This week, U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, along with Reps. Emily Randall. D-Washington, and Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, introduced the Tribal Emergency Response Resources Act (TERRA)
The act is aimed at easing the process of tribal nations attaining federal resources to manage and respond to extreme weather events and natural disasters, according to a news release from Gluesenkamp Perez.
The current system to obtain federal resources requires tribal nations to navigate through different agencies with varying requirements for each application. The TERRA Act would streamline the differing processes into one program under the Department of the Interior to address the tribe’s environmental resiliency and relocation goals, according to the release.
“Tribal communities in Southwest Washington are facing worsening extreme weather events and sea level rise, so they need to be able to quickly access resources to build resiliency and address infrastructure needs, such as relocating to higher ground,” Gluesenkamp Perez said. “Our bipartisan TERRA Act will reduce administrative burdens, level the playing field, and streamline tribes’ access to these much-needed funding opportunities.”
Full text of the legislation is available at shorturl.at/8cxmU.
Gluesenkamp Perez and Simpson previously introduced the legislation in the 118th Congress, but it failed to advance.
