This week, state Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson went to bat for U.S. Sen. Rick Scott’s, R-Fla., and U.S. Rep. Kat Cammack’s, R-Fla., “Federal Disaster Responsibility Act.”
Simpson threw his support behind the proposal on Thursday.
“Florida’s agriculture community suffered more than a billion dollars in damage and losses during last year’s hurricane season, and they are now recovering from the devastating impacts of Hurricane Idalia. I applaud Senator Scott, Senator Rubio, and Representative Cammack for bringing forward this critical piece of legislation that puts hardworking Americans first. The Federal Disaster Responsibility Act will ensure the final passage of the Block Grant Assistance Act, which will give the support and relief needed for our agricultural industry to recover from devastating natural disasters. It will also secure an expanded version of the Hurricane Tax Relief Act, that will provide disaster-loss tax relief to families impacted by hurricanes,” Simpson said.
The proposal that Scott and Cammack are championing includes the “Disaster Relief Fund Replenishment Act,” which U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., are championing. The bill ensures the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) “has sufficient resources to continue ongoing disaster response and is prepared for unforeseen major disasters such as hurricanes, wildfires, and other events.” Scott is co-sponsoring Rubio’s proposal and noted his package will include at least $12.5 billion for FEMA.
The legislation also includes a proposal to reform block grants. At the end of January, Scott and U.S. Rep. Scott Franklin, R-Fla., brought out the “Block Grant Assistance Act,” with Rubio and U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., co-sponsoring it.
“This bill will provide the Agriculture Secretary needed authority to provide block grants to the state of Florida to assist producers affected by the two hurricanes,” Franklin’s office noted.
Since the end of January, two dozen other House members, all from Florida, lined up behind the bill which also has the support of some leaders of Florida’s agriculture community, including Florida Citrus Mutual, the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association and Florida Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson.
The legislation also includes Scott’s and U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds’, R-Fla., proposal to provide “enhanced disaster loss tax relief to those affected by Hurricane Ian, Nicole, and Fiona, which impacted Florida and Puerto Rico in 2022.”
Scott and Donalds introduced the “Hurricane Tax Relief Act (HTR Act)” back in March with Rubio and U.S. Reps. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., Franklin, Jenniffer González-Colón, R-PR, and Bill Posey, R-Fla., backing it.
The proposal modifies “the deduction for personal casualty losses in the hurricane disaster area to eliminate (1) the requirement for losses to exceed 10 percent of adjusted gross income to qualify for the deduction and (2) the requirement to itemize” and “mirrors what has been done for previous hurricanes and natural disasters, and previous legislation enacting these provisions has been put into law recently as 2020.”
Scott’s office noted the package will also “commit necessary funds and resources to Florida’s military installations to fully rebuild and recover from hurricane damage.”
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