Wildfire Recovery and Prevention

My office and I remain fully focused on assisting all of our families and communities affected by the August 2023 Maui wildfires. I have joined my Hawai‘i Congressional delegation and our state, local and community partners in assuring that our federal government does all it can to respond fully at all levels to the tragic Maui wildfires.

Most recently, on September 4, 2024 I joined Congresswoman Jill Tokuda, along with Congressman Pete Sessions of Texas, Chair of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee’s Subcommittee on Federal Operations; Congresswoman Katie Porter of California, Maui Mayor Richard Bissen, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); other federal and state agencies, and community members in a Congressional hearing in Lahaina to evaluate the federal government’s response, what more is required, and how to improve the federal response for future disasters.

While the federal response has been generally positive, clearly much more remains to be done, starting with further federal funding for survivor assistance and recovery efforts. I have pursued and continue to pursue this assistance primarily through my Appropriations Committee, including my Homeland Security Subcommittee with jurisdiction over our main federal agency currently helping Maui – FEMA.

Federal Funding

As a member of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, I helped push for the inclusion of $16 billion in additional FEMA funding two month after the wildfires. The bill passed the House and Senate on September 30, 2023 and was signed into law that same day.

As of the first anniversary of the devastating wildfires, the U.S. federal government had devoted nearly $3 billion to Maui’s recovery. As of September 2024, this included over $463 million in assistance to survivors, representing $58 million for 7,138 individuals and households and $406 million in Small Business Administration (SBA) loans approved for affected Maui homeowners, renters and businesses.

I have also joined my Hawai‘i Congressional delegation partners in sending a joint letter to Congressional leadership that calls for additional disaster and recovery funding. Among other things, the letter included requests for $20.9 billion for FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund and $3.5 billion for the Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Relief program, which is crucial to long-term housing recovery.

Housing

In April 2024, I spoke about housing needs for wildfire victims in a House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security hearing. I asked Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas about FEMA’s decision to focus on rehousing over rebuilding, underscoring the fact that leaving people in hotel rooms indefinitely was not a viable option.

To help address housing needs, the Hawai‘i Congressional delegation’s joint letter to Congressional leadership requested $3.5 billion for the Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Relief program. This program funds state and local governments to rebuild housing and infrastructure in areas affected by major disasters, playing a critical role in long-term housing recovery, particularly for low and moderate-income populations.

Support for Small Businesses

Businesses throughout Hawai’i linked to Maui experienced a “severe economic disruption” following the wildfires. This economic burden hit Hawaii’s small businesses especially hard.

To assist those businesses in need, I introduced H.R. 7061, the Healing and Economic Advancement for Local Businesses in Maui (HEAL Maui) Act. The bill offers three much-needed forms of immediate assistance. First, it would augment the existing SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program by providing immediate advances to ensure businesses can maintain operations and retain employees. Second, it proposes a new loan program modeled after the Payroll Protection Program to directly address the financial challenges many businesses face in the aftermath of the wildfires. Third, recognizing that some businesses have already taken out SBA disaster loans post-wildfire, my HEAL Maui Act offers a two-year loan deferment given the long duration needed for this recovery. It was introduced and referred to the House Committees on Small Business (to which I offered testimony on my bill), Ways and Means and Financial Services and awaits further action.

I also worked with the Hawai‘i Congressional delegation to send joint letters to the SBA asking for loan deferments on COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans, which resulted in a six-month deferral for Maui businesses. We also asked the Internal Revenue Service to provide filing and payment extensions for individuals and businesses impacted by the Maui wildfires, resulting in a filing extension to August 7, 2024.

Prevention

We must also learn the lessons of Maui in order to prevent and mitigate further wildfire disasters, especially as wildfire risks are high and growing throughout Hawai‘i. To this end, I worked with federal and local leaders to create a comprehensive guide to federal resources to assist our Hawai‘i in preventing, mitigating and responding to continuing wildfire risks across the state.

My Wildfire Prevention Plan identifies 12 key federal, state, county and non-government organizations responsible for wildfire risk and response, along with key existing federal programs offering financial and technical assistance. It also outlines specific further Congressional action items, from increased annual appropriations to greater military participation and changes to federal programs to improve federal participation and focus on specific needs.

My plan has guided my efforts to maximize federal assistance toward preventing, mitigating and responding to any other wildfire disasters statewide. Some successes thus far include these provisions in the House’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 draft appropriations bills:

$125 million for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Damage Management Program.
Direction to our military to identify investments needed to support wildland firefighters located on Schofield Barracks.
$7.6 million for the National Institute of Standards and Technology to develop wildland-urban interface risk metrics to mitigate wildfire risk to communities.
$360 million for the FEMA Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Program.
$360 million for the FEMA Assistance to Firefighters Grants Program.

Also included in the House’s FY 2025 Homeland Security Appropriations bill was $1 million for a Community Disaster Preparedness Information Platform for Hawai‘i. This is one of my Member-designated Community Project Funding projects that specifically focuses on local needs in Hawai‘i. The project would work to establish an information sharing platform that enables direct collaboration between the Hawai‘i Emergency Management Agency and local companies, nonprofit organizations and anchor institutions during normal times and in events in disasters.

I have also sent multiple letters to federal agencies on key issues related to wildfires in our state. For example, I have asked agencies to improve federal coordination efforts on wildfire responses, requested the Army to advance efforts to build a new wildfire fighting headquarters on O‘ahu, and urged the Department of Interior to better support wildfire firefighting efforts in geographically isolated areas in the Pacific. Most recently, I sent letters to FEMA on the timeliness of its Hazard Mitigation Assistance application review process and emergency responder training in remote and rural areas.