Committee endorses extension of disaster resiliency task force; members stress local long‑term recovery teams

Representative Chris Freeland introduced House Concurrent Resolution 66 to continue the work of a disaster prevention and resiliency task force formed after recent catastrophic floods and tornadoes.

"The goal we had is disaster prevention and resiliency," Freeland said, and he described work to coordinate state, local and federal partners to get ahead of future disasters. Matthew Sanders, participating by Zoom and identifying himself as a senior officer with the Pew Charitable Trust, said Pew has worked with the task force and with states nationally on resilience planning.

Members asked how the new body would avoid duplicating existing efforts, including work of the Kentucky Emergency Response Commission. Freeland said coordinators are working to avoid redundancy and that discussions revealed some current duplications they aim to correct. The committee also discussed long‑term recovery groups — Freeland said only about 13 of Kentucky’s 120 counties currently have such groups, and members urged encouraging counties to form them rather than creating a mandate.

The committee moved and voted to report HCR 66 favorably.

What happens next: The resolution was reported favorably to the House and will continue task force work pending any further legislative action or appropriation.