The most recent legislation with significant impact for FEMA and its work with tribal governments is the Sandy Recovery Improvement Act (SRIA).

Signed by President Barack Obama on January 29, 2013, SRIA amended the Stafford Act with a stated goal of improving the efficiency and quality of disaster assistance provided by FEMA.

Among the provisions of SRIA, Section 1110 authorizes the chief executive of a Federally Recognized Tribal Government to directly request emergency or major disaster declarations from the President, much as a governor can for a state.

In many ways, the passage of SRIA represents the most significant legislative change to FEMA’s substantive authorities since the enactment of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act in 1988 which of course gave FEMA the responsibility for coordinating government-wide disaster relief efforts.

This change appropriately acknowledges and operationalizes the Government-to-Government relationship that FEMA has with Federally Recognized Tribes and provides tribal governments the option to be a sub-recipient of disaster assistance under a state-requested disaster or emergency declaration, or to be a direct recipient of assistance. This also presents FEMA with new opportunities to further engage and build partnerships with tribal governments to build emergency management capacity and capabilities.