Press Releases

U.S. Congressman Garret Graves (South Louisiana) announced the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office will be reimbursed $2,242,377 in response to the 2016 Flood and emergency housing solution for Livingston Parish sheriff deputies. This grant is the result of an amendment Graves offered after the federal government proved they could not adequately, inexpensively or efficiently respond to the disaster.

"The 2016 Flood was an absolute strain across our communities and every corner of our community suffered. Families, schools, law enforcement, small business owners – you name it. It's taken years to get these long-overdue funds to help the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office but they are entirely deserving of every penny," Graves said. "We have worked around the clock to get legislation amended so that when future disasters hit, the government isn't adding fuel to the bureaucratic fire. And hats off to Sheriff Ard for showing exactly what good leaders do. He took matters into his own hands, cutting through the red tape, and provided immediate solutions for his deputies and their families. Which in turn, provided immediate resources to preserve the quality of life that makes Livingston and surrounding areas a safe place to live for fellow residents. He did it at a fraction of the cost and time that FEMA would have. It shouldn't take an act of Congress to implement common sense, but that is what we had to do. These new laws are what we call common sense and will make South Louisiana and the entire country more resilient and proactive, enabling American communities to come back stronger much more quickly."

Following the 2016 Flood, President Donald Trump signed Graves' provision into law in October of 2018 (photo above), which enabled more funds to be allocated through FEMA grants.

About the Grant:

The Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018, Section 1211(b) notes that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) shall reimburse state and local governments for requests received within 3 years after the declaration of a major disaster under Section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170). In this instance, FEMA will reimburse the Livingston Parish Sherriff's Office for direct temporary housing and permanent housing construction. The funding source for this award is the Operations and Support – Response and Recovery project/program/activity.

Additional Background:

In May 2020, Graves announced $40,563,208.73 of federal flood recovery resources to repair damages at Denham Springs Elementary School (DSES), Southside Elementary School (SES), Southside Junior High School (SJHS) and for system-wide school contents replacement needs resulting from Louisiana's Great Flood of 2016. Graves also announced in May that Central Private School was set to receive $10,043,000.86 in a FEMA federal grant as a result of damages to the school during the 2016 Flood.

For schools, the legislation removed a huge penalty that was imposed on each flooded school building to be limited to a one-penalty-per-facility limit, meaning several million more could be awarded from FEMA. Livingston Parish schools, for example, the overall reduction was nearly $21 million and when the Graves' language was applied, the deduction was reduced to $3 million – saving the Livingston Parish schools $17.8 million in recovery funding with the Graves' provision.

Graves authored a series of bipartisan federal disaster policy changes which advanced the bill out of House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Click here for a list of Graves' involvement with resiliency legislation.

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