stems.gohsep.la.gov
The Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness has implemented a change to help parishes and local governments receive an extra ten percent of eligible reimbursement from their agency and going forward 90% versus 80%. Director Jacques Thibodeaux said the change will also speed up an estimated 500 requests.
“It’s a major win for parishes, for municipalities, and all those agencies that are trying to recover on a disaster when every day and every dollar count,” said Thibodeaux.
Thibodeaux said the policy change is retroactive and it is welcome news for those that incurred large expenditures from Hurricanes Laura and Delta.
“It’s a combination of parishes, municipalities, school boards, levee districts and we’ve retroactively applied that, and we basically put $300 million back into the Louisiana economy,” said Thibodeaux.
Expenses like debris removal and overtime for first responders.
Thibodeaux said this will have a tremendous domino effect on local economies and just by giving them an additional ten percent there’s no risk to GOHSEP. He said all the legal, regulatory, and advisory requirements set by FEMA are still met.
“So, there was no risk, to them as an agency at all it’s just a huge thing for them to get this money back into their general funds. It’s a major, major policy shift on GOHSEP’s part,” said Thibodeaux.
The policy change will expedite the reimbursement process for disaster and mitigation-related expenses and provide financial relief to affected communities.
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