The Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000
The Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 (DMA2K) is one of several amendments to the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (The Stafford Act). Introduced in 1999, it was ultimately passed by Congress and signed into law by President Clinton in 2000.
The primary focus of DMA2K was to strengthen US federal disaster relief capabilities by placing more emphasis on pre-disaster hazard mitigation planning. It amended key provisions of the Stafford Act to create a national Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) program and mandated that state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) governments develop FEMA-approved hazard mitigation plans as a condition of non-emergency federal disaster assistance. DMA2K also provided the potential for states to receive an increased cost share (from 15% to 20% of total disaster spending) as an incentive for developing “enhanced” mitigation plans.
DMA2K also authorized the creation of the national PDM Fund and empowered FEMA to provide technical and financial assistance to state and local governments that can be used to “support effective public-private partnerships; improve the assessment of a community's natural hazards vulnerabilities; or establish a community's mitigation priorities.”
Photograph of garage and door protected from rising flood waters by sandbags
The act also made PDM grant funds available to local governments, broadened the definition of "local government," and placed the same requirement for an approved hazard mitigation plan onto local governments (as opposed to only State governments) as a condition of receiving Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funds.
DMA2K represented Congress’ first meaningful, discrete piece of legislation to formally memorialize a nationwide commitment to pre-disaster hazard mitigation. It placed the PDM program officially in the Stafford Act (as section 203) and its commitment to planning super-charged the development of state and local mitigation plans. DMA2K had an enduring effect on the future evolution of FEMA’s mitigation programs and many of its provisions remain in effect today.
Full text of DMA2K (Pub. L. 106–390) can be found on the US Congress website and more information is also available via FEMA.