Good afternoon, NSDC.

Welcome to the end of January. In this week’s update:

• The View from Washington
• FEMA Now Accepting Assistance to Firefighter Grant Applications
• Special Districts Eligible to Apply for FEMA Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities Direct Technical Assistance (Until February 29)

Here’s the latest:

The View from Washington

House and Senate Action

Both the House and Senate are in session this week.

The House began its week Monday afternoon with a slate of non-controversial bills on the suspension calendar, which require 2/3 majority for passage. Later in the week, the Chamber is expected to consider a bipartisan, bicameral tax package, H.R. 7024, which the House Ways and Means Committee overwhelmingly approved on January 19th.

The measure – known as the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act – proposes to expand the Child Tax Credit (CTC) in exchange for a handful of business tax benefits. Specifically, H.R. 7024 would increase the maximum refundable amount per child to $1,800 in tax year 2023, $1,900 in tax year 2024, and $2,000 in tax year 2025, with the value of the credit adjusted for inflation in the final two years. It also includes a flexible income lookback allowing taxpayers to choose either current or prior-year income for calculating the credit in 2024 and 2025. On the housing front, H.R. 7024 would increase the state housing credits under the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC). Pursuant to the legislation, the LIHTC ceiling would increase by 12.5 percent (up from 9 percent) through Fiscal Year 2025, allowing states to allocate more credits for affordable housing projects. Finally, the measure includes a provision that would exempt all wildfire relief payments (since 2020) from federal income taxes. This includes a tax exemption for emotional distress, lost wages, legal fees, and additional living expenses.

The Senate returns on Tuesday afternoon, and all eyes will be on a potential border security and immigration package that could be released in the coming days. It should be noted that these talks are linked to efforts to advance the Biden Administration’s foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and others. While the two are unrelated, Republican lawmakers have insisted that the supplemental spending request be paired with border security reforms; however, it will be an uphill climb selling the yet-to-be-released measure to House and Senate conservatives.

While Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is hopeful that the legislation will have enough support within his caucus, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has warned that the bill could be dead on arrival in the Lower Chamber. Further complicating matters, former President Trump recently declared that he could not support any agreement that comes out of the Senate. The expected changes to immigration policy could draw some Democratic opposition as well.

FY2024 Spending Talks Inch Forward

Late last week, House and Senate appropriators reached a deal on spending totals for all 12 funding bills, clearing another key hurdle in the FY24 appropriations process. While Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Speaker Johnson announced a budget framework earlier this month, there was still a question about how much funding would be available for individual spending measures. With topline figures in place, lawmakers can now begin to hash out the finer policy and funding points of each individual bill. Appropriators will need to move quickly as the first set of spending bills is set to expire on March 1.

Relevant Hearings and Markups

House Transportation and Infrastructure – On Wednesday morning, the full committee will meet to consider four bills, including NSDC-supported legislation – the Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act (H.R. 5089) – that would allow mosquito and vector control agencies to apply pesticides approved for safe use under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) without seeking a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System, or Section 402, permit prior to application into a navigable waterway. The bill would require these pesticides to be applied in compliance with FIFRA rules. NSDC sent a letter to Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Sam Graves, R-Mo., and Ranking Member Rick Larsen, D-Ariz., a letter on Monday, January 29, urging support and passage of the bill.

More details on the T&I markup can be accessed here.

House Energy and Commerce – On Wednesday afternoon, the Subcommittee on Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials will hold a hearing entitled, “Ensuring the Cybersecurity of America’s Drinking Water Systems.” Additional information on the hearing can be found here.

Legislative insights are provided through NSDC’s partners at Paragon Government Relations.

AFG Program Now Open for Applications; Bills Look to Reauthorize

January 29, 2024

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) opened on Monday the Fiscal Year 2023 Assistance to Firefighter Grant (AFG) application period.

Special districts providing fire protection services are eligible to apply to be among 2,000 to receive a piece of $324 million available for this year’s funding opportunity. AFG provides resources for fire departments’ ability to equip and train emergency responders, provide compliant personal protective equipment and gear, upgrade facilities, procure emergency vehicles, implement emergency responder wellness programming, and to foster operational efficiencies.

The full Notice of Funding Opportunity is available here. All AFG documents are available here.

Districts seeking AFG funding for eligible projects must provide non-federal match funds as a prerequisite for the grant. Applicants serving a population of 20,000 or fewer will need 5 percent match, those serving between 20,000 and 1 million will need a 10 percent match, and all others a 15 percent match. Award maximums range from $1 million for communities with populations of fewer than 100,000 to $3.2 million for departments serving populations of 2.5 million or more.

Interested special districts must first secure a Unique Identification Number on www.sam.gov or ensure their entity status is active, which is required to pursue all federal funding opportunities. Districts must also create an account on www.go.fema.gov prior to beginning their application then use the account to submit. More information on “FEMA GO” is found here.

FEMA will provide a deeper dive on AFG with application development workshops. Each one-hour workshop will feature FEMA Grants Specialists provide best practices to build a successful application. Register for scheduled workshops through February 9 at this link.

The AFG application period ends Friday, March 8, at 5 p.m. ET.   

NSDC Members and special districts seeking resources for their AFG grant applications, as well as other grant opportunities, are encouraged to reach out to the NSDC-TFG Grants Team at nsdcgrants@tfgnet.com.

This round of AFG funding, technically for FY23, is the final round authorized under current law. Understanding the significance of federal fire service programs to the nation’s 6,000+ fire districts, NSDC supports bicameral, bipartisan legislation to reauthorize AFG as well as the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER). Known as the Fire Grants and Safety Act, S. 870 (Peters), would reauthorize both AFG and SAFER appropriations through FY30, while H.R. 4090 (Kean) reauthorizes appropriations for the programs through FY28. Both Senate and House and bills await further action in the House.

NSDC encourages districts supporting AFG and SAFER reauthorization to contact their member of the U.S. House of Representatives to ask for their support to reauthorize these popular fire service programs and to pass a compromised version of these bills before the September 30 deadline.

Deadline Approaching to Request Free FEMA BRIC Direct Technical Assistance

Federal Emergency Management Agency Press Release – January 23, 2024

A deadline is approaching for communities and Tribal Nations to receive free FEMA help with hazard mitigation planning and Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) project support.

Communities – including special districts – and Tribal Nations that lack resources to begin climate resilience planning and designing projects have until Thurs., Feb. 29 to submit the form to request BRIC Direct Technical Assistance (BRIC DTA).

FEMA provides BRIC DTA which is tailored support to communities and Tribal Nations through a range of activities and from pre-application to grant closeout. FEMA will engage with each selected community for up to 36 months to further explore and better understand their specific requests for direct technical assistance.
BRIC DTA can be provided whether or not a requesting eligible entity has a FEMA approved Hazard Mitigation Plan and regardless of if they have ever applied for or received BRIC funding. Project types from past BRIC DTA requests include:

• General support in the areas of grants management, project scoping, and hazard mitigation planning;
• Technical assistance and evaluation for climate risk assessments and nature-based solutions' projects
• Natural hazards project scoping activities such as those for flooding, drought, fire, typhoons, and erosion.

Interested communities and Tribal Nations are asked to submit a BRIC Direct Technical Assistance Request Form to fema-bric-dta-submission@fema.dhs.gov to be considered for this cycle of selections to be announced later this summer. FEMA will select up to 80 communities and Tribal Nations to receive direct technical assistance.

FEMA’s Fiscal Year 2023 BRIC Notice of Funding Opportunity requires that communities and Tribal Nations requesting assistance for BRIC DTA identify at least two ongoing or potential community partners in the request form.

In May 2023 FEMA announced 74 communities and Tribal Nations have been selected to receive support from BRIC DTA.

To learn more about BRIC Direct Technical Assistance visit FEMA.gov.

Upcoming Events

Special Districts Association of Oregon Annual Conference
February 8-11 | Seaside, Ore.

NSDC Regular Member & Executive Committee Meeting, 2024 Quarter 1
February 16 | 8:30 a.m. Mountain Time| Hybrid | Denver, Colo. | Agenda Coming Soon

Special Districts on the Hill (Association Leads Only)
April 29 – May 2 | Washington, D.C.

NSDC Regular Member & Executive Committee Meeting, 2024 Quarter 2
Save the Date – May 2 | Washington, D.C.

Click here for a rundown of NSDC Legislative Committee Meetings – the final Thursday of each month (except November/December)

Click here for scheduled dates of NSDC’s five policy advisory groups.

Got an event/meeting coming up? Submit it here.