Disaster Relief Funds Signed into Law

Congress has approved and President Trump has signed a package containing $19.1 billion in disaster relief funds - more than half of which will go for infrastructure and related work - to help storm-battered regions of the U.S. rebuild from hurricanes, floods and other calamities (view bill summary here and text of final bill here). The construction-related funding includes work that will benefit concrete industry:

Department of Defense - $2.7 billion to repair and reconstruct facilities at military bases. Among the affected installations are Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida, which was hit hard by Hurricane Michael, and Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, heavily damaged by floods earlier this year.

Federal Highway Administration, Emergency Relief - $1.65 billion. Reimburses states and territories for damage from natural disasters to roads and bridges in the National Highway System.

Community Development Block Grants-Disaster Recovery - $2.431 billion. Helps communities rebuild housing, businesses and public infrastructure in the most impacted and distressed areas affected by major natural disasters. When combined with $1.68 billion of CDBG-DR funding in the FAA reauthorization, there will be a total of $3.89 billion in resources for 2018 and 2019 disasters, of which more than $1 billion is available for resiliency and mitigation activities.

Build With Strength, a coalition lead by NRMCA that promotes resilient concrete construction through communications, project promotion, education and advocacy, can help leverage policies to help place more concrete. For more information, contact Tien Peng at tpeng@nrmca.org or 206-913-8535.