A Juneau legislator’s bill increasing the amount of state disaster aid residents are eligible for to $50,000 rather than $21,000 passed the state Senate by a unanimous 19-0 vote Monday.
Senate Bill 236 by Sen. Jesse Kiehl, a Democrat, also increases eligibility for people living in multi-residential buildings such as condominiums. He introduced the bill in February, in the wake of dozens of Juneau residents whose homes were damaged or destroyed by record flooding along the Mendenhall River last August.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy quickly declared the incident a state disaster, but the Federal Emergency Management Agency denied requests for federal disaster relief. Kiehl’s bill increases the maximum aid residents can seek for state-declared disasters that fail to get the same federal classification, stating the $21,000 limit for private households “doesn’t even get you back to your knees, much less back on your feet.”
“Especially when you look at the level of damage that can undercut a foundation, can crush a roof or a wall, and with the high costs of construction, repair and renovation in remote areas of Alaska it’s simply not sufficient to move the needle,” he said during brief comments on the Senate floor before the vote.
SB 236 also alters a provision in current law for shared housing units.
“Help that’s available to a homeowner for a single-family dwelling is not available for someone who owns a condo when one of the common-interest elements of that condo suffers the damage — the foundation, the exterior walls, the roof — those are all owned in common,” Kiehl said, adding the bill will allow residents who are part of a condo association to receive aid toward such a purpose.
The bill received a modification during the committee process to ensure the maximum a household can receive is $50,000, since the Alaska Department of Military and Veterans Affairs has two separate grant programs — for structures and personal possessions — which could potentially result in a $100,000 grant if a family applied for both. Also, the bill states the maximum amount of relief will be “the greater of $50,000 or half the federal relief allowable,” a clause Kiehl said will allow for upward adjustments from inflation some years from now.
SB 236 was transmitted after the vote to the House, with about two-and-a-half weeks remaining in this year’s session. A companion bill, House Bill 346 by Rep. Andi Story, a Juneau Democrat, was heard and held by the House Health and Social Services Committee on March 19.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
