The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is soliciting comments on a new proposed rule that could make Federal disaster recovery funding much more accessible to Indian tribes.  The new rulemaking may result in a breakthrough for Indian tribes that wish to work with FEMA, depending on the strength of public comments and FEMA’s efforts to implement the new rule.

FEMA’s immediate objective is to determine whether existing regulatory requirements developed for a Governor’s request for a disaster declaration should be applied to requests from Indian tribal governments and, if changes are warranted, how the pilot program should be developed to account for the unique needs of tribal governments.

One of the most important questions raised in the FEMA announcement is how FEMA should define “tribal areas” and “tribal lands.”  How FEMA resolves this question is particularly important to Alaska Native villages, since the question of what constitutes “tribal lands” has been contentious in Alaska.

For additional information, please contact Dan Press or any other member of our Indian Law Practice group in Washington, D.C. at (202) 298-1800 or in Seattle, WA at (206) 623-9372.