
11 any level of physical damages from the disaster event.
12 Section 4. Low-interest loans to small disaster victims.
13 (a) Interest.--All loans shall bear interest for the entire
14 term at a rate no greater than the annual cost of living in the
15 year in which the loan is granted.
16 (b) Coverage.--Loans shall cover only that portion of loss
17 not covered by insurance, except that residential claimants
18 having current income of less than 200% of the Federal poverty
19 level for Pennsylvania shall be exempt from the flood insurance
20 requirement of section 3(a).
21 (c) Existing debt.--Business and residential loans shall be
22 extended to incorporate existing debt on real property and
23 contents.
24 Section 5. Business and municipal loans.
25 (a) Business loans.--
26 (1) Loans to businesses and municipalities shall be for
27 a term of no more than 15 years, except where the term is
28 extended by hardship suspensions of payments. Business loans
29 shall be secured by a mortgage on real property of the
30 business or other suitable collateral.
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1 (2) Business loans may be used to repair or replace all
2 of the following when lost or seriously damaged due to a
3 small disaster:
4 (i) Fixed equipment.
5 (ii) Major moveable equipment.
6 (iii) Furnishings.
7 (iv) Real property.
8 (v) Leasehold improvements.
9 (vi) Inventory, if it can be shown that an insurance
10 policy at a reasonable premium in relation to value was
11 not available to replace the inventory.
12 (3) At the discretion of the Department of Community and
13 Economic Development, individual business loans may be
14 increased up to 150% of eligible repair or replacement costs
15 to assist in business retention and recovery. The sum of all
16 business loans may not exceed more than one-half of all funds
17 available for expenditure in the PENNCrisis Fund in any
18 fiscal year.
19 (b) Municipal loans.--Municipal and county loans may be used
20 for repairing or replacing all of the following when lost or
21 seriously damaged due to a small disaster:
22 (1) Buildings.
23 (2) Major equipment other than vehicles, plows, backhoes
24 and similar gasoline-powered or diesel-powered mobile
25 machinery.
26 (3) Office machines.
27 (4) Streets.
28 (5) Water and sewer lines and other public utilities.
29 (6) Recreational facilities.
30 Section 6. Residential loans.
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1 (a) General rule.--Residential loans may be made only for
2 the replacement or repair of the structure of a primary
3 residence and must be secured by a mortgage on the real property
4 that is the subject of the loan. Tenants who have been forced
5 from a primary rental residence by a small disaster are eligible
6 for loans to purchase a home approximately equivalent to their
7 prior residence in size but no smaller than 400 square feet per
8 individual of interior living space.
9 (b) Exception.--Repairs to landscaping, ponds, pools and
10 outbuildings are not eligible for PENNCrisis funding, except to
11 respond to serious hazards resulting from small disaster damage.
12 Section 7. Grants to small disaster victims.
13 (a) Residential loans.--Persons, including tenants, who have
14 lost clothing, furniture, appliances, furnaces, hot water
15 heaters or other contents of their primary residences as the
16 result of a small disaster are eligible for low-interest loans
17 not to exceed $7,500 per person in multiperson households and
18 not to exceed $15,000 in single person households. The total
19 amount per household shall not exceed $35,000.
20 (b) Residential grants.--In the event that individual
21 financial circumstances indicate that a person incurring losses
22 described in subsection (a) does not reasonably have the ability
23 to repay such additional indebtedness, the administering agency
24 may convert some or all of the amounts permitted under
25 subsection (a) to grants.
26 (c) Excess loans.--For documentable losses exceeding the
27 amounts specified in subsection (a), the administering agency
28 may make loans to individuals at an interest rate twice the rate
29 for other loans under this act.
30 (d) Contents limitations.--Loans and grants for contents
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1 under this section shall not exceed one-third of estimated
2 market value of the residence prior to the small disaster.
3 (e) Exclusions.--Personal items eligible for residential
4 grants and loans shall not include jewelry, art or other luxury
5 items and sporting equipment.
6 Section 8. Small disaster mitigation loans and grants.
7 (a) General rule.--Municipalities affected by a small
8 disaster may apply for loans and grants to rectify conditions or
9 inadequate public facilities that led directly to the small
10 disaster or contributed substantially to its occurrence or the
11 inability of local officials to bring the damage under control.
12 Subjects of such assistance shall include, but are not limited
13 to, the following:
14 (1) Missing or inadequate storm sewers or other water
15 management structures, including work within stream channels.
16 (2) Inadequate fire hydrants or related water lines.
17 (3) Watershed plans.
18 (4) Engineering studies and designs necessary to effect
19 mitigation improvements.
20 (b) Limitation.--Small-disaster mitigation assistance may be
21 used only for municipally owned or controlled improvements.
22 Firefighting apparatus and other emergency services equipment
23 and vehicles, including trucks, tankers and other vehicles, are
24 not eligible for mitigation assistance.
25 (c) Chronic flooding.--The coordinating agency may consult
26 with the Department of Environmental Protection to identify
27 areas of chronic flooding that result in frequent damage to
28 communities but which do not rise to the level of a small
29 disaster. The coordinating agency, in conjunction with the
30 Department of Environmental Protection, may use up to 25% of the
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1 PENNCrisis Fund annual revenue, exclusive of carryover reserves,
2 to provide grants and loans to municipalities to correct such
3 conditions. Assistance shall follow the formula set forth in
4 subsection (e).
5 (d) Hazard mitigation.--Hazard mitigation loans and grants
6 shall be subject to the following:
7 (1) Grants for hazard mitigation work shall be no more
8 than $5,000,000 per event.
9 (2) Low-interest loans shall be available for the
10 balance of project work not covered by a mitigation grant to
11 a maximum total assistance of loan and grant of no more than
12 $10,000,000.
13 (3) Hazard mitigation loans shall be for a term of 20
14 years and shall bear interest at a rate determined by using
15 the cost-of-living increase.
16 (e) Formula.--Grants and loans shall be awarded on the
17 following formula:
18 (1) Municipalities with median per capita personal
19 income greater than 20% above the State median per capita
20 personal income for the preceding year shall be eligible for
21 a mitigation grant of 50% of total project costs.
22 (2) Municipalities with median per capita personal
23 income of between 20% less than and 20% greater than the
24 State median per capita personal income for the preceding
25 year shall be eligible for a mitigation grant of 60% of total
26 project cost.
27 (3) Municipalities with median per capita personal
28 income more than 20% less than the State median per capita
29 personal income for the preceding year shall be eligible for
30 a mitigation grant of 70% of total project cost.
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1 Section 9. The PENNCrisis Fund.
2 There is established under the jurisdiction of the agency a
3 fund to be called the PENNCrisis Fund.
4 (1) Beginning with revenues received during the 2003-
5 2004 fiscal year, all insurance policies on real property
6 within this Commonwealth shall include a surcharge of $1 per
7 $100,000 of insured value:
8 (i) Insurors shall remit surcharge revenues to the
9 agency on a quarterly basis.
10 (ii) Insurers may elect to retain 5% of all
11 surcharge revenues to defray administrative costs of
12 collection.
13 (2) Revenue shall be placed into a dedicated fund
14 reserved for the programs authorized under this act. Deposits
15 into the fund shall not lapse but be carried forward from
16 year to year. Up to one-half of funds on reserve may be used
17 to pay the Commonwealth's matching share for any major
18 disaster declared eligible for Federal assistance by the
19 President of the United States. The need for Federal matching
20 funds for any specific major disaster event may not encumber
21 PENNCrisis revenues in years beyond the year of the major
22 event.
23 Section 10. Training, administration and operations.
24 (a) Specialized staff.--The agency and each administering
25 agency under section 3 shall recruit, train and develop staff
26 specializing in small disaster assistance in their respective
27 program areas. The staff sections shall be deployed by each
28 administering agency in response to a declared small disaster,
29 as directed by the agency. These personnel shall also be
30 available to the agency at the direction of the Governor to
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1 respond to any major disaster in this Commonwealth.
2 (b) Funding for staff.--The agency and each administering
3 agency shall receive $1,000,000 annually, or as much thereof as
4 is necessary, from the PENNCrisis Fund to create a permanently
5 staffed small disaster response team. When each agency's small
6 disaster response team is deployed on assignment, the
7 coordinating agency shall reimburse the agency from the
8 PENNCrisis Fund for standard and necessary travel and living
9 costs for each team deployed to the small disaster. Expenditures
10 under this category shall not exceed 10% of the revenue received
11 by the PENNCrisis Fund in a fiscal year.
12 (c) Authority to approve expenditures.--In response to any
13 small disaster, the agency shall have final authority to approve
14 expenditures of PENNCrisis funds for any additional purposes it
15 deems necessary to small disaster recovery unless the uses are
16 specifically prohibited by this act.
17 Section 11. Insurance coverage.
18 All loan recipients shall maintain adequate property
19 insurance coverage for the full value of the subject property
20 for the term of the disaster assistance loan and shall include
21 flood insurance coverage if the property is located within a
22 100-year flood plain. Grant recipients shall maintain adequate
23 insurance coverage for 20 years.
24 Section 12. Appropriation.
25 The sum of $10,000,000, or as much thereof as may be
26 necessary, is hereby appropriated to the Small Disaster
27 Assistance Fund for the fiscal year July 1, 2003, to June 30,
28 2004, to carry out the provisions of this act.
29 Section 13. Effective date.
30 This act shall take effect immediately.
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