The Stafford Act
A national-level law has to be mandated when the country gets affected by untimely disasters like floods, hurricanes, pandemics, terrorist attacks, to name a few. The Stafford Act is put in effect by the President of the United States when there is a national emergency. The declaration of the Stafford Act allows the resident to access the Emergency and Disaster Relief Funds. The states may or may not have exhausted the emergency relief funds, but there should be a clear intention to seek help from the President. The most certain case where the Stafford Act can be implemented are as follows:
The state’s emergency funds must be exhausted or close to depletion.
The governor must decide and confirm that the state is no more capable of handling the disaster.
The governor concludes that the state cannot handle the disaster with the available resource and seek the President’s intervention.
The background of Stafford Law
The Stafford Act was used twice in US history for health-related disaster relief. President Clinton claimed the Stafford Act for the Nile Virus outbreak, and the second one was used recently by President Trump for the COVID-19 Pandemic. In 1950 the Congress passed the Federal Disaster Relief Act that empowered the President to address an emergency on a national level. In 1988. The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act was passed to provide each state a disaster relief fund.
Events Leading to invoking the Stafford Act
The Stafford Act has seven titles. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)exercises its power and resources to the disaster-stricken states. It allows the local governments to handle the situation better as there is a gush of additional relief resources. Once the ‘ FEMA STATE AGREEMENT’ contract is signed, the relief operations under disaster management are out in place. A few of them are as below:
Verify the disaster affected locations and set the parameters
Consideration of the exact areas in need of disaster relief operations
Types of relief help and operation required.
Cost-sharing terms and conditions
Rehabilitation design and resources
Total time frame design for the disaster relief management
Once individual states are under the FEMA agreement, there are several resources distributed to the local governments. Specifically, under the Stafford Act, there are three types of resources available.
Individual disaster
Disaster relief that the relief operations on an individual level. This kind of relief operation takes care of businesses and individuals that require immediate assistance.
Public Assistance
Under the Stafford Act, there is a separate funding resource and relief operations expertise utilized for the state and the local government.
Hazard Mitigation Assistance
Any state that has been affected by a disaster like a hurricane, pandemic, terrorist attack, several department relief functions come into the picture. These include businesses, housing, farming, rehabilitation of the disaster-affected population, and environmental concerns.
The Stanford Act puts in place all the three concerns during and after the FEMA relief operations.
The role of the President for invoking the Stafford Act
Once the President has invoked the Stanford Act, the reserve of Billions of Dollars disaster relief operations is up to overcome the situation with the best practices. The President can also forego the gubernatorial request from the states for emergency relief and put the Federal Government in charge of the relief operations.
The Stafford Act also declares Public Health emergency reforms like COVID 19, where President Trump. However, quarantining the general public is a decision that has to be taken after consulting the Health and Human Services under the Social Security Act Section 1135 and the Public Health Services Act Section 319.
Summary
The Stafford Act is defined by Federal Assistance provided to the states if depletion of the resources or the relief measure is a call beyond the state’s capacity. It gets invoked to protect and save the life, business, and livelihoods. Along with environmental disasters, disease, plague, pandemics are to be dealt with under the FEMA rules, policies, and guidance to tackle the emergency relief operations under the Stafford Act. There is a relief fund and shared cost model where Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) aid provision is supplied to the states. The aid makes sure that the funds and resources used are only provided directly to the cause.
