Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. February 23, 2024.

Editorial: Bill would make state disaster relief funds more accessible

Two tornadoes formed on the northeast side of Fort Wayne last year, damaging homes and farms near Grabill and Harlan. No local injuries were reported, but five people were killed by the storm system that spawned about a dozen twisters the evening of March 31.

President Joe Biden declared 12 counties, including Allen, as major disaster areas, making federal relief funding available. Without the president’s OK, local governments and individuals would have needed assistance from the state, which offers much less in financial aid than the federal program.

A bill rolling through the General Assembly proposes significant and needed improvements to the State Disaster Relief Fund. Senate Bill 190 would make more money accessible and more easily available to households after catastrophic events, while allowing governments to tap the fund for mitigation projects that could limit damages from storms and other disasters before they strike.

It rightly passed both the full Senate and the House Committee on Veterans Affairs and Public Safety without a “no” vote, and is awaiting a hearing from the Ways and Means Committee. It deserves the support of every lawmaker and Gov. Eric Holcomb’s signature.

The bill’s author, Indianapolis Republican Cyndi Carrasco, succeeded Sen. John Sandlin, who died of a heart attack in September. SB 190 is her first piece of legislation, a product of conversations with state Department of Homeland Security officials.

“When I started to talk with Homeland Security about the bill and what this would do, I thought this is something I really want to champion,” Carrasco told The Journal Gazette.

SB 190 simplifies the formula that’s used to calculate how much money communities can receive from the state disaster fund, while increasing the maximum amount of assistance to households. Individuals would receive up to $25,000 to compensate for damages not otherwise covered by private insurance plans, a 150% increase from the previous cap of $10,000.

“The House Veteran Affairs and Public Safety Committee heard the bill, and the Indiana Catholic Conference came and testified in support of it,” Carrasco said. “They gave examples about how the cost of certain products has just skyrocketed. This bill is very much intended to be able to cover the higher cost of just things in general.”

Perhaps the most consequential change would make state disaster relief funding available to governmental entities for mitigation projects. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, $1 spent on mitigation saves $6 in disaster recovery costs.

Communities wouldn’t have to wait until a disaster strikes in order to apply to the Department of Homeland Security for public improvements such as tornado shelters, or acquiring and demolishing homes and businesses in a floodplain. Under SB 190, governments could take proactive steps to minimize future disasters.

Last year, the State Disaster Relief Fund received a $149,784 appropriation, as well as $2.56 million from the Public Safety Fee. A review of SB 190 by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency found no additional appropriations would be necessary for the Department of Homeland Security to implement the bill’s proposals. That should give members of the Ways and Means Committee, endeavoring to limit cost increases to the current two-year budget, confidence to pass the bill to the full House for consideration.

For a lead-off bill from a first-time lawmaker, SB 190 is good public policy. It finally makes funding available to communities to implement mitigation efforts that could help limit damage in case of a natural disaster, and increases the maximum payout to households, offering such families some peace of mind when it’s most needed.

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Anderson Herald Bulletin. February 22, 2024.

Editorial: GOP sides with forever chemicals, against Hoosiers

Does the Republican supermajority in the State Legislature not understand the word forever?

Or are they simply willing to gamble the future health of Hoosiers and the environment for the sake of short-term financial gains?

In the latter case, they must also have trouble understanding the most basic component of economic development: quality of life.

House Bill 1399 would limit the definition of PFAS chemicals — known as “forever chemicals” because they continue to contaminate the environment for thousands of years — to exempt from regulation more than 5,000 variations, including many already used by manufacturers with facilities in Indiana.

The bill passed the House by a 64-30 count along partisan lines and awaits vote on the Senate floor after a hearing in the Environmental Affairs Committee last week.

The impetus for the bill comes, not surprisingly, from chemical companies that want Indiana to stay out in front of potential additional federal regulation of forever chemicals.

But the state would be shortsighted to side with chemical companies over resident Hoosiers, who risk exposure to serious health risks. Forever chemicals have been directly connected to kidney cancer, organ dysfunction, endocrine system disruption, immune system suppression, reproductive abnormalities and childhood developmental issues.

Among other uses, forever chemicals render cookware non-stick and carpeting, clothing and cosmetics stain-resistant and waterproof.

These applications do improve quality of day-to-day life, but the tradeoff is unconscionable.

Forever chemicals were first used in household products in the 1940s and over the past eight decades have seeped into our soil and water supplies — not to mention our bodies. They are now found in the blood of people and animals across the planet, as well as in the food supply and a wide array of consumer products.

This brings us to the quality-of-life issue.

The passage of House Bill 1399 would further entrench Indiana as a business-friendly state in the short term, perhaps encouraging manufacturers that use forever chemicals to set up shop here.

But in the long term, who wants to live in and do business in a state that doesn’t protect its residents from what essentially amounts to the release into the environment of poisons that will linger for hundreds of generations?

While some other states are seeking to further regulate forever chemicals, Indiana is headed stubbornly and stupidly in the other direction.

With its supermajority in both chambers of the General Assembly, Republican lawmakers can pass this bill without a whit of support from Democrats. It would be another in a string of shortsighted GOP decisions aimed at deregulation and economic development.

State senators should instead take the long-range view and think deeply about the meaning of “forever” before voting on this treacherous piece of legislation.

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