Tennessee lawmaker proposes bill to force charities to distribute disaster relief funds within two years

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — When catastrophe strikes, you may ensure that Tennesseans won’t hesitate to open their hearts and their wallets.

However a state lawmaker believes that cash doesn’t all the time get to the individuals who want it after they really want it.

Now he is proposed laws that might give charities a deadline to distribute the funds and would take away that cash if it nonetheless hasn’t been spent.

After the historic flooding in Humphreys and Dickson Counties in 2021, state Senator Mark Pody advised NewsChannel 5 Investigates that folks he is aware of wanted assist.

“And so they weren’t getting assist, and we talked and there have been nonprofits that also had cash. And plainly they didn’t need to launch that cash as a result of they have been saying we’d want it for long-term,” Pody defined.

That is why the Republican senator from Lebanon is now sponsoring Senate Invoice 594 which, if accredited, would require charities that acquire cash after declared disasters in Tennessee to spend or distribute that cash on catastrophe reduction inside two years.

Beneath Pody’s invoice, any cash not spent inside two years can be transferred from the charity to a fund managed by TEMA and used for future catastrophe reduction within the state.

“The those who gave that cash had the anticipation that that cash would’ve been used for these people instantly. After a yr or two, there’s different assets that they’ll get. It’s now not an emergency,” Pody acknowledged.

Hal Cato is the brand new president of the Neighborhood Basis of Center Tennessee.

“I perceive his [Senator Pody’s] perspective and his level,” Cato mentioned.

However Cato disagrees with Pody’s laws and its timeline.

“Restoration just isn’t a dash. It’s a marathon,” Cato defined.

The CFMT collects and distributes donations to nonprofits after disasters to assist these most affected.

The Neighborhood Basis was not the group, in accordance with Pody, that prompted his invoice, however the basis can be affected by the laws because it usually doesn’t instantly distribute all the cash it takes in.

“Normally, native {dollars} aren’t touched till FEMA and insurance coverage has been exhausted, and that doesn’t occur in a single day. The explanation that’s is we would like these with out these assets to have what they want. So, it’s all about making certain that there’s fairness and equity within the course of and doing it a considerate means and never in a right away knee-jerk response,” Cato shared.

The Neighborhood Basis’s grant course of usually takes years.

It took three years for the CFMT to spend all the cash after the 2010 flooding and two years after the Christmas day bombing in downtown.

And whereas it has been practically three years now because the March 2020 tornadoes, the Neighborhood Basis nonetheless has hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in donations that haven’t been spent.

Of the greater than $12.5 million the Neighborhood Basis took in, it has given greater than $8.5 million in grants to nonprofits, 1,000,000 {dollars} to its Metro Catastrophe Fund, and one other quarter of 1,000,000 {dollars} to its Tennessee Emergency Catastrophe Fund, each after wind and flood injury in 2021.

However there may be nonetheless greater than $2.5 million sitting within the twister account.

“Holding that emergency cash that was given to them by the kindness of Tennesseans after which simply maintain that cash, that’s incorrect. In the event that they don’t have a plan for that cash, we have to get that cash to different emergencies the place folks had wished it to go and assist any individual instantly,” Pody instructed.

Pody believes greater than two years is just too lengthy.

“After a yr or two, the folks have gone on with their lives, gotten their homes mounted. They’ve acquired their jobs again. They’re again into regular society, usually working, and they’re now not saying, ‘Hey, we want this cash. The place is it?’” Pody mentioned.

After we shared Pody’s feedback with Hal Cato, he responded, “Yeah, come and spend a while driving round communities which have suffered and are struggling and speak to survivors and people households. It’s greater than rebuilding a construction and a system. It’s trying on the long-term, psychological, bodily, and monetary and emotional wants that survivors have.”

Pody then made positive to emphasise that he helps nonprofits concerned in catastrophe reduction.

“We just like the work that you simply’re doing. We, we actually actually do. I don’t need to step on any charity,” he defined.

However he added that he additionally desires what’s greatest for catastrophe victims and those that donate to assist them.

“If the rationale was to gather it for that emergency, let’s spend it on that emergency,” Pody mentioned.

However Hal Cato believes, normally, what’s greatest just isn’t speeding the method.

“It’s a long-term course of and we have to take a look at that and be certain that we aren’t placing in simply an arbitrary timeline on one thing as a result of it feels good, and as a substitute actually take a look at what the wants of survivors are and be there for his or her second of want,” Cato replied.

Senator Pody is speaking with charities throughout the state now, together with the Neighborhood Basis, and getting enter from them.

In the meantime, the Neighborhood Basis has a committee that’s assembly to determine what to do with the $2.5 million {dollars} left within the twister restoration fund. And after they determine, we’ll let you recognize.