AUSTIN — Today Texas Land Commissioner applauded Reps. Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07), Randy Weber (TX-14), Brian Babin (TX-36), Kevin Brady (TX-08), G.K. Butterfield (NC-01), John Carter (TX-31), Dan Crenshaw (TX-02), Joe Cunningham (SC-01), Bill Flores (TX-17), Sylvia Garcia (TX-29), Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon (PR-AL), Garret Graves (LA-06), Al Green, (TX-09), Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18), Michael McCaul (TX-10), Pete Olson (TX-22), Tom Rice (SC-07), David Rouzer (NC-07), and Ted Yoho (FL-03) for introducing the Bipartisan Disaster Recovery Funding Act. The bill directs the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to release $16 billion in disaster relief funding, including $4.383 billion in mitigation funds for major declared disaster events in Texas, within 60 days. The funding was originally appropriated by Congress and signed by President Donald J. Trump in February 2018.

"As the start of 2019 hurricane season draws near, the calls to release mitigation funding are growing in numbers and volume," said Commissioner Bush. "The $4 billion appropriated to Texas for mitigation will be vital to protecting Texans from future storms like Hurricane Harvey, so we need to get to work. It will still be a slog to turn rules in to projects, but until we get the rules, we cannot even begin. I appreciate our Texas Congressional Delegation for their continued dedication to helping protect our coastal Texans, not to mention our national economic interests, against future hurricanes and floods.”

Funding Timeline

The GLO is currently waiting on OMB to approve mandatory guidance from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The GLO cannot even begin drafting the state action plan until the mitigation rules are release. The state action plan must then be approved by HUD before the GLO can access the funds for mitigation projects.

On January 30, 2019, Cmr. Bush sent President Donald J. Trump a letter requesting help getting mitigation rules approved by HUD and OMB. He previously sent a letter to Director Mick Mulvaney on January 02, 2019, calling for rule approval for mitigation funding.

On Feb 5, 2019, Commissioner Bush applauded a letter authored by Governor Greg Abbott, Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, and the Houston Congressional Delegation, led by Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07) and Congressman Pete Olson (TX-22), urging acting Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought to approve rules from Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for more than $4 billion in Community Development Block Grants for Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funding for Texas. On May 10, 2019, Commissioner Bush applauded the filing the Bipartisan Disaster Recovery Funding Act by U.S. Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV), John Cornyn (R-TX), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Thom Tillis (R-NC), and Kamala Harris (D-CA).

Feb. 9 marked one year since these funds were appropriated by Congress specifically for mitigation. For a complete timeline of funding for Texas' Hurricane Harvey long-term recovery effort, please visit http://recovery.texas.gov/local-government/programs/harvey-mitigation-funding/index.html.