Rebuild Iowa Committees Convene

The House and Senate Rebuild Iowa Committees met for the first time separately this afternoon and again jointly early this evening.

Representative Tom Schueller (D-Maquoketa) chairs the House committee and Senator Rob Hogg (D-Cedar Rapids) is the chair of the Senate committee. The committees are stocked with lawmakers from regions hit hard with disasters and others who have experience to take on the challenges presented. Representative Schueller is no stranger to rebuilding as he has his own reconstruction business. Representative Kerry Burt (D-Waterloo) is a firefighter who personally manned the rescue efforts in his area as a firefighter. Representative Mark Kuhn (D- Charles City) was singled out for the exceptional recovery efforts in his district and will be counted on to provide leadership and guidance in finding state-wide solutions.

The Rebuild Iowa Office (RIO) presented a detailed progress report to a joint meeting of the House and Senate committees. Overall, RIO was disappointed in the amount of funds they have received thus far from federal agencies including FEMA and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The majority of funds necessary to rebuild will come from the feds and state funds will be used to fill in the gaps. Of the 500 people living in FEMA trailers after the floods, only 39 have moved out. The rest have 18 months from the time they moved in to find replacement housing. Where they rebuild and how they will pay for it are some of the key challenges the committees will address. Solutions are expected to arrive in the form of two bills proposed by the Rebuild Iowa Advisory Office.