By New York State Senator Joseph A. Griffo, R-C-Rome, 53rd Senate District
Central New York and the Mohawk Valley, much like other regions in the state, have struggled with extreme weather over the past several years.
These events, including destructive tornadoes and winter storms, have caused significant challenges, and the recovery process can be an expensive and time-consuming endeavor.
To help address this issue, I introduced legislation this past May that would support residents and communities hit hard by extreme weather and ensure that local governments are prepared for future events.
This bill (S.7761), which is cosponsored by Assemblywoman Marianne Buttenschon and is in committee, would:
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Extreme Weathr Relief Bill(S.7761) Sponsor 53rd District Sen. Joe Griffo Establish the Central New York Extreme Weather Relief and Resiliency Grant Program that would provide grants for small businesses, farms, owners of multiple dwellings, homeowners associations and not-for-
profit organizations that sustained direct physical damage under one of the covered extreme weather events which they can apply for to cover repairs. The reason for these specific regions is because they have been some of the hardest hit areas over the last several years and have experienced a lack of sustained commitment of necessary resources from the state. -
Expand and strengthen the state’s Resilient and Ready Storm Damage Recovery and Resilient Retrofit programs to offer additional emergency home repair assistance and/or reimbursement to impacted homeowners recent extreme weather events in the region and those that may occur in the future.
- Create the Central New York property/casualty insurance resiliency incentive program to facilitate property/casualty insurance discounts for mitigation efforts. As a result of this program, property/casualty insurers in New York would be encouraged to offer loss mitigation tools and services to policyholders for free or reduced cost.
The Assemblywoman and I renewed our push for this legislation following a recent report by New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli that found the increasing frequency of severe weather in the state has taken a toll on New Yorkers, property and the economy.
According to the Comptroller’s report, severe weather events, including thunderstorm-related damaging wind and flash flooding, are increasing in New York. Since 1998, there have been an average of 2.5 weather events per year in the state that have resulted in federal disaster or emergency declarations with authorized annual assistance averaging $958.6 million.
The legislation that we have proposed will provide residents, communities and local governments with additional resources that can help them to prepare for, respond to and recover from severe weather.
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