CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. (WKBW) — As another round of winter weather is heading into parts of our region later this week, a Western New York congressional leader is gearing up to introduce a bill that could provide federal help when it comes to snowstorms.
Congressman Tim Kennedy appeared at an Erie County Highway barn in Cheektowaga off Harlem Road Monday, unveiling his proposed legislation the Support Neighborhoods Offset Winter Damage Act or SNOW Act. It calls for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to assist communities in recovering from snowstorms.
"FEMA's outdated guidelines and policies leave communities like ours out in the cold from federal dollars, and that should change," said NY 26 Congressman Kennedy.
Congressman Kennedy is ready to deliver his proposed SNOW Act legislation to Congress. It would help our communities recover from extreme snowstorms by changing FEMA's policies for winter storms and treating them more like regions that suffer hurricanes and tornadoes.
"That's why my bill changes the rules to incorporate real damage, wind speed, wind chill and takes into consideration the ability of communities like ours to respond to extreme winter storms without eviscerating our local budgets," explained Kennedy.
Extreme snow events repeatedly plague the Buffalo region, like Buffalo's devastating blizzard of 2022.
"We all know how horrible it was, but it didn't qualify for FEMA assistance because of the snowstorm that fell a month before, in which nearly seven feet of snow fell and was the record snow of history under FEMA standards," said Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz.
Poloncarz and several local leaders are joining Kennedy in calling on FEMA to make changes.
"FEMA has a real short rule, no dough for snow because in their eyes, snow melts and communities can recover," stated Poloncarz. "It's time to end the no dough for snow and to treat horrific snowstorms just like they treat horrific tornadoes, horrific hurricanes, horrific wildfires."
"As Mayor of the City of Buffalo, I strongly urge Congress to pass the SNOW Act and make sure that we are receiving the assistance from the federal government that we should be when it comes to our snow events," added Acting Mayor of the City of Buffalo Chris Scanlon.
Local leaders in support of Kennedy’s SNOW Act, like Cheektowaga Town Supervisor Brian Nowak, pointed out it's getting too costly to dig out.
"During the '22 blizzard, the equipment we had was enough to cover maybe 15 to 20% of the snow effort. At best, we had to hire outside contractors to cover the vast majority of them, and literally hundreds of dump trucks and truckloads to the overall snow removal that we had," commented Nowak. "Having these costs covered by FEMA that municipalities take on, it's not just something as simple as getting a couple of plows down the road."
He plans to introduce his bill next month at the start of Congress but with a divided house, he's hoping for bipartisan support.
"This is not a political issue, but this is an issue that enhances every single community. quite frankly, many of the communities that will be impacted and benefit from this bill are represented by Republican members of the House of Representatives," said Kennedy. "This bill would ensure that communities are able to tap into it."
I also reached out to Republican Congressman Nick Langworthy, NY 23, for his reaction to Kennedy's proposed SNOW Act. His office issued the following statement:
“Western New York and the Southern Tier know all too well the devastation that extreme blizzards can bring, and I’ll always support efforts to ensure our communities have the resources they need to prepare for and recover from these events. Following Winter Storm Elliott, I worked closely with Governor Hochul and the Biden Administration to secure critical disaster assistance for our region and discuss realistic ways we can institute reforms when dealing with widespread variables that are associated with snow events. While I’m not aware of Congressman Kennedy’s bill, I look forward to any opportunity to collaborate on bipartisan solutions that strengthen our response to severe winter weather events.”
Congressman Nick Langworthy, NY 23
