Cathleen Carlisle: Welcome.
Good afternoon and good morning to those of you in points west.
My name is Cathleen Carlisle, Mitigation Planner and Policy Advisor, FEMA headquarters, and
project lead for the state mitigation policy update.
I would like to welcome all of you and thank you for joining us.
We had originally planned to host these webinars last spring, but postponed them due to the
COVID-19 response.
We understand that states, local governments, NGOs, businesses, and all of you as individuals
have been experiencing and are continuing to experience significant impacts due to COVID-19,
so we really appreciate your attendance today.
My co-presenter is Laura Duff, HQ Mitigation Planner, leading the update process for the
local mitigation planning policy.
The purpose of today’s webinar is to share information with our state, local government,
and other partners related to the upcoming mitigation planning policy update process.
We seek your feedback on the current state and local policies, given your experience
with these policies over the past several years.
Or, if you are new to this process, we would like to hear your thoughts and ideas as well.
Our goal is to provide fair and consistent guidance to state and FEMA officials responsible
for reviewing local mitigation plans, and to provide states and local governments with
guidance to help meet the requirements of the Stafford Act.
Overall, we hope our policies and related products will promote the development of effective
mitigation strategies that will reduce disaster risk for your states and local communities.
So for the webinar today, I will provide a brief overview of the mitigation planning
policies, which we frequently refer to as the Plan Review Guides.
I will provide some general information about the update process and the State Mitigation
Plan Review Guide.
Then Laura will present information on the Local Mitigation Plan Review Guide.
Finally, we will provide some important information regarding how you can provide feedback.
Before we get started, I would like to turn it over to Jenny Burmester, the program manager
for the national mitigation planning program for a few opening remarks.
Jenny Burmester: Thank you Cathleen.
This is Jenny Burmester with FEMA headquarters, with the National Mitigation Planning Program.
I am the program manager.
I also want to add my welcome to you all today.
I am so glad that you have joined us, and I wanted to just thank you for your interest
in mitigation planning and for your time today.
I also want to thank Cathleen, Laura, and our support team for their efforts in preparing
for and delivering this series of webinars.
With that, I want to turn it back over to Cathleen.
Cathleen Carlisle: Thank you, Jenny.
To begin, we’ll have a brief overview of the mitigation planning policies.
Here we have images of the policy documents, that we frequently refer to as our Plan Review
Guides.
For those of you who are newer to mitigation planning, the mitigation planning policies
are FEMA’s official interpretation of the Code of Federal Regulations code 44 CFR Part 201.
Specifically, Section 201.4 refers to the standard state regulations and 201.5 refers
to the enhanced state regulations.
The enhanced regulations are optional for states that would like to go above and beyond
the standard requirements and provide an opportunity for increased HMGP funding, Hazard Mitigation
Grant Program.
And 44 CFR 201.6 is where the regulations are for the local policy.
Tribal regulations are in 201.7.
The regulations at 201.5 are the basis for the tribal enhanced requirements.
The Tribal Guide, by the way, was updated in 2017.
I want to talk about why we are updating these policies.
FEMA requires that our policies be reviewed, and if necessary updated, every four years.
We cannot always stick to that timeline, but that is our goal.
We need to remain current with legislative and regulatory changes.
For example, many of you may be familiar with the new Building Resilience Infrastructure
and Communities program, which is now just ready to roll out.
This opportunity became available through the passage of the Disaster Recovery and Reform
Act in 2018, and will provide some expanded opportunities for funding.
Just to put in a plug, there are BRIC webinars taking place on Wednesdays this month.
If you are not able to register or get into the webinar, they will be recorded, so I really
encourage you to watch these webinars and become familiar with the program.
And obviously, our planning policies need to be consistent with the BRIC program, and
also, other FEMA programs, plans, strategies, and initiatives.
Where things are changing in between our updates, we need to be sure that our policies are consistent.
We need to clarify existing requirements and make practical changes to improve our plans
for disaster risk reduction outcomes, and also to improve the ease of use.
That includes our review and submission procedures.
There are four appendices, for instance, in our State Mitigation Guide, that all refer
to basic procedural issues: how to submit the plans, and the time, other tools and templates,
and those are important to keep updated as well.
Finally, I want to emphasize that there have been no changes to the regulations since the
previous policy updates.
This is basically an image to show the policy update process.
Right now, we are in the stage of Stakeholder and Partner Engagement, so we want to solicit
feedback and ideas from all of our partners as we begin to draft the document.
The next stage following stakeholder engagement will be writing and development and preparing
this draft policy update for both the state and local policies.
When that is complete, the documents will need to go through program review in the Federal
Insurance and Mitigation Administration, our directorate and then all the way through the
agency.
There are many other agency components that need to review the policy, and comment, and
we need to ensure that we are aligned and we understand all the impacts to the other
programs.
Finally, when we finish the document, we will release that.
There will be a specific release date, and we will make sure everyone is aware.
We will provide webinars, possibly webinars nationally, possibly regionally, and other
dissemination and education opportunities.
The policy actually becomes effective one year from the release date, so that gives
us the time to roll the information out to everyone, time to prepare for when that policy
actually becomes effective.
I’m going to talk a little bit about state mitigation planning.
As we talked about before, the State Mitigation Plan Review Guide interprets 44 CFR Section
201.4 and 201.5.
It includes a set of guiding principles, the mitigation planning responsibilities as I
discussed in the previous slide, the standard state planning requirements (the Planning
Process, Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment, the Mitigation Strategy, Mitigation Capabilities,
Review, Evaluation and Implementation, and Adoption and Assurances).
It also covers the requirements for enhanced plans, and that includes the enhanced planning
requirements and the HMA grants management requirements.
Finally, submission and review procedures, as I mentioned earlier.
Examples of areas that we will be reviewing as we begin to look at the update process.
I mentioned the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities, the BRIC program, earlier.
Another program example is the National Mitigation Investment Strategy.
This was released last August, to bring all national stakeholders involved in disaster
resilience, including federal, state, tribal, territorial, local and private organizations,
and the public together to invest in mitigation.
We want to make sure our policies are consistent in referencing and in aligning with the strategy.
Also, in 2019, Congress appropriated funds to award grants for the rehabilitation of
high hazard dams.
There is a mitigation plan requirement related to this program, so there is also a need to
incorporate a policy around this requirement within our Mitigation Plan Review Guide.
We will look at standard state requirements, but we will also pay special attention to
the enhanced requirements.
Several states submitted plans for enhanced status over the past few years.
We have learned some lessons.
We want to make sure have good consistency and that expectations are clear.
That would include the review of the HMA grants management requirements.
As I mentioned before, the procedural aspects of planning, so submission, review, and approval
procedures, processes for enhanced mitigation plan review panels, and other tools and templates
such as approval letter templates and the plan review tool.
We have several resources, and I really encourage you all to look at all of these.
Definitely look at the Plan Review Guide.
We have a set of Mitigation Planning Key Topics Bulletins for States.
These documents are targeted for plan development, as opposed to just reviewing for compliance.
These provide various approaches for how to meet the requirements as well as how to develop
an effective plan.
They are organized according to the plan sections, for instance, the planning process or the
mitigation strategy.
The Mitigation Ideas is a great resource.
It provides a lot of ideas and suggestions for mitigation actions and projects.
Those are organized according to hazard.
We do have a new training, IS 329, for State Hazard Mitigation Planning.
It can be an in-person training, but we are trying to evaluate how we can do that, given
our current conditions.
We will continue to explore that, but definitely take a look at the independent training, available
through EMI.
There is also Planning for Resilient Communities, which focuses on land use planning and the
community planner’s role in hazard mitigation.
On our website: https://www.fema.gov/state-mitigation-planning-resources, you will see this link and you will find all
this information in one place.
Now I am going to turn it over to Laura Duff to talk about local mitigation lanning.
Laura Duff: Thank you, Cathleen, and thank you all for joining us today.
As Cathleen mentioned, my name is Laura Duff and I am a mitigation planner with FEMA headquarters.
I am also supporting the work surrounding the update of the Local Mitigation Plan Review Guide
The Local Mitigation Plan Review Guide interprets the language and intent outlined in chapter
44 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Section 201.6.
The CFR is a congressionally approved code that covers a large body of laws that govern
federal practice.
In this case, 44 CFR 201.6 specifically talks about local mitigation planning requirements.
Although the regulations in the CFR are not changing, we welcome all comments and suggestions
for effective execution of the CFR requirements under the Plan Review Guides.
The Local Plan Review Guide, or Local Guide for short, outlines guiding principles and
requirements for local hazard mitigation plans.
The Guide also provides submission and review procedures for local mitigation plans.
The Local Guide was last updated in 2011, and like the State Mitigation Plan Review
Guide, we are seeking your input on what’s working and what isn’t with the Local Guide
so we can update the policy to be more effective for emergency managers, planners, and other
partners in mitigation.
The National Mitigation Planning Program has tools, resources, and trainings to assist
you in developing or updating your mitigation plans.
As was earlier mentioned, we have not started the writing and updating process, but there
are several areas where we have heard recommendations in the past for areas of review.
These areas include bringing the Local Guide in alignment with the State Guide to match
up guidance, language, and procedures across guidance.
We have heard feedback on addressing climate and future conditions in local hazard mitigation
plans.
Planners have also mentioned that plans can feel “siloed,” so we are also looking
at how we can better connect the required elements to support a more cohesive and actionable
product.
The planning team is reviewing the Guide for clarity and language to ensure that we are
conveying information and plan requirements as clearly as possible.
We are also looking at the overall formatting of the document.
We welcome input on both content and usability.
As was mentioned, we have several tools and resources to assist you in updating or developing
your mitigation plans.
Following the policy update, we will be bringing these in alignment with the changes made in
the Guides.
These resources include a Local Mitigation Planning Handbook that walks the user through
the process from beginning to end to ensure that you’re not only getting something that
meets requirements, but creating something that is useful for you and your community.
We also have Mitigation Ideas: A Resource for Reducing Risk to Natural Hazards, which
is a resource of a range of potential mitigation actions that could be potentially replicated
in your community.
These and many other mitigation planning products are available on our website.
Training is also available for local planners, such as the Local Planning Workshop and Mitigation
Planning for Local and Tribal Communities courses.
These courses cover the fundamentals of mitigation planning requirements for communities.
The trainings include an overview of the requirements for the planning process and developing effective
mitigation strategies.
They also cover the basic elements of the plan review, approval, and update cycle of planning
FEMA also offers Planning for Resilient Communities Training.
This workshop provides an overview of the mitigation planning process and discusses
the role of community planners in risk reduction.
The course covers how planners and community officials can facilitate the planning process,
assess existing and future vulnerabilities, evaluate community capabilities, and identify
potential solutions.
All our mitigation planning training and resources links are available on FEMA.gov.
Additional training opportunities are available on FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute
(EMI) website, as well as from your local FEMA Region office.
Back to Cathleen for sharing ideas and comments.
Cathleen Carlisle: Thank you Laura.
This is your opportunity to provide your thoughts, ideas, and feedback on the mitigation planning
policies.
We will be collecting feedback via email at the email address that is listed on this slide
(FEMA-MitPlan-Guide-Updates@fema.dhs.gov).
We will be collecting feedback through this dedicated inbox through August 14.
Also, we encourage you to sign up for GovDelivery notifications (https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDHSFEMA/subscriber/new)
where we will keep everybody apprised of our progress.
Once we have collected feedback, we will summarize and share it.
All of this be taken into consideration as we draft our updates.
We would like to encourage all of you to spread the word to your peers, and encourage them
to provide feedback as well.
As always, contact your Regional mitigation planner for information as well.
We appreciate your participation and attendance today, and we look forward to receiving your
feedback.
Here are some handy website and email addresses for you.
Thank you very much.
Website: www.FEMA.gov/hazard-mitigation-planning Email: FEMA-MitPlan-Guide-Updates@fema.dhs.gov