Since 1980, Kentucky has been hit with 92 weather disasters with losses exceeding $1 billion each. Of those events, 77 were federally-declared disasters. And one more notable stat: 38% of the disasters took place in the last decade.
Recent budget appropriations in the wake of the Eastern Kentucky flooding and tornados in the West have totaled in the hundreds of millions. And while the state has leveraged federal help and set up SAFE — or State Aid Funding for Emergencies — funds, Legislative Research Commission analyst Kary Jenkins says the state's posture is almost always reactive.
"These methods are effective, but they disrupt the budget and they can hinder planning," she said. "And as the weather gets worse, the the disasters increase."
Appropriations and Revenue Committee Chair Jason Petrie said the reason for the review was to weigh options that are more proactive.
"I'm not saying that the response has been inadequate, but if you have an event of some quality and character that's going to reoccur and will into the future, it's a good time to ask: is there a way to anticipatorily prepare and respond?" he said.
Options presented to the committee included mitigation efforts, incentivizing more weather-proof construction, and the creation of a permanent Resilience Revolving Fund modeled after a fund in South Carolina.