The primary goal of establishing a congressional natural hazards caucus is to develop a wider understanding within Congress that reducing the risks and costs of natural disasters is a public value. That requires educating Members and staff about the costs of natural disasters to their districts and states, and the benefits their constituents will realize through greater efforts to understand, prevent, and mitigate natural disasters. The caucus would provide Members with an opportunity to demonstrate their concern and commitment to reducing hazard losses. Supporting organizations would benefit from access to a standing body of interested legislators as a mechanism to promote specific initiatives.

Background

The idea for forming a Congressional Natural Hazards Caucus grew out of Public Private Partnership (PPP) 2000 Forum 7 on the topic of real-time monitoring and warning for natural hazards. Forum participants recognized the value of forming stronger ties between Congress and the natural hazards loss reduction community. A caucus typically provides a forum for interaction between a group of representatives and/or senators whose constituencies share interests in a particular subject or issue. A sampling of these include: the Science and Technology Caucus, the Senate Coastal Caucus, the Congressional Biomedical Research Caucus, the Congressional Oil and Gas Forum, and the Congressional Sportsman Caucus. Members organize a caucus to raise awareness for an issue or set of issues within Congress, and to promote their interests as a group.

Jurisdiction for natural hazards programs is spread among many committees in Congress. Each committee only handles a piece of the overall efforts to prevent and mitigate natural disasters. A caucus can provide the "big picture" to interested lawmakers and their staffs, and give them the opportunity to see how the issues that fall within individual committee jurisdictions fit within a larger national effort.

A successful caucus reflects a strong partnership between its congressional members and groups outside Congress that share similar interests. Outside groups work out the agenda for the caucus, usually with caucus co-chairs and their staffs, and then bring their speakers up to the Hill for briefings. This serves to educate caucus members, their staffs, and other members of Congress on the key issues, and provides an opportunity for outside groups to interact with members and staff and establish better working relationships. In that sense, a caucus can be viewed as a public-private partnership.

The caucus can be used as a springboard for legislative strategies to reduce the dangers of natural disasters. Through its appropriations, authorization, and oversight activities, Congress can influence almost all aspects of natural hazards awareness. For example, Congress funds programs to understand and mitigate the impacts of natural hazards at mission agencies like the U.S. Geological Survey, Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as well as grant-awarding agencies like the National Science Foundation. Congress can authorize programs such as the National Earthquakes Hazards Reduction Program or Project Impact. Through its oversight responsibilities, Congress can prod agencies involved in natural hazard mitigation and prevention to carry out their missions and follow Congressional intent. By raising awareness of natural hazard prevention at all these levels, members of a natural hazards caucus will bring their raised awareness and understanding of natural disaster prevention to their daily work on Capitol Hill.

Strategy and Implementation

In parallel, a work group of interested organizations should:

1) Develop long-term and short-term priorities for the caucus,

2) Present a set of natural hazard issues to caucus co-chairs,

3) Sponsor and help organize caucus events,

4) Serve as a clearinghouse of information and contacts for caucus members and members of our own communities.

The work group should meet regularly to review progress and plan caucus events. Eventually, the group should organize into a more formal entity, such as a board, to better support the caucus. The board would require at least part-time staff (one day per week or so) to handle logistics and coordination with the caucus. Such staff could either be housed within one of the board member organizations or be externally contracted. The board should also be prepared to organize events on short notice to provide a forum that explores lessons learned in the wake of a disaster and seizes the "teachable moment" to discuss mitigation strategies with congressional leaders before the next disaster strikes. Several individuals have suggested that the clearinghouse function of such a board could take on a much more expansive role as a non-partisan source of analysis, reports, and other tools for effective policymaking.

Events

A typical caucus event is a luncheon briefing held on Capitol Hill. Presentations should be concise and to the point, and ideally will illustrate to each Senator, Member of Congress, and their staffs why the issue is important to them and their constituents. Following the presentations, time for Q&A and one-on-one conversations should be allowed. To attract Members and staff, the co-chairs will typically send a Dear Colleague letter to all House and Senate members describing the event, and the Board will send invitations to each congressional office. Congressional staff, with help from outside groups supporting the event, will follow up with phone calls to encourage Members and staff to attend the event.

Other potential events include breakfast briefings, roundtable discussions, special forums, receptions, and events targeted to a subgroup of the caucus.

Costs

For briefings and related events, congressional staff will arrange for the room and audio-visual equipment. Typically, all other costs must be borne by the supporting group. Costs for a luncheon briefing will probably range from $1,500 to $2,500 per event depending on attendance and quality of food. Additional costs include travel expenses for out-of-town speakers, mailing, and handout materials. The establishment of a more formal board would produce additional costs for staff and related office expenses.

Timetable and Initial Action Items

Three to six events a year is probably a good goal. Senators and representatives are in town for 3-4 days per week and are almost always gone during recesses. More is not necessarily better, and the caucus should be prepared to hold special events on short notice as mentioned above. The following list of initial action items could be accomplished by November.

1. Decide long and short-term strategy for caucus.

2. Agree on Board or other supporting organization for caucus.

3. Agree on range of topics for caucus events.

4. Target short list of caucus co-chairs.

5. Recruit co-chairs and staffs.

6. Formally organize caucus in Congress and solicit for membership.

7. Hold first event aiming for maximum exposure, interest, and attendance.

Please send any comments or requests for information to AGI Government Affairs Program at govt@agiweb.org.

Posted: April 16, 1999; Last Revised: September 20, 1999

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