The Senate Interim Sub Committee on Emergency Response held its final meeting today. It will now prepare a report to the Interim Committee on Natural Disaster Recovery to be delivered September 1.
Chairman Mike Kehoe says his committee has seen how well the state has responded to this year’s disasters, and he thinks that response has been good. He identified two issues as standing out: communication between agencies, which he says is improving, and the availability and management of data.
Senator Kehoe says he supports using the state’s rainy day fund for response to this year’s disasters. He notes the fund must be paid back over three years, which he prefers to having a big chunk taken out of the budget at once.
