Hamilton County Director of Emergency Management and Homeland Security Nick Crossley is among some two dozen emergency management leaders from 15 states in Washington, D.C., this week advocating for federal disaster reforms. The effort was organized by the National Association of Counties (NACo).
At issue is the Fixing Emergency Management for Americans (FEMA) Act, also known as H.R. 4669.
"The FEMA reform act is really a comprehensive attempt to update and reform the disaster process at the federal level," Crossley tells WVXU.
These are changes Crossley and others have been calling for for years. An intergovernmental task force had been working on the proposal for the last year. The U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee passed the measure 57-3 earlier this year and it's now before the full House.
Crossley and NACo say there are four key provisions of the act which they support:
- Universal disaster application: Simplifying and unifying survivor applications across federal agencies, reducing confusion, duplication, and delays for disaster survivors.
- Public assistance program reform: Transitioning from a reimbursement-based model to a grant-based model for FEMA Public Assistance, ensuring counties can more quickly restore vital infrastructure.
- Public assistance dashboard: Increasing transparency and visibility into the status of project approvals, obligations, and disbursements.
- Loan interest payment relief: Allowing for interest incurred on loans to be covered by FEMA Public Assistance.
Reimbursement is a big point for Crossley.
"Right now, when you receive a federal disaster declaration, you submit recovery projects to FEMA, they approve them, and then the government has to outlay the funds to pay for the project," he says, noting the reimbursement process can take years in some cases. "You're talking millions to hundreds of millions of dollars, potentially."
Streamlining the grant application process is another key component.
"Once you get a presidential declaration in the county, there's lots of programs that are available to the federal government, except each one makes you go through an individual application," he explains. "This would create one application, then they would use technology to figure out which programs you qualify for, and then walk you through the process with those independent agencies. That's really critical to make the recovery process less stressful for our residents and our citizens."
Crossley notes though Hamilton County and local communities haven't had a major emergency since flooding in 2018, the potential for crisis is ever-present.
"The key thing for people to remember is that there is a role for the federal government to assist states and locals recovering from disasters. It is our tax dollars coming back to the local community, and this way it makes our communities more resilient so we can recover faster when we get the big flood, if we get the big windstorm, or the tornado," he says.
"Also, obviously while the residents need to recover, if local government doesn't recover, then you have an even bigger problem. So again, it helps all of our communities collectively across Southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky and Eastern Indiana."
Meanwhile, President Trump has said he wants to eliminate FEMA, the agency, all together. As NPR has reported, the president has said he'd like to see the agency gone as soon as December.
"The president also appointed a council of cabinet members, governors and emergency management experts, tasked with recommending changes to FEMA," NPR reported in June. "That group, the FEMA Review Council, had its first meeting in May, and is supposed to make recommendations by mid-November. The council is expected to complete its work by May 2026, suggesting that the Trump administration intends to eliminate or restructure FEMA in the period between the 2025 hurricane season and the 2026 hurricane season."
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