1:30-2:30

On October 5, 2018, the President signed the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 (DRRA) into law as part of the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act of 2018. These reforms acknowledge the shared responsibility for disaster response and recovery, aim to reduce the complexity of FEMA, and build the nation’s capacity for the next catastrophic event. The law contains approximately 50 provisions that require FEMA policy or regulation changes for full implementation.

Part of the reform includes Public Assistance 406 Codes and Standards (Section 1235b): This section authorizes FEMA to provide Public Assistance funding to replace and restore disaster damaged facilities to the latest published editions of relevant consensus-based codes ad standards to ensure that facilities are restored in a manner that allows them to be resilient.

Panelist: Craig Zamuda, Senior Policy Advisor, DOE (invited)

Protect Our Power Update

The Institute for Energy and the Environment’s Phase 2 report presents tools and processes that states can use to improve their distribution utility cyber security. Phase 2 builds off the Phase 1 report which identified barriers to improving cyber security of electric grid.

Phase 2 highlights how audits and reports can enhance information flows between regulators and utilities without compromising confidential information, how alternative rate mechanisms can be designed to incentivize investment while protecting the public interest, and how grid modernization efforts can integrate cyber security.

Moderator:

Hon. Jay Balbalas, Washington

Panelist:

Richard Mroz, Senior State Government Relations, Protect Our Power

Mark James - Senior Research Fellow and Adjunct Professor at Vermont Law School’s Institute for Energy and the Environment